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
Yeah. I know. And believe me, it's about to get worse...
Book #13 in 2009: Baby Proof, by Emily Griffin
No comment.
Book #14 in 2009: The Client, by John Grisham
My only excuse is that 1. John Grisham is kind of entertaining and 2. This was THE ONLY book on the shelf at my ski house.
Book #15 in 2009: Gossip Girl, by Cecily Von Ziegesar
Book #16 in 2009: Sundays at Tiffany's, by James Patterson
Yeah. It's a book about a ghost who falls in love with a woman, years after he was her childhood imaginary friend. Just LET THAT SINK IN.
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.