We survived our 50 books in one year challenge. In 2009 we are still reading...

Friday, July 24, 2009

A Person of Interest by Susan Choi (#29, Contemporary Literature)

After finishing A Person of Interest I wanted to find a review, to see what others had to say, and quickly turned up a New York Times review. First of all, I loved the review and I pretty much 100% agreed with it. Secondly, as I was thinking about the book this morning and reflecting on how I felt about it, one word came to mind -- Metamorphosis, and I was pleasantly surprised to see that the reviewer used this word as well!

Professor Lee, the main character and narrator, goes through major changes in character throughout the book. He is an extremely flawed character, and although he is a brilliant man, at times it is hard to take how dense and unlikeable he is acting! The reader goes through phases of like, dislike, pity, and finally redemption and hope.

It is one of those books that is so well written that you will be surprised how much you liked it once you get to the end. You realize you weren't speeding through it to find out what happens, because you kind of already know. Instead you are reading along to witness the metamorphosis of Professor Lee.

Monday, July 13, 2009

A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini (#28, Fiction)

I wasn't as impressed by this book as I remember being by The Kite Runner. It could just be a case of hindsight, or maybe the hundreds off books I've read in between that have obviously changed my taste in books.

The nonfiction nature of the setting to Hosseini's books is enlightening and terrible to imagine. The bloodshed and terror that so many Afghans have lived through for so many years, so much so that it probably becomes part of the routine of their lives, is unbearable. I appreciate any book that can teach me some part of history, or give me a better understanding into another culture.

But, I didn't love the story of this one. It felt more hurried and canned than his first book. I had too many predictions of how things would go... and then they happened exactly that way. I guess I just expected it to be a little bit deeper, harder, slower of a read, less a page turner and more a thought provoker.

Wednesday, July 8, 2009

Johnny Got His Gun by Dalton Trumbo (#27, Classic)

A couple quote worthy lines from the book:

"Nothing is bigger than life. There is nothing noble in death."

"America fought a war for liberty in 1776. Lots of guys died. And in the end does America have more liberty than Canada or Australia who didn't fight at all?"

In this anti-war novel, published in 1939 and set during WWI, Joe leaves Los Angeles to go to war and ends up in a hospital bed as an invalid. But not any invalid, Joe has had both his arms and legs amputated, he cannot hear, cannot speak, and cannot see. Yet, his mind is alive and he spends his time trying to figure out day from night, memories from dreams, and some way to communicate with the world.

When his tap tap tapping of Morse code for "help" is finally understood by the hospital, all he gets in return is a "what do you want?" The years he spent trying to let them know that he may be nothing but a stump on the outside, but that he was alive on the inside and ready to show himself to the world to show what can happen during war was all shot down with their final response, "That is against regulations."

Just a bit depressing.

Monday, July 6, 2009

Smashed by Koren Zailckas (#26, Nonfiction)

It's hard to review this book. A book that in one moment feels so familiar-- sounding like stories I have heard, things I have seen, and, rarely, things I have done myself. But, on the other hand, her thoughts and reasons for her actions are so foreign.

It was amusing to read the book, especially the college years, because I realized how universal the "college experience" can be, whether you are at Syracuse in freezing New York, or at Emory south of the border. Many of her stories had me laughing out loud because I could have passed them off as my own (second hand of course).

I wavered back and forth between thinking she actually had a drinking problem, to thinking she was just a dumb young girl who made too many poor choices. I sort of felt like she was a fake. If I were to take eight years of my life and write down all of the funny and/or stupid stories and not write about anything else that I did, then it would probably sound like I drank too much too. But, I guess what made her drinking a problem was her reason for doing it. She drank because otherwise she was unable to function in social settings--that I do not relate to.

Thursday, July 2, 2009

In the Woods by Tana French (#25, Fiction)

My obsession with In the Woods almost reached my Twilight obsession level. Two totally different kinds of books, similar levels of obsession--reading while walking!!! Who does that?

It's practically impossible for me to not get completely invested in crime scene/investigative books like this--all stemming from my love of CSI, Law and Order, Criminal Minds etc. Tana French had me hooked from the second I read the back, no question.

The story was well thought out, not too convoluted, you could actually figure out part of the mystery on your own. I didn't figure it out until close to the end, probably at the point where most people figured it out for sure, but I felt proud nonetheless.

Let's talk about my hangups. (you may not want to read from here on if you plan on reading this book) OH MY GOD when I snapped this one shut I was INFURIATED. Absolutely, not falling asleep, never reading her again infuriated! I ran downstairs to discuss the ending with my roommate, but she was in a sleepy haze on the couch and did not satisfy my bitching needs. Who ends a book like that???? My Mom, a huge reader, had already warned me in a message, "I read the book last summer and really enjoyed it, until the end." At the time, I didn't even want to think about not liking it, because I was enjoying it so much.

Once 12 or so hours had passed I was less worked up, but then started discussing it with my mom, and was right back at square one. At that point I decided to look Tana French up online to see what other readers had to say--were they as mad as I was? I found a synopsis of her second book, just released in May, The Likeness--which initially I figured I would definitely read as well, but at this point, TOO INFURIATED. Then I saw it: The same names. The same characters. Her second book begins six months after the first one concludes...she has just started a series... it all makes so much more sense! It would be like reading just one Harry Potter book without knowing it was a series!

Fury? Gone!

Although, I haven't had to sit around and wait for the next book in a series since Harry Potter, I'm not sure how I feel about this.