I knew I was behind on blogging about my reading, but I am shocked at how far behind. These will be quick summaries.
The Help--Possibly the best book I read this year. All three narrators have great voice, and the subject is fascinating.
Life Skills--Mindless fluff by my favorite fluff author.
97 Orchard Street--A serendipitous find in August about the inhabitants of a NYC tenement that is now a museum (and which was already on the itinerary for my September trip). A look at how the various immigrant waves changed the food of America.
The Town that Food Saved--A look at how the locavore movement changed one town in Vermont. Motivating.
The Lost Memoirs of Jane Austen--I had completely forgotten about this book until I saw it on the list. Pleasant, but clearly not memorable.
Mockingjay--The book I was most anticipating this year. A satisfying conclusion to this great trilogy (although I wanted Katniss to end up with the other guy), but not as strong as the other two books.
The Tapestries--Interesting story set in early twentieth-century Vietnam. Compelling, but overly graphic at times, which made it a tough read for me.
Childhood's End--Classic science-fiction at its best. Interesting premise, sparse language. Haunting.
Eat, Pray, Love--Not as annoying as I feared it would be. (I read this for book group.) I liked Eat and Pray better than Love.
When the Emperor Was Divine--YA novel about one family's experience in a Japanese internment camp in Utah. Notice the use or lack of names. The scene where the woman kills their old dog the night before they leave made me cry.
The Message--A verse-by-verse paraphrase of the Bible. I'd been wanting to read the Bible cover to cover in a short period of time to get a better sense of the overall structure and flow, and with The Message I finally found a version that I could read quickly enough to accomplish that. Ninety days, give or take. I liked the paraphrase best for the history and prophets. It bothered me more in the New Testament. Reading the Bible always raises more issues than it resolves for me, and this was no exception.
Nomad--Fascinating look at the issues raised by Muslims immigrating to the West, by a former Muslim (now atheist) immigrant. I'm not convinced that converting to mainline Christianity is a key part of the solution--it seems to me that Islam could moderate itself just as mainline Christianity has done--but I agree with many of her other points. The final chapter is the weakest part of the book.
Murder in a Mill Town, Murder on Black Friday, Murder in the North End, A Bucket of Ashes, Still Life with Murder--Several years ago, I accidentally read book three in a six-book mystery series set in Gilded Age Boston. Michael gave me book two for Christmas, and I then found electronic versions of the other four books. They remind me a bit of early Anne Perry novels.
Water for Elephants--I started reading this right before I began The Message and finished it in December. Despite my disjointed reading of it, I really like this book. The narrator has a great voice, and the look at Depression-era circuses is interesting.
There. All caught up. I'll try not to get so far behind again.
I'm currently reading The Lightening Thief and The Brothers Karamazov.
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2 comments:
I, too, liked Eat and Pray better than love. I haven't read Mockingjay yet, but maybe I will so I can see who she ends up with.
"Water for Elephants" is going to be turned into a movie soon. There's something about old timey circus life that intrigues me and I hope that I enjoy the film as much as the book.
I just finished reading "The Space Between Us." It reminded me a lot of The Help only it deals with servants in India and touches a bit on the caste system. I thought that the writing was superb and I highly recommend it.
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