5 posts tagged “books”
I didn't read these all in a row, and I'm actually mortified to even admit that I did read them, but sometimes you just need a super-easy book to read... Also, I have a problem in that I will read anything that is put in front of me.
The only saving grace? I flew through all of these and spent no more than 2 to 3 hours on any of them. And yes, I realize, that is still 15 hours of my life that I will never get back. I'm okay with that. You, however, should not follow my example. Clearly.
Book #11 in 2009: Something Borrowed, by Emily Griffin
Book #12 in 2009: Something Blue, by Emily Griffin
Book #13 in 2009: Baby Proof, by Emily Griffin
Book #14 in 2009: The Client, by John Grisham
Book #15 in 2009: Gossip Girl, by Cecily Von Ziegesar
Book #16 in 2009: Sundays at Tiffany's, by James Patterson
Book #10 in 2008: The Good Life, by Jay McInerney
Who doesn't love a good novel centered around the most depressing day in many of our lives, September 11th, 2001? And because it's Jay McInerney, you can be sure it also contains: sex, drugs, and lots of Manhattan-ites.
In all honesty, this was a good read. Maybe not the most high-brow read of my life, but a definite page-turner and a well-written, engaging, but also sort of twisted and upsetting, love story. I went through a major Jay McInerney phase when I was in my early twenties and devoured everything he wrote in the 80s & 90s... This novel, however, is a huge step up for him. Like Jay McInerney for grown-ups! (Not that "Bright Lights, Big City" doesn't have a valid place on your bookshelf, just that - well - that was 20 years ago and this latest book is much more relevant.)
So - if you're looking for a fun, easy read about a totally depressing topic - September 11th, affairs and families that are falling apart - I recommend picking this one up
Book #4 in 2008: Possible Side Effects, by Augusten Burroughs
Yes, I realized I just posted about book #3, but The Tenth Circle was so not entertaining that I was forced to pick up another book just so I had something to read on the 45 minute MUNI ride in the mornings. Plus, I don't always find fiction to be the most entertaining genre, so I thought I'd intersperse it with some nonfiction. Or "creative nonfiction" as we like to call it.
I will assume you're familiar with Augusten Burroughs: Running with Scissors - laugh out loud funny, while also incredibly disturbing. Dry - you will weep. But you will enjoy every minute of this tragic true story of an alcoholic.
Possible Side Effects - A page-turning collection of essays that will make you laugh, think, and appreciate your own stability - because no matter how unstable and screwed up you might be - Augusten Burroughs has you beat. But he's so damn charming, you can't help but love him for it.
Not the best book I've ever read, but a good book to have by the bed (for when Tolstoy becomes tedious) -- sort of the perfect commuting book. Read it. If you want.
Book #3 in 2008: The Tenth Circle, by Jodie Piccoult
I read Jodie Piccoult novels because they're easy and, usually, entertaining; however, this book about a teenager who was (or maybe wasn't?) raped and her relationship with her father who wants nothing more than to save her actually kind of... well, for lack of a better word pre-caffeine kick-in: SUCKED. Waste. Of. Time. And don't even get me started on the fact that every couple of chapters were interrputed with a few pages of illustrated comics meant to, I assume, kick us in the face with the deeper meaning of the book.
Plus, I just have a really hard time getting into a book with a character named "Trixie."
Skip It.
Only 32 more books to go to reach my goal... Not lookin' too good!
I read "Look at Me: A Novel" several years ago because Egan is a local SF writer and my mom had the book lying around the house during a trip home for Christmas. It was good-enough (from what I remember something about a model who was in an accident and ruined her face?), and so I thought I'd read her second novel The Keep and see what I thought. After all, gotta support the local writers, right?
It is a dark - almost gothic, I suppose - novel with several narrators, points of view, and a plot that leaves the reader wondering how it will all come together. I guess that is what kept me reading... I needed to see how Ray, an inmate in a writing workshop class, and Danny, a troubled soul on a surreal adventure at a castle in Europe, would eventually twist together...
Ultimately, I found the result to be unsatisfying and left me feeling empty. That being said, I still hold hope for Egan's third novel. Whenever that may come out.
