Tuesday, June 10, 2008

Recently Read

Oh, this is gonna be a long list. I'm mostly just putting this up here to keep track of my reading, so feel free to skip it.

Cruddy by Lynda Barry - An illustrated novel about a girl with the most brutal childhood imaginable. Horrifying, but an incredibly good read.

A Day No Pigs Would Die by Robert Newton Peck - Technically a kid's book, but I really enjoyed it! Heh.

Skels by Magge Dubris - Fact-based novel about an EMT in NYC in the 70s - interesting.

The Children of Santa Clara by Elizabeth Marek - Nonfiction - About a young woman who works for a year at a treatment center for disturbed children - good.

My Life in Orange by Tim Guest - Nonfiction - Memoir about a kid growing up in a cult - it got good reviews, but I found it boring and didn't finish it.

The Women Who Raised Me by Victoria Rowell - Nonfiction - Let's face it, I just picked this one up because she played Dru on Y&R - Memoir about her upbringing in foster care - This started out interesting, but I lost interest once she grew up and quit about 20 pages from the end.

Charity Girl by Michael Lowenthal - Novel about a woman sent to a camp for "bad girls" during World War I - Based in fact - good.

The Girl Who Stopped Swimming by Joshilyn Jackson - About the aftermath of a girl's death - very good - I really enjoyed this one.

Hope's Boy by Andrew Bridge - Nonfiction - About a boy in the foster care system. Interesting, but sad.

A Lesson Before Dying by Ernest J. Gaines - I thought I had read this one before, but I hadn't. About race relations in the South in the 40s - very good.

A Snowflake in My Hand by Samantha Mooney - Nonfiction about a woman who works in a vet clinic and the terminal cancer cats she cared for - It may have been a little too soon for me to read this one. I found it sad, but good.

Looking for Salvation at the Dairy Queen by Susan Gregg Gilmore - About a preacher's daughter trying to make her own way. Enjoyable.

From Our House by Lee Martin - Memoir of growing up with a disabled, violent father. Interesting.

Three Little Words by Ashley Rhodes-Courter - Memoir about growing up in foster care - interesting. I'm starting to think I'm reading too many foster care stories right about now.

Stop-Time by Frank Conroy - Memoir. This was highly praised, and I found it interesting, but this guy has a chip on his shoulder the size of a boulder about his teenage years. Maybe deservedly so, but still.

Summer of Night by Dan Simmons - Oh! I really wanted to read this one, as it came highly recommended, but the print was so damn small that even with my reading glasses on, I would get a headache after just a few pages. Damn this aging process!

The Tender Land by Kathleen Finneran - About the recovery of a family after their teenage son kills himself. Depressing as all hell (understandably so).

The Known World by Edward Jones - Pulitzer-prize winning novel about slavery after the Civil War. It was okay.

The Lemon Jelly Cake by Madeline Smith - Novel about a small town in the early 1900s. Corny as all get out, but still a light, fun read.

SO! That's what I've been reading over the past couple of months. How about you?

3 comments:

listie said...

Me?

The Peppered Moth by Margaret Drabble

Enemy Women by Paulette Jiles

The Last Days of Dogtown by Anita Diamant

Coming Out Under Fire by Allan Berube

Not June Cleaver by Joanne Meyerowitz

There were more, but I just can't think of them at the moment.

rockygrace said...

I'll look into those - thanks!

Anonymous said...

I don't seem to get the time these days. I don't know what's happening.