I started the fall with "To Kill a Mockingbird," by Harper Lee. Sadly, this gem somehow missed my middle/high school reading lists. I can honestly say that the book's title is perhaps one of the most apt, well thought out titles of any book I've read. The image it carries is both beautiful and heart-wrenching. I can just imagine the great discussions my senior class would've had on this book: racism, courtroom justice, defense of innocence.
Upon numerous recommendations (and my bookclubs' September reading), I borrowed "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo" by Stieg Larsson. I was looking forward to, well, I honestly had no idea what the book was about, nor that it was originally written in Swedish and translated to English. But, what I did find was a boring, way-too-detailed introduction that lasted almost 100 pages. By page 150, I was convinced that this was going to be a page turner. And boy was it. The tedious introduction all made sense; each detail was purposefully woven into the plot. I loved that it turned into a mystery, when the beginning had no hints of such. I must say, there were far too many characters to keep track of. Too many resolutions of subplots that were forgotten about 50 pages before. And, though I greatly enjoyed the book (and have since moved on to the sequel), there were detailed, gruesome portrayals of torture, incest, and rape. Be warned.
Now, if I can only push through the first 25 pages of "Animal, Vegetable, Miracle" and finish it by next Saturday. What have you been reading lately?
2 comments:
I think the last two books I actually finished were "Daughter of the Forest" by Juliet Mariller and "Kushiel's Dart" by Jacqueline Carey. Then I read part of a Carl Hiaasen anthology (columns, not his fiction), and most recently I've been reading "Taking Charge of Your Fertility" (Toni Wechsler) and "Vital Yoga" (Meta Chaya Hirschl). Neither one really has much narrative, though, so this week I started "Seven Years in Tibet" by Heinrich Harrer. It's fun.
I LOVED To Kill a Mockingbird and should definitely read it again as an adult. I'm sure my appreciation of it would be different. By FAR the best novel I've read this year has been Possession by A. S. Byatt. Oh goodness, it was fabulous! Very literary, multi-layered, and amazingly researched! It was fascinating that the author created two "fake" authors and inserted them into real literary history, and even created and included their "own" writing in every chapter. I can't imagine the length of time it took to write such a complicated tale. Check it out.
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