What are you reading right now?
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One reader's thoughts as she steps from book to book.
Books I've Finished
- "A Christmas Memory"
- by Truman Capote 12/8/12
- "Child's Christmas in Wales"
- by Dylan Thomas 12/7/12
- "One Christmas"
- by Truman Capote 11/29/12
- "The Thanksgiving Visitor"
- by Truman Capote 11/29/12
- Inside Mrs. B's Classroom
- by Leslie Baldacci 11/28/12
- The Bee Eater
- by Richard Whitmire 11/15/12
- There Are No Shortcuts
- by Rafe Esquith 10/28/12
- I'd Like to Apologize to
- Every Teacher I Ever Had
- by Tony Danza 10/21/12
- Corked
- by Kathryn Borel 10/15/12
- Year of Learning Dangerously
- by Quinn Cummings 9/30/12
- A Hologram for the King
- by Dave Eggers 8/23/12
- To Kill a Mockingbird
- by Harper Lee 7/18/12
About Me
- Christine
- I often have a few books with bookmarks in them at once. I enjoy classics more than contemporary works of fiction, often read historical fiction, and love to get glimpses into other people's lives by reading memoirs and biographies.
5 comments:
Two books this week:
Making Toast, Rosenblatt.
Amy Elizabeth Rosenblatt Solomon, 38 years old, pediatrician, wife and mother of three, collapsed on her treadmill at home. She had an anatomical anomaly in heart which caused sudden death. She was found by her children. Her father (author) and mother (both happy empty-nesters) move into the house indefinitely to help. Rosenblatt talks about his efforts to help (all he's good for is making toast), the grief of different family members, the discomfort of the living situation, and his anger with a God he doesn't even believe in. Memoir.
Still Alice (Genova).
Lisa read this a few posts back, about a professor who has early-onset & rapidly progressing Alzheimer's My dad has Alzheimer's', but it's adult on-set, and slower progressing than the character's. Still, there were some parts of the book I could relate to, like the anger that comes with the forgetfulness. One time I called my dad & he yelled and hung up on me. My sister, who was with Dad, said he was mad because some stranger kept calling him. Funny things, too, like the time I got two birthday card in April--my birthday's in July. Eve though this is a fiction, the author was spot-on in terms of capturing the emotional roller-coasters for both the afflicted person and their family members.
This up-coming week, I need to read something lighter. Any suggestions?
Final Jeopardy, the story of how IBM's Watson kicked the crap out of us lowly humans. I for one welcome our new robot overlords.
Also, Allan Metcalf, OK: The Improbable Story of America's Greatest Word.
What would have made a delightful essay was expanded into a tedious book.
And, Jodi Picoult, Handle With Care.
The mom of a girl born with osteogenesis imperfecta Type III (exceedingly brittle bones due to lack of collagen)sues for wrongful birth and tears her family apart. After reading it, I remembered why I stopped reading Jodi Picoult: Many of her books follow the same pattern, which is
1. Reads like a Lifetime/Hallmark Original Made-for-TV Special,
2. Has an unusual medical mystery (this part I like, her details are well-researched!),
3. Contains a lengthy court battle, and the lawyer is coincidentally battling a personal problem which conflicts with the case,and
4. Has a train-wreck of an ending that comes from out of left field and has absolutely NOTHING to do with the preceeding 450+/- pages.
Ha! Nice Picoult review!
Thumbs up for that Jodi Picoult review, Mary! lol
Actually, I finished the Elegance of the Hedgehog this week, and I'm wondering if Muriel Barbury (sp?) isn't the French Jodi Picoult, because I was slightly appalled by the ending of that book too, although overall I liked it (the judgmental nature of the protagonists was slightly overbearing at times, but I still enjoyed the prose and many of the insights).
I'm up for reading something else, but I haven't decided what yet. I've got some books at home I could dig into, and I'm also looking forward to reading Lisa Genova's Left Neglected.
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