When I was a wee, little thing, wee(er) and little(er) than I am now, I was a member of my small town's summertime Library Reading Club. Every week during my summer vacation my mother would take me to the library's children's section so I could pick out my next few books.
At least I assume she did. I don't really remember her taking me at all but I'm pretty sure I didn't ride my Big Wheel there, although I could have hitchhiked.
I do remember the book club, and the hushed tone of the library with the only sound being the flipping of paper pages and the sliding of books in and out of the shelves. All the disturbing sounds, the clangs and bangs of file cabinets and such, absorbed by the low pile carpet.
I'd make my way downstairs, to the children's section to have my paper stamped, confirming that I had read my previous weeks books. Having officially established I was a reading fool, I wandered into the stacks, looking at book after book, their protective plastic covers crinkling along the spine as I opened them hoping to discover my next read.
I'm not sure what you could call the feeling I had wandering around in that library or the feeling I got knowing I was going to be able to go home and read the stories I'd chosen but it was probably a cross between utter joy, love, and batshit crazy.
I have always loved reading to the point of insanity. I get anxious if I don't have at least 5 books waiting to read. I need to read before I go to bed no matter how tired I am. I'll do everything short of propping my eyelids open with toothpicks Tom & Jerry style to get at least a few more pages in.
I read "literature", I read humour and I read crap. I read it all, depending on my mood. And the 5 Books I've Read plus 5 Books I'm Gonna Read posts pretty much reflect that.
The Illegal - The Illegal is Lawrence Hill's most engaging book since The Book of Negroes (sometimes titled Someone Knows My Name). Hill lives about 10 minutes from me. That means nothing, I just thought I'd throw it in there in case it makes you think I'm a bit more special because of it. The story revolves around a marathon runner from a small, corrupt African country. This is how Amazon describes it:
All Keita has ever wanted to do is to run. Running means respect and wealth at home. His native Zantoroland, a fictionalized country whose tyrants are eerily familiar, turns out the fastest marathoners on earth. But after his journalist father is killed for his outspoken political views, Keita must flee to the wealthy nation of Freedom State―a country engaged in a crackdown on all undocumented people.
There, Keita becomes a part of the new underground. He learns what it means to live as an illegal: surfacing to earn cash prizes by running local races and assessing whether the people he meets will be kind or turn him in. As the authorities seek to arrest Keita, he strives to elude capture and ransom his sister, who has been kidnapped.
Set in an imagined country bearing a striking resemblance to our own, this tension-filled novel casts its eye on race, human potential, and what it means to belong.
I loved this book and couldn't wait to go to bed to read it. That's the sign of a good book.
Tuesday Nights in 1980 - This novel by first time author Molly Prentiss takes place in New York City's art scene of the 1980s. It focuses mainly on 3 characters, Raul an artist who has escaped escalating violence in Argentina, small town Idaho Lucy and an art critic with the condition Synesthesia. I quite liked it. But I'm not sure I'll remember it. Does that make sense?
We Were Liars - THIS one I will remember. I really loved We Were Liars by E. Lockhart. It's the story of The Sinclairs; filthy rich, old money democrats who summer at their private island off of Martha's Vineyard. The back of the book jacket says it best:
We are Sinclairs.
No one is needy.
No one is wrong.
We live, at least in the summertime, on a private island off the coast of Massachusetts.
Perhaps that is all you need to know.
Except that some of us are liars.
Plainsong - Plainsong by Kent Haruf was recommended to me by my neighbour Jane as she drove past in her car. I believe she had read my latest post on books and screamed out of the car "READ PLAINSONG BY KENT HARUFFFFFFffffffff. " And then she was gone. Plainsong is a quiet, beautiful little book. "Tom Guthrie is a high school teacher whose wife can't--or won't--get out of bed; the McPherons are two bachelor brothers who know little about the world beyond their farm gate; Victoria Roubideaux is a pregnant 17-year-old with no place to turn. Their lives parallel each other in much the same way any small-town lives would--until Maggie Jones, another teacher, makes them intersect." (from Amazon) Kent Haruf has a follow up novel to Plainsong, called Eventide which will be getting added to the dwindling stack of books beside my bed soon.
Fifteen Dogs - I thought this book was stupid. There I said it. I know it probably means I just didn't get it, or didn't read into it far enough, or understand the metaphors or allegory or whatever else, but even if I did, I still wouldn't have liked it. The book's a great idea. It's a novel that humanizes 15 dogs and takes you on their journey through life as they break out of a dog shelter. Or was it a vet's office? Anyhow, for me it was sad and depressing and generally awful. It made me feel hateful and pessimistic towards both dogs and humans. Mind you I only managed to get halfway through it before flinging it across the room and curling up with my cat.
Maeve's Times - Maeve Binchy is one of the great storytellers of our time. Her characters and settings are funny, warm, ordinary, and extraordinary. If I could use only one word to describe Maeve Binchy stories it would be "comfortable". Maeve Binchy died in 2012. This is a collection of her short stories as they appeared in The Irish Times from the 1960's to the time of her death. Before and during her time as a novelist, Binchy was a reporter, correspondent and columnist for the paper.
Flight Behavior - I'm a very love it or hate it kind of reader with Barbara Kingsolver. I loved The Poisonwood Bible. I did not love The Lacuna. I loved Animal, Vegetable, Miracle. I did not love The Bean Trees. I have a hunch Flight Behavior is going to be a love it for me. Here's the excerpt from Amazon:
Set in the present day in the rural community of Feathertown, Tennessee, Flight Behavior tells the story of Dellarobia Turnbow, a petite, razor-sharp 29-year-old who nurtured worldly ambitions before becoming pregnant and marrying at seventeen. Now, after more than a decade of tending to small children on a failing farm, oppressed by poverty, isolation and her husband's antagonistic family, she has mitigated her boredom by surrendering to an obsessive flirtation with a handsome younger man.
In the opening scene, Dellarobia is headed for a secluded mountain cabin to meet this man and initiate what she expects will be a self-destructive affair. But the tryst never happens. Instead, she walks into something on the mountainside she cannot explain or understand: a forested valley filled with silent red fire that appears to her a miracle.
After years lived entirely in the confines of one small house, Dellarobia finds her path suddenly opening out, chapter by chapter, into blunt and confrontational engagement with her family, her church, her town, her continent, and finally the world at large.
I'm guessing that field of fire is butterflies, but I guess I'll have to read it to find out. Which I will. Probably some time this summer.
The High Mountains of Portugal - I bought this latest book by Life of Pi author Yann Martel before I knew anything about it. I loved Life of Pi and so did over 6,000 Amazon reviewers. 60% of them gave it the highest rating, 5 stars. Now that I own The High Mountains of Portugal, I looked up a few reviews on Amazon where the word "slog" is used a disturbing amount of times to describe what it's like to get through.
The Rosie Effect - The Rosie Effect is the follow up novel to the wildly, out-of-the-blue popular novel The Rosie Project; a hilarious and charming novel about a man with Aspergers figuring out how to work love into his regimented life. I'm really looking forward to reading the light and entertaining Rosie Effect after reading the book I'm reading right now ...
Barkskins - I've included Barkskins in my "gonna read" books because even though I've started it, I haven't finished it. I'm on page 41 of the over 700 page novel from Pulitzer Prize winning author Annie Proulx who wrote The Shipping News and Brokeback Mountain. This is not what you would call an easy read but it's what you'd call a great read. It's already reminding me of Lonesome Dove. Not the story, but the way, even only 40 pages in, I feel for these characters. I know them. I know where they live and how they work. I'm a part of their world, I'm not just reading about it. I'm immersed.
Barkskins tells the stories of 2 very different men and generations of their descendants from the day they land in "New France" (Canada) in the late 1600's. Both are taken on as wood cutters (Barkskins) to clear the wild forests of a landowner.
So that's 5 more books down and 5 more to go in my lifelong journey of reading. Gold stars for me. And since you're still here reading this, I imagine gold stars for you too.
Happy reading.
Lindy
OOOh Rich Sinclairs. I like the sound of that one. Err, except for the Liars bit. I found that Flight Behaviour is great if you firmly keep the picture of that great actor Holly Hunter in your head as the main character. But boy does it get hectoring. Loved the beginning, and some of the middle and then had that Barbara Kingsolver moment (like in the Lacuna) when I realized that it just wasn't as great as the Poisonwood Bible and slogged on to the end. Diligently.
Su
thanks for the recommendations! even tho I have become a convert to the e-reader ( which I love for traveling) I still love books - REAL books you hold and flip back and forth thru.... anyway I live out in the boonies and for whatever reason have not been to the library for years... recently I went back and almost never left... I had forgotten the feeling of browsing the stacks and finding a gem of a book.... I found authors I hadn't read in years with new material. Something you can't quite do on Amazon for some strange reason.....
Eika
"Venus For A Day" by Robin Rice - got it free as an ebook. Didn't want to put it down. Generally not my type of book, but I loved it and bought everything else by the same author.
marilyn
my childhood was spent at the library in a beanbag chair with a stack of books beside me..reading is like breathing. i must do it in order to survive
Karen
At the end I'm going with We Were Liars. Hope it's at Costco lol
NinaMargoJune
"Pax" by Sarah Pennypacker. A simultaneously simple and complex story about a boy and his pet fox, narrated alternately by each of them, who get separated. A quick beautiful novel on many levels.
Mary W
Who Moved the Cheese! Still waiting your review. It will take you 1 hour to read. Skip the whole first half of the book as it is "explaining" the story. Just Read the Story! You did say you were going to finally pick it up - last year. The year before you said nothing. The year before you mentioned it had been very popular. Whatsamatteryou? I can't send you my copy as my son took it home to give to one of his friends and I'll never see it again. It's NOT a Great Read - it is just a story everyone should read and absorb. It makes life and living easier.
Karen
LOL. I just looked at it in my "list" last night. I keep not ordering it because ... well it's a self help book isn't it? I'm just so not interested by self help books but you keep insisting a read it, lol! I swear if I buy this book and I don't like it I'm going to find you and throw it right at your head. O.K. Here we go ... ~ karen!
Adrienne in Atlanta
Definitely get it at the library. You'll never, ever read it again, though it is a well told little lesson/story which you'll be able to recount to anyone who you think could benefit from its wisdom. ;)
monique
Loved We Were Liars.
I have a hard time giving a book 5 stars..
I think I gave The Art of Hearing Heartbeats 5 stars.
I'll Pin your books because I enjoy reading and love recommendations..
I also loved Sarah's Key and Child44
Eleanor and Park was good too.
Inside The O'Briens
The Language of Flowers
It Was me All Along
The Great Santini
Orphan Train
The Goldfinch
etc etc..
Ok I'll stop now:)
cheryl
LOVED the snow child...LOVED LOVED and haunted by it...will make you want a snowman
try "Lab Girl" by Hope Jahren...she may be as smart as you Karen....i do emphasize "may" :)
Karen
Ha! I'm sure she is, lol. Lab Girl. Got it. I'll have a look. ~ karen!
jainegayer
LOVE reading, always have. I'm in the middle of LITTLE BEE at the moment, but hope to pick up some of your "picks" at the library today. I feel restless when I don't have a book lying on the coffee table. My husband is trying to get me to try a Kindle. Never, I told him. I just like to turn real pages.
Lauren from Winnipeg
I really enjoyed Little Bee. Read it a few years ago. If you haven't already read his other two - Incendiary and Gold - I also recommend.
jainegayer
I hope to pick them up at the library today. :)
Beth
The Sisters Brothers!!!! Funny, evocative of Lonesome Dove.
A quick read. Still thinking about it 2 mos. later.
Karen
Great, thanks. ~ karen!
Kim C
Yes, I second The Sisters Brothers!
Jenn
I am extremely late to your party, but better late than never! And I love that you are a reader. Three book clubs command my time as well as the in between reading. What can I say? And I actually do have a life. Poisonwood Bible is one of my all time favorites, but I, too, am hot and cold on Kingsolver. Loved Flight Behavior. Off to read your past recs and to pick up on a few I may have missed. Read on!
Karen
Welcome to the book portion of my site Jenn. :) ~ karen!
Ann
OK-you have talked me into The Rosie Project and Evensong. I loved Flight Behavior. Loved it. But my sister in law listened to it during her first round of chemo and she thought it was a tad depressing. But I think it was the chemo talking. I found the book to be uplifting overall. Barbara Kingsolver has some of the very best character development skills out there and her characters are so real life, which really helps me like a book. No, everything is not happy happy thru out the book. But life isn't so why should this book be?
Our family is filled with Aspergers so any book written about it is going to get read. Some have hit the nail on the head. Well, at least with my families version of Asperger's. Some have not. So let's hope this next one does.
Plainsong and The Illegal also are grabbing my attention. Time to go pick up a new listen on Audible.
Amy in KC
I haven't read this yet, but my mom just finished The Eagle Tree by Ned Hayes. I was remembering that she'd said the character had Asperger's, but according to Amazon it's autism (it's not clear to me how high-functioning). Anyway, she said it was really good.
And another series about high-functioning autism is the Genevieve Lenard series by Estelle Ryan. They are mysteries involving art theft and murder, and the main character has autism and is an expert in human behavior (she studied it extensively so she could understand other people since that didn't come naturally to her). It's a pretty good series, and I always learn a lot about art history in the process, which is fun.
*I know autism and Asperger's are not the same thing, but since they're on the same spectrum and closely related, I thought these would be interesting to you (and others) as well.
Rose
I loved the "The Illegal" too. I just reserved the rest at the library. Should keep me busy reading for a few weeks! Along with planting and cleaning up the garden. Can't wait to sit in the hammock and read a book.
Adrienne in Atlanta
Flight Behavior was interesting. There was clearly an ecological message Kingsolver wanted to get across, but it didn't get annoying (to me anyway). Good writing, and not overly taxing. Perfect non-vapid summer read.
I haven't found a book to love love love since The Goldfinch. :-/
Katie
Adrienne,
Have you read Fates and Furies by Lauren Groff? I loved The Goldfinch, and ADORED Fates and Furies.
Adrienne in Atlanta
I am next on the list for it from the library. :) Now just need to find time to read it! Thanks for the rec!
Jan in Waterdown
I feel like I'm the ONLY person who hated the Goldfinch. Didn't even bother to finish it. Found the main character totally unsympathetic so I didn't care what happened to him. Maybe I missed something . . .
Adrienne in Atlanta
Well I will say that I found the writing exquisite so even though "Potter" was a little bit of a putz, it was the final 50 pages or so (or like last 10%) that made me *adore* the story and how we got to it. I listened to the audiobook, which was done extremely well. I promise it pays off in the end if you decide to try again. It still makes my soul sing a little to think of what the book was all about. :) This doesn't happen to me often!
Jan in Waterdown
Hmmmmm, now I'm curious . . . maybe I should give it another shot? Thanks!
Rene Walkin
Thanks for the recommendations. I am still struggling through the Yan Martel book-a far cry from Life of Pi! Loved Flight Behaviour-like you I was totally struck by Poisonwood Bible-so much so that I read it again 10+ years later and enjoyed it all over again. Also loved Animal, Vegetable, Mineral but lukewarm on the others.
We Were Liars was fabulous. I'm going to get Barkskins and Plainsong-they sound like my kind of books.
Karen
I'm so glad someone else has read We Were Liars. You don't hear very much about it and it was such an interesting book. ~ karen!
Amanda
I love your book posts! Have you read "The Snow Child"? If not, I have a feeling you would love reading it.
Karen
I have read it Amanda, and I hated it at first, lol. But as I read it I liked it more. ~ karen!
Jenifer
Who is the author? I looked it up on Goodreads and there were 5 books with that title...
Thanks!
Amanda
The Snow Child: A Novel https://www.amazon.com/dp/0316175668/ref=cm_sw_r_api_K6jlxbKP699TS
Kathleen
Yay for your well timed post! (Well timed for me anyway) I was watching a young man read a book whilst waiting for his Chinese take away order last night, and thought to myself... I don't have a new book to read after the one I'm reading now...
I'm off to shop online.
Thanks once again, Karen. :)
Karen
Barkskins is a pre-order for June. If you don't think you'll be done the book you're reading now until then get that. REALLY good book. A REAL book, ya know, lol? ~ karen!
Jennie Lee
Thanks for the book recommendations, Karen. My Mom used to take me to the library every Saturday in the summer. She wouldn't let me check out more than 10 books at a time. She was afraid I'd lose some, if there were more than 10 to keep track of. My child self found that a real insult. I never lost one, and I usually read them all. Sometimes it was absolute torture trying to whittle the stack down to 10 books. The most recent book I read which was worthy of being recommended was "Breakfast With Buddha; A Novel", by Roland Merullo.
Shirley
I too slogged through the High Mountains of Portugal, at least I think I did, I could have fallen asleep. (Which, in retrospect was better than falling on my sword!)