If You're Interested
I decided a couple of months ago that I would begin to read again. I started off slowly, but quickly started reading books in a day or so. Looking back, I learned a lot from what I've read so far...some of the books were really good and some made me wish I hadn't put my already deteorating eyes through them. Here is a spattering of the books and what I thought of them. This is only a useless collection of MY opinions. Please don't be offended if you don't agree. I just wanted to document and reflect on my feelings about the books.
1. The Book of Ruth, Jane Hamilton- an Oprah's book club pick. Not a Cary pick. At all. It tried to hard to create something and failed in the process. It seemed a bit cliche.
2. Fall On Your Knees, Ann-Marie Macdonald- this book was pleasantly disturbing. I loved it. It was unassuming and creepy. It's all about the secrets and pain that a family has and how they trickle down the generations.
3. The Alchemist, Paulo Coelho- this book came highly recommended by someone I love, but I didn't enjoy it. Something about the language didn't appeal to me. I understand that simple truths should sometimes be expressed with simple language, but it wasn't for me.
4. The Red Tent, Anita Diamant- a book about the family of the old testament Jacob, told by Dinah, one of his daughters of one of his wives. The book focused largely on the women--their days, traditions, fears, etc. I thought it was good. It tells a story that doesn't get told often, so I appreciated that.
5. Into The Wild, Jon Krakauer- I loved this book, but I don't really know why. I am a fan of the author--I love the way he can creep into the head of his characters while doing a decent job at presenting unbiased information. The story of this man who abandoned society to live simply and solely with nature was a surprising page turner.
6. Wicked, Gregory Maguire- another favorite...the untold story of the wicked witch of the west. I couldn't put it down. I was afraid that it was going to be cheesy, but it was serious and endearing. I also saw the Broadway production, and although it was just amazing, it hardly did the book justice.
7. Forever, Pete Hamill- I definitely judged this book by its cover. I bought it because the artwork and fonts on the book were beautiful and assumed the book would have to live up to the cover. It was about a man who is granted somewhat of an eternal life and forced to stay in Manhattan. He gets there in the 1700's and it goes until about current day. I can't decide if I loved it or not. I think some parts were lovely and intriguing, but some parts were dry and passable.
8. House of Sand and Fog, Andre Dubus III- this was one of the earlier ones a couple of months ago, so I remember it less. I did enjoy it, but it wasn't groundbreaking for me. It did have a nice mysterious feel to it, like the fog of the title. Towards the end, it really picked up and was impressive.
9. Till We Have Faces, C.S. Lewis- One of my favorites. I've read this book about 8 times and glean something different each time. It isn't a typical C.S. Lewis, so maybe that's why I love it so much. I think that Till We Have Faces is everything a book should be to me. It is just my taste.
10. Rembrandt's Whore, Sylvie Matton- This was such a good book! An interesting tale of a muse of the artist who wasn't his wife, (gasp!) but a woman he hired to care for his home.
11. The Memory Keeper's Daughter, Kim Edwards- This book was okay, I guess. It started off good--a doctor who delivers his own twins, realizes the baby girl has Down's Syndrome, so sends her to live with the nurse who assisted him. He made the mistake of telling his wife the baby died during childbirth, so the book is the tale of the consequences of the sins and the two families that it creates. I lost interest about halfway through.
12. Dogs Of Babel, Carolyn Parkhurst- It is a celebrated novel, but I was so disturbed by it. I don't even want to describe what it was about, because I will get upset and start to get paranoid again that something bad will happen to my sweet Puddy.
13. Painting Music, Hajo Duchting- A book that gives the biography of my favorite artist, Paul Klee, while highlighting the impact of music on his art. I'm glad someone devoted an entire book on the relationship of the two concepts in his work. With him, its sometimes nearly impossible to divide the two into separate entities. I was interested in it.
14. Under The Banner of Heaven, Jon Krakauer- I really liked this one. I didn't know much about the Mormon faith, namely Mormon fundamentalism, before reading this. I probably got a little too fired-up about it. I spent too much time worrying about my tax dollars supporting polygamous families and trying to wrap my mind around being my own grandmother or my aunt being my step-daughter. But it was a good and informative read.
15. Coach K: Building the Duke Dynasty, Gregg Doyel- A good read...it gave me a little more history on my husband's (and now, my) beloved Blue Devils and their amazing Coach Krzyzewski. I actually can spell it now. It was, however, an older book, published too close to their unfair and heartbreaking 98-99 season when they lost the NCAA Championship game to Connecticut after an undefeated and stellar season. It gave the whole book a sad feel.
16. Love In The Time of Cholera, Gabriel Garcia Marquez- my new favorite book. I avoided it for a while, because it was the book featured in the movie "Serendipity." I thought that made it weird to read or something. But it was amazing. I thought it was, again, everything that I thought a book of value should be. The writing was beautiful--thick and amazing. It seemed like every sentence, every paragraph carried so much more than just the words that made it up. I fell in love with the story and the characters and the passion that carried them through their lives. Just beautiful. I'm probably going to read it again very soon.
1. The Book of Ruth, Jane Hamilton- an Oprah's book club pick. Not a Cary pick. At all. It tried to hard to create something and failed in the process. It seemed a bit cliche.
2. Fall On Your Knees, Ann-Marie Macdonald- this book was pleasantly disturbing. I loved it. It was unassuming and creepy. It's all about the secrets and pain that a family has and how they trickle down the generations.
3. The Alchemist, Paulo Coelho- this book came highly recommended by someone I love, but I didn't enjoy it. Something about the language didn't appeal to me. I understand that simple truths should sometimes be expressed with simple language, but it wasn't for me.
4. The Red Tent, Anita Diamant- a book about the family of the old testament Jacob, told by Dinah, one of his daughters of one of his wives. The book focused largely on the women--their days, traditions, fears, etc. I thought it was good. It tells a story that doesn't get told often, so I appreciated that.
5. Into The Wild, Jon Krakauer- I loved this book, but I don't really know why. I am a fan of the author--I love the way he can creep into the head of his characters while doing a decent job at presenting unbiased information. The story of this man who abandoned society to live simply and solely with nature was a surprising page turner.
6. Wicked, Gregory Maguire- another favorite...the untold story of the wicked witch of the west. I couldn't put it down. I was afraid that it was going to be cheesy, but it was serious and endearing. I also saw the Broadway production, and although it was just amazing, it hardly did the book justice.
7. Forever, Pete Hamill- I definitely judged this book by its cover. I bought it because the artwork and fonts on the book were beautiful and assumed the book would have to live up to the cover. It was about a man who is granted somewhat of an eternal life and forced to stay in Manhattan. He gets there in the 1700's and it goes until about current day. I can't decide if I loved it or not. I think some parts were lovely and intriguing, but some parts were dry and passable.
8. House of Sand and Fog, Andre Dubus III- this was one of the earlier ones a couple of months ago, so I remember it less. I did enjoy it, but it wasn't groundbreaking for me. It did have a nice mysterious feel to it, like the fog of the title. Towards the end, it really picked up and was impressive.
9. Till We Have Faces, C.S. Lewis- One of my favorites. I've read this book about 8 times and glean something different each time. It isn't a typical C.S. Lewis, so maybe that's why I love it so much. I think that Till We Have Faces is everything a book should be to me. It is just my taste.
10. Rembrandt's Whore, Sylvie Matton- This was such a good book! An interesting tale of a muse of the artist who wasn't his wife, (gasp!) but a woman he hired to care for his home.
11. The Memory Keeper's Daughter, Kim Edwards- This book was okay, I guess. It started off good--a doctor who delivers his own twins, realizes the baby girl has Down's Syndrome, so sends her to live with the nurse who assisted him. He made the mistake of telling his wife the baby died during childbirth, so the book is the tale of the consequences of the sins and the two families that it creates. I lost interest about halfway through.
12. Dogs Of Babel, Carolyn Parkhurst- It is a celebrated novel, but I was so disturbed by it. I don't even want to describe what it was about, because I will get upset and start to get paranoid again that something bad will happen to my sweet Puddy.
13. Painting Music, Hajo Duchting- A book that gives the biography of my favorite artist, Paul Klee, while highlighting the impact of music on his art. I'm glad someone devoted an entire book on the relationship of the two concepts in his work. With him, its sometimes nearly impossible to divide the two into separate entities. I was interested in it.
14. Under The Banner of Heaven, Jon Krakauer- I really liked this one. I didn't know much about the Mormon faith, namely Mormon fundamentalism, before reading this. I probably got a little too fired-up about it. I spent too much time worrying about my tax dollars supporting polygamous families and trying to wrap my mind around being my own grandmother or my aunt being my step-daughter. But it was a good and informative read.
15. Coach K: Building the Duke Dynasty, Gregg Doyel- A good read...it gave me a little more history on my husband's (and now, my) beloved Blue Devils and their amazing Coach Krzyzewski. I actually can spell it now. It was, however, an older book, published too close to their unfair and heartbreaking 98-99 season when they lost the NCAA Championship game to Connecticut after an undefeated and stellar season. It gave the whole book a sad feel.
16. Love In The Time of Cholera, Gabriel Garcia Marquez- my new favorite book. I avoided it for a while, because it was the book featured in the movie "Serendipity." I thought that made it weird to read or something. But it was amazing. I thought it was, again, everything that I thought a book of value should be. The writing was beautiful--thick and amazing. It seemed like every sentence, every paragraph carried so much more than just the words that made it up. I fell in love with the story and the characters and the passion that carried them through their lives. Just beautiful. I'm probably going to read it again very soon.
posted by Cary at 11:01 AM
4 Comments:
OH totally interested. 'Til we have faces is perhaps one of my favorite books of all time. Might I also recommend "A Dog Called Kitty". Made me cry in third grade...not for the faint of heart.
I have read so few of those. It made me sad, in awe of literature, and just happy that you experienced so much through some good authors. Andre Dubus (not the III, the III's father) is my favorite author; we can talk about him sometime and how he makes everyday experiences (and rare ones) like sacraments. I like his writings to much that I bought his books of essays...
One ofthe books ( a compilation of his short stories) came to me from an amazon Z-Store (used) and it had a note on the inside flap, "To my great friend Dwight, who convinced me that publishing this was not a mistake. Sincerely, Andre'"
I wish we hung out more. Course I saw you tonight and we didn't hang out...
I do like books also, although not as much as I think I do... I think. Reading "Pilgrim at Tinker Creek" and I love it... But, I cannot read more than about five pages at a time, usually two.
I loved 100 Years of Solitude by Marquez, and have been kind of yearning to read Love in the time of Cholera. 100 years of Solitude is amazing in its characterization, scope, and writing if you get a chance... Although, if you're taking recommendations I have another one for you...
If you're not too busy reading: how about writing a new post??!
Cary! This is a great post...I was going to do something simliar for all the movies I've seen lately, but how much more sophistocated is it to chose books instead? I am impressed, and will base my next read on your list. I think Love in the Time of Cholera...
I'm currently reading Emma.
I miss you and hope you're doing well, thought I might get to see you when I was visiting blaze/fabbs over XMas, but I didn't have the energy to make it happen.
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