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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.
9 comments:
Columbus: The Four Voyages.
Laurence Bergreen
In honor of Columbus Day, I read this detailed history of Columbus' adventures. I love history, especially when first person accounts are used, but the sheer amount of information in this book was beyond belief! I likely would have enjoyed it even more if I had taken time to rest between chapters--and I would have finished closer to the actual holiday.
I've started the second book in Suzanne Collins' Hunger Games series, Catching Fire. It's slower going this time than last time though (my reading is, not the narration), and I don't have much to report because I don't want to spoil anything in case anyone else is reading it.
I've been dividing my reading time between an ebook borrowed from my local library, The Hallowed Hunt, which is quite a lot of fun, and Origin of Species, which is actually rather interesting. I find the biggest impediment to reading it is not the language or the content, but the fact that my copy of the book weighs about 5lbs and it's exhausting to carry around with me. Hopefully I can finish it soon!
The New York Regional Mormon Singles Halloween Dance, a memoir by Elna Baker.
This is by far one of the most delightful books I have read in quite a while. I almost gave up on biographies—especially autobiographies—because of their whiny &/or self-aggrandizing natures. In fact, the last really good memoir I had read was Radziwill’s What Remains, 2005, after JFK Jr.’s plane went down. But here I was hooked by the title alone. The memoir is by turns thoughtful, funny, suspenseful, insightful, heart wrenching and compelling.
Baker describes herself as an anomaly, a faith-questioning Mexican Mormon living in New York City. After graduating from NYU, she worked as a Christmastime toy demonstrator at FAO Schwarz (and this section in & of itself is worth the cost of the book!). After losing 80 pounds (another great sub-story), she was ready for City dating: a size 2/4 5’10” blonde. Her great conflict was between this world and the next. She loved her God, faith and church with her whole heart & soul, but she was strongly tempted by, well, everything. She tried meeting other Mormons at the NY Regional Mormon Singles Halloween Dance every year (and this just gets funnier and funnier), and ended up at one point falling in love with an atheist and at another point engaged to a fantastic Mormon man. There’s no happily-ever-after ending. Baker admits she’s still a work in progress. But then again, she’s only mid-twenties.
Good to Go: A Guide to Preparing for the End of Life, by Jo Myers.
Not so good. I think I’ll stay a while.
And I forgot to thank Lisa for recommending the last book. It was great! I find the best reading recommendations from this blog.
I finally finished the Hunger Games series. The premise of a cruel government and the uprising of the downtrodden people was intriguing at first, especially within the context of the twisted Hunger Games, but in the end it devolved into so much relentless carnage that I was exhausted and just looking forward to it being over. Maybe that was the point.
I'll be checking out The Marriage Plot next, by one of my favorite novelists, Jeffrey Eugenides. I'll be attending an author talk tomorrow night in Chicago (so excited!) so I'd like to at least start the book before the event. After that, I'd like to read The Night Circus. The beautiful cover already has me intrigued, and it's gotten a lot of great buzz.
Holy Ghost Girl (Donna Johnson)
This is a memoir of a girl whose parents worked as traveling revivalists, Holy Rollers. They’d move from town to town, pitching tents, preaching & singing, collecting money, moving on. Her mom played the organ, and her dad (who was married to another lady) preached. Johnson recollections ranged from her earliest memories, the dirt poor-sleeping in the car-bologna sandwich days through the height of her father’s career, the radio show & cult following success days, and then to the downfall days. She never questions the sincerity of her parents’ faith, but often questions their lifestyle. About 80% of the book describes the early days and the inner workings of the lifestyle: this I found absolutely fascinating. The last little bit of the book is the “now I need to wrap up everything neatly” section, which never works.
I just finished Origin of Species! I'm very glad I read it, but I would like to revise my previous estimate of the weight of the book as 5lbs to now be 37lbs.
Now I'm starting Vonnegut's Cat's Cradle.
Thank you all for your continuing and most thoughtful reviews!
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