Ah yes, time for another one of those posts that drives everyone away screaming in terror. Standard disclaimer: Feel free to skip.
1. True North by Elliott Merrick. Originally published in 1933, this is memoir about a man and his wife traveling with trappers into the Canadian wilderness in 1930. If you like outdoor yarns, you'll like this book. Very interesting.
2. Liberty by Garrison Keiller. If you're looking for another "Lake Wobegon" book, skip about this first half of this one - the beginning is mostly about the thoughts of a 60-year-old man lusting after a sweet young thing. The second half is pure "Lake Wobegon" and pretty good. I must admit I have mixed feelings about Garrison Keiller after finding out that he's apparently pretty much an asshole in real life.
3. True to Form by Elizabeth Berg. I read a lot of these - "coming-of-age" novels - I guess because I like to read about how other people (even fictional characters) handled adolescence. Anyway, this one's very good.
4. The Spirit of Sweetgrass by Nicole Seitz. Novel about a Southern Gullah basket weaver - it starts off good, but goes off the rails about halfway through. Okay.
5. The Story of Edgar Sawtelle by David Wroblewski - I posted about this elsewhere - highly recommended. Brilliant.
6. By the Shore by Galaxy Craze. Novel about a girl who lives in a bed & breakfast in England. Meh. ("Galaxy Craze"? Really?!)
7. Weedy Rough by Douglas Jones. Novel about a small town during the Depression - good.
8. Island of Lost Girls by Jennifer McMahon. Missing-child mystery with a ton of twists and turns - interesting.
9. The Things We Do For Love by Kristin Hannah. Novel about a new-divorced woman who helps out a high school girl in "trouble" - good.
10. My Own Country by Abraham Verghese. Memoir by an infectious-diseases specialist in rural Tennessee when AIDS was first appearing in the 1980s - interesting.
11. Leaving Dirty Jersey by James Salant - A junkie's memoir - good.
You know, I just realized something. I have a little reading list in the kitchen, and as I finish each book I put down a brief synopsis on the list, and then when I've got a page or two, I enter it here. The main reason I do this is so that if I see a book I'm interested in reading, I can search for it here and find out if I've already read it. That's right, folks, it's not uncommon for me to get twenty or thirty pages into a book and discover that I've read it before. Does everybody do that, or is it just me?
And to be perfectly honest with you, looking at that list above, I don't remember the details (main characters, etc.) of some of those books, even though I've read them all within the last month or so. Spooky.
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3 comments:
Thanks for your birthday wishes for my lovely cat.
If you haven't read them already, you might enjoy The Lace Reader by Brunonia Barry and The Little Giant of Aberdeen County by Tiffany Baker. Those suggestions are based on this list.
I'll admit I just glanced at your list (I never get around to reading for myself), but I hear you on the not remembering books thing. I think I posted a while back about how I can read a book, thoroughly enjoy it, and still not really remember a lot of the plot, the characters' names, or any details. I could easily read a book twice and not realize it for probably 50 pages.
I thought I'd also mention that the site Goodreads if you haven't checked it out before. You could keep track of your already-read books plus the books you're currently reading and the ones you want to read. Then you can share them with other people too.
Sallyacious, thanks for stopping by! I read Little Giant and enjoyed it, and I'll definitely look into The Lace Reader.
and Kitkat, I'll have to check out Goodreads. And I'm glad I'm not the only one forgetting what I've read!
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