Thursday, August 20, 2009 at 4:14PM Read this
I'm a big reader. I'll read pretty much anything and everything, and I always have at least five books from the library on deck. I think my reading exhausts Justin and frightens others. Since the beginning of the year, I've read approximately 63 books. Not too bad, but not great. I didn't read a whole lot during the winter (well, I did, but they were all books I'd read before, and I don't count those). I'm not a book review kind of girl, because I think reading and literature is SO subjective. For example, I adored The DaVinci Code while the rest of the world hated it; I have absolutely no love for A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius. In fact, I think I have negative love for it. But I liked that same author's How We Are Hungry, so what can you do?
I don't really stick to any particular genre. My favorite authors, in no particular order, are Jasper Fforde, Maeve Binchey, JK Rowling, Gideon DeFoe, Bret Easton Ellis, Michael Chricton, Chuck Palahniuk, Ellen Emerson White, Calvin Trillin, James Heriot, Roald Dahl and Nick Hornby. I'm all over the place.
People who know me in real life have the unfortunate position of listening to me start every other sentence with, "I read a book about that..." I annoy even myself. But it's true and I'm otherwise not much of a conversationalist. Throw me a bone, people. Luckily, my friends are always very polite and listen to my literary tangents.
For your reading pleasure, I made a little list of some of my favorite books from the year so far, with a few notes about why you would want to read them. In no particular order:
- Summer at Tiffany, by Marjorie Hart. A very charming true story of two Iowa girls who spend a summer in New York during WWII. They are braver than I would ever be!
- Operating Instructions: A journal of my son's first year, by Anne Lamott. You don't have to be a mom (or a writer) to enjoy this funny, dear memoir. Anne Lamott has such a strong voice - it's impossible not to like her.
- The True Story of Hansel and Gretl, by Louise Murphy. I'm not one for historical fiction (or non-fiction, for that matter), but the reworking of this fairytail during the final stages of WWII is, well, stunning.
- Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day, by Winifred Watson. This is one of those rare instances where a fantastic movie has a fantastic book behind it. I can't decide which I like more. At the time, Winnifred Watson was banged about by critics because they said this novel was too much frippery, not heavy-hitting like her other novels. She told them to bug off.
- Bitter is the New Black, by Jen Lancaster. It's nice that there's someone out there who is willing to cop to what a horrible person she used to be (and sometimes still is). It also proves that owning a dog (or two) makes you a much better person.
- JPod, by Douglas Coupland. The characters are realistic, the plot outlandish, and it all seems to work. I especially enjoyed how Coupland made himself a minor character in the novel, but a minor character that the main character hates.
- The Hunger Games, by Suzanne Collins. I love Young Adult fiction, and this futuristic story is like a combination of Survivor, the short story "The Lottery," and that Arnold Schwarzenegger movie where he's a criminal on a murderous gameshow. I'm excited to read the sequel.
- Fight Club, Chuck Palahniuk. It's crazy to read this book after seeing the movie and realizing that Chuck Palahniuk's writing was so good, his voice so consistent and memorable, that they really just used his text verbatim. I had a really hard time finding this - the Kansas City Public Library doesn't have a copy (I know, right?). I ended up swapping it with someone on Bookmooch.
Happy reading! I'm currently reading Cheaper by the Dozen (did you know that's a memoir?) and The Sweet Life in Paris by David Lebovitz. Both are charming.
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Reader Comments (4)
Yay! I'm definitely adding some of those to my to-read list.
I loved both the book and movie of Miss Pettigrew - in fact, I've driven my friends a little insane by forcing them to read or see!
Sigh! I remember the days when I used to read like that. Then I made the mistake of saying, "I wish I could read for a living" -- and now I actually do, so I don't do much reading for pleasure anymore. I miss it. I still try to work in some every now and then. I'm in the middle of "The Time Traveler's Wife" right now -- have you read it? It's interesting. I'm withholding complete judgment until I'm done, but the writing is very good.
I fall into your reading camp as well. I don't know what I'll like and dislike, as I'm usually all over the map. I read Cheaper by the Dozen about 4 times when I was about 12 and wished my parents had had more of us. I just finished I Am Not Sidney Potier. It was a strange book. I think I liked it.
The above comments are why I would be a terrible book critic, but am a stellar reader.