I'm behind. It may take me all of January to
think about where I want to take my reading and writing this year.
That’s okay.
That’s okay.
In the meantime, I posted a reading
response (not a review, it’s full of spoilers) of Mary Kay Zuravleff’s Man Alive! It’s an interesting book about a family nearing the
cusp of having the college-age fledglings leave the home nest when lightning
strikes. Dad gets zapped and this upper
middle class family starts to unravel.
Set in a contemporary D.C. suburb, the book is fast-paced and witty.

I also took a long trip during which
I listened to John Boyne’s The Absolutist, a haunting novel of homosexual love
and conscientious objection among troops during World War I. This novel was
recommended by a friend – and it’s one I likely would not normally be drawn
to. I’m glad I read it. The descriptions
of courage, cruelty and war will stay with me a long time.
Next, looking backwards through
January, I read Maria Semple’s Where Did You Go Bernadette? It’s a book I thoroughly enjoyed reading, but
liked less and less the more I thought about it. Reading it felt like going to a party
and being dazzled by a witty, snarky, entertaining host. Reflecting on it felt like waking to discover I disliked and discarded the
careless, glib performance that just didn't add up. I’m a little resentful I
was so taken in by this trifle of a book.
On New Year's Day, I finished Donna Finch's, The Goldfinch, which had the reverse effect of Bernadette. I was never quite sure what I felt as I read this book even as it propelled and fascinated me. Yet, The Goldfinch grew on me the more I thought about it. Loved the Boris character. Loved the ending.

Finally I have begun Eleanor
Catton’s The Luminaries. For me this is a slow-going tough read. There are so
many characters, so many threads. As a Kindle newbie, I am less adept at
reading such a book on a device. I want to be able to flip back through pages –
particularly to the character list. Also
I am missing the many astrological charts that apparently appear in the hardcover
book – but not on the e-book. So I am finding myself frustrated and wish I had
purchased the hardcover. I’m reserving
judgment until book’s end.
Sunday Salon is a Facebook page where book bloggers meet.
Sunday Salon is a Facebook page where book bloggers meet.
I saw another blogger who recently wasn't enamored with Where'd You Go Bernadette? either. I don't know. Myself? I liked it and thought it was funny, but maybe it just caught me at the right time. If I went back and read it today, maybe I wouldn't get it.
ReplyDeleteI was very taken with it as I read it. Too much thinking on my part.
DeleteLooks like some good reading!
ReplyDeleteI've had to accept that I can only handle short, fun books in the e-book format. Long complicated ones don't work at all well for me. But I really do love having a book on my phone -- it just has to be one that I'm willing to read in 5-minute or less increments when I'm standing in line at the grocery store or sitting in a waiting room.
I'm learning the hard way I guess. Different books, different formats. I listen to books on my Kindle -- through Audible too and I am only willing to listen to those that are straightforward and easy.
DeleteYou have completed some fabulous reading in the first two weeks of the new year!
ReplyDeleteI have resolved to set more time aside each week to read... I have missed it these past few years.
I have more time than most right now -- and still some days I spend too much time on the internet and not enough in my books.
ReplyDeleteYou are brave to take on The Luminaries. I'm a bit daunted by the looks of it. I need to read The Goldfinch too. I know I will like that one. Good luck getting thru the big Catton book.
ReplyDeletehttp://bantalsilikon01.blogspot.com
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