The Buffalo Soldier - Chris Bohjalian

I liked the first Bohjalian book I read - Midwives very much. It took a difficult topic and presented it with a narrative and a variety of voices. The Buffalo Soldier is similar. As I was reading this book, I kept wondering why I hadn't read more of Bohjalian after I finished Midwives. The story moves along slowly, exploring the story from several viewpoints. Each chapter is written from a different point of view, and normally that is something that I hate. Normally, I have trouble remembering which character is in the lead at the moment. But in this book, Bohjalian brings out the character in more than what is in their head or the events they lead. The chapters have a different feel based on which character is in the lead. But the entire book feels like flowing down a stream - moving along toward the final moments - but not urgently, just drifting.

I'll be picking up more of Bohjalian either at the library or the bookstore.

Iodine - Haven Kimmel

This was just a strange book, a puzzling book. I still enjoyed the style, but I had to really pay attention to follow along. It follows a girl who is coming close to graduating from college when she becomes involved with a professor - that is the easy part. But the rest of the story is the flashback to how she got there; her relationship with her family and her past. It is these flashbacks and remembrances that are the bulk of the book - and where the confusion comes in. Trace/Ianthe, the main character, is trying to reinvent herself but her past keeps coming back in. It makes it painful to read, painful to think about living like she does.

It is the kind of book that I am still thinking about a few weeks later. But it is not a book I am likely to read again.

by Haven Kimmel

• The Solace of Leaving Early by Haven Kimmel
• She Got Up Off the Couch: And Other Heroic Acts from Mooreland, Indiana by Haven Kimmel
• Something Rising (Light and Swift): A Novel by Haven Kimmel

These are the books by Haven Kimmel I have read in the last month. She is one of the few authors I read all the way to then end and then read the acknowledgements. Love her! If you haven't read her you should. A Girl Named Zippy and She Got Up Off the Couch are memiors, but she also have 4 novels (I've only read two so far). She has a wonderful sense of humor - wry, dry, with sarcasm (of course).

The Namesake - Jhumpa Lahiri

I don't know where to start in reviewing this book. As I was reading it, there were several paragraphs that described perfectly how I have felt at different stages in my life. Other parts were wholly unfamiliar. I enjoyed the introspective nature of the main character, but didn't feel a good connection with many of the supporting cast. There were passages that made me ache and other ones that didn't touch me at all. Overall, it has me thinking and that is a good thing.

I would recommend this book, but I am still not sure whether it will be going on the permanent shelves. I already lent it out.

Their Eyes were Watching God - Zora Neale Hurston

Reasons this book should be considered a classic:

• Strong character development of the main character - insight into her thinking at different ages
• Non-idealistic view of love and how people who love each other can react - jealous, controlling, abusive, supportive, loving, friendly, etc.
• Societal norms - follow or not to follow?
• Sense of place - gives the feeling of the South during Jim Crow years

I'd never heard of this book before I found it on my "To Read" shelf. Even while I wasn't reading this book, I wondered what would happen next. I considered the life she had left behind and compared it to the life she was embarking on. I wondered how she would end up alone at the end (they tell you this at the beginning).

A wonderful book, I will be passing it on. If I wasn't paring back the bookshelves, I would keep it.

100 Best Novels

After looking at MLA's 100 Best Novels, I am feel like I'll need to get out of the brain candy mode and pick up something worth reading.

For the Board's List, I have only read 15 of them!

• The Great Gatsby - does it count that I have read it more than once?
• Brave New World
• Catch-22
• The Grapes of Wrath - again, do multiple readings count for something?
• 1984 - multiple readings again...
• Slaughterhouse-Five
• Animal Farm
• Howards End
• Lord of the Flies
• The Age of Innocence
• Death Comes for the Archbishop
• The Catcher in the Rye - multiple readings
• The House of Mirth
• A Bend in the River
• The Call of the Wild

I do slightly better for the Reader's list, 28!

• Atlas Shrugged
• The Fountainhead
• The Lord of the Rings
• To Kill a Mockingbird
• 1984
• Catch-22
• The Great Gatsby
• Stranger in a Strange Land
• Brave New World
• The Catcher in the Rye
• Animal Farm
• The Grapes of Wrath
• Slaughterhouse-Five
• Gone with the Wind
  
• Lord of the Flies
• A Prayer for Owen Meany
• The Stand
  
• Beloved
• The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
• The Handmaid's Tale
• Something Wicked This Way Comes
• The Call of the Wild
• Fahrenheit 451
• Watership Down
• The Hunt for Red October
  
• Naked Lunch
• It
• One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest

Does it count that I tried to read Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance? I think it should, I won't pick it up again.

How did you do?

Eva Luna - Isabel Allende

After giving up on Secret Love, I picked up a book I knew I would enjoy. I have enjoyed every book I've ready by Allende's and Eva Luna was no exception.

It covers the story of Eva Luna from her being found at the mission to her finding her partner. Like many of Allende's books, the character moves around as circumstances change. The one constant in Luna's life is the stories she makes up for herself and those around her. The cast of characters was amusing and brought additional comedy to the happenings.

This one is on the shelf and available for borrowing.

Bed rest continued - 5 books in one

Bare Bones by Kathy Reichs - this was a poor choice for me - too much death and the death of an infant. I made it through because there were other crimes, but I didn't think I would. I normally like her stuff, this just wasn't the right fit.

Killjoy by Julie Garwood - Fun romance / suspense type book. Nothing fancy, nothing worth keeping, but not a waste of time.

Priceless by Mariah Stewart - not part of the other series, a stand alone book. More romance than mystery - but enough mystery to get the guy and girl together. Brain candy.

The Forest Lover by Susan Vreeland - a historical fiction account of Emily Carr's life painting Indian artifacts (totem poles, big houses, etc.) in Vancouver. I find myself wanting to go see her work - of course, I'll have to use the Internet for now. It's always good to read about someone who gets upset about being called a "good woman painter". Highly recommend this one.

The Lost Painting by Jonathan Harr - nonfiction about the search for a lost Caravaggio masterpiece. It takes the reader through the process of researching provenance of paintings. I am still amazed that people have account ledgers from 1600s and back at their disposal. One of the things I kept thinking as I read this was about how future researchers are going to have a hard time finding data about our current "Information age" - incompatible file formats, operating systems and will they even realize the information is on a disk and that the disk might look like a pen??? Recommended.

Reading on bed rest... (10 books)

Finished prior to bed rest...

• The Mermaid Chair - Sue Monk Kidd - ok / fun, probably wouldn't read again
• The End Of The Dream The Golden Boy Who Never Grew Up - Ann Rule - ok, not stellar

Bed rest... (8 books in 4 days?)

• Dead Even / Dead End - Mariah Stewart - end of a series I started a while ago - fun, repeating characters - big cast
• Cold Truth / Hard Truth / Dark Truth / Final Truth - Mariah Stewart - a different series, ties in with the "Dead ..." series from same author - same recurring characters - although I needed to switch authors after this set, I knew the "shocking" turn in the Final Truth book when it started 2 books earlier
  
• Heartbreaker - Julie Garwood - good, fun - page turner
• In Silence - Erica Spindler - fun, easy - got sucked in
  

I'll probably continue with the brain candy reading. I know I have some highly recommended ones on my to read list, but I'm not sure if I want anything that makes me do more than look for the next plot turn / twist.

Reading - but not blogging - 3 books in one!

I've been so busy these days -but due to illness, I have actually been reading. At least when I was well enough to actually read.

Killer Smile - Lisa Scottoline
I had read this one before and I could remember how it ended. What I didn't remember was how it got from the beginning with Premenstrual {insert guy name here} to the final court room scene. And in my addled state, it was perfect. I was able to follow the book even when I couldn't follow a new TV drama. Not sure that is a ringing endorsement, but it was fun.

Oryx & Crake - Margaret Atwood
Another book I read before (sensing a theme?), but one that I loved and had always planned to read again. I had borrowed it the first time and re-reading it reminded me why I had put it on my list of books to buy. It has the commentary that you expect from Atwood, character development, and leaves you with something to talk about at the end - will he kill them? will he let them live? what happens if he lets them live? This was my pick for book club - and I was too sick to attend! I still need to discuss this book with people... now I need a new book club. (ha!)

One True Thing - Anna Quindlen
I picked this one up because Owen had kindly removed it from it's resting place in the "books to read" pile and put it on the night stand. I'm not sure what motivated him to do that -but I'm glad he did. Like Oryx & Crake, this is a book that I would re-read. This is a book that made me think about family, duty, and what I want to be. Not necessarily that I want to be anyone in the book, but it got me thinking about how I would handle the same situation. About how I would want to handle it, but also how I think it is more likely that I would. There is one section in the book that has really stood out. Not necessarily because I agree with the guys / girls sentiment, but because it made me think about what it means to deal with something. It is just the act of moving on and helping pick up the pieces or is it the mental process that helps you get to the next day?

"Everyone deals with bad stuff in their own way," Jon added.
"Well, that's the point isn't it, Jon?" I said. "Whenever one of you guys says people deal with bad stuff in their own way, it means you don't deal with it at all. You just wait for it to go away. You don't help, you don't listen. You don't call. You don't write. WE deal with it in our own way. WE deal with it. We girls. We make the meals and clean up the messes and take the crap and listen to you talk about how you are dealing with it in your own way. What way? No way!

Selected Stories - Henry James

After Reading Lolita in Tehran, I did it. I actually picked up Henry James's selected stories. Ok - I only made it through Daisy Miller and then a small portion of Washington Square, but at least I picked up the book. I really don't know what all the fuss was about - maybe I need the literature class discussion about the meanings behind things? Maybe, I missed the subtle nuances? It just seemed like a straight forward story, and of course the girl who broke with convention died. It didn't stick with me the way that short stories by Shirley Jackson or Franz Kafka have stayed with me. It seemed overly simplistic - but I guess you can't have the same character development in a short story that you have in a longer one.

I'm glad I read it, and I'm sure I'll read more. But I won't be reading it cover to cover - I'll just pick and choose.

Reading Lolita in Tehran: A Memoir in Books - Azar Nafisi

This month's book club selection was one I had heard about but never really had on my own personal reading list. It was nothing like I expected. It's part literary criticism, part Iran history book and part memoir. I never thought much about life in Iran or what daily life must be like in a country ruled by Islamic militants. I don't think about what it would be like to live through the transition from a more liberal rule to a more militant one. In some ways, I like to pretend that it doesn't happen - that people aren't so cruel.

I know I live in freedom, but I don't think about all the ways I am free. Free to think, free to act, free to talk to strangers on the street, free to work at home or in the office, free to wear the clothes I want, free to travel, free to learn, free to read, free from fear. This book makes me appreciate what I do have.

On the other hand, it also made me miss one of the things that I don't have - discussions about books that go beyond the superficial, "I liked it." Discussions that are all about one particular passage or ones that compare the heroine in one book to the heroine in another book. Discussions that talk about the parallels between the book and current events, the role of women in society vs. books, the role of men. It made me want to read Nabokov, James, Austen. But it also made me feel like I would be missing something to just read them alone and not discuss them. Maybe I need to find my own literature class - not just a book group.

Since it is borrowed, this book will go back. Otherwise, it would go on the shelf. I could see rereading sections - at least as I tackle those classics.

The Hours - Michael Cunningham

After a nice easy read, I thought I would pick up one that I had heard mixed reviews of. Some hated it, others loved it, and some were indifferent. I have to say I am in the Loved It category. It was like reading 3 short stories at the same time - the closest I could come to the way I watch 2 or 3 TV programs at a time. The short story aspect came from each character getting the story of one day in their life.

But the reason I loved it was that for the first time in years, I found myself wanting to underline passages.

"She could live on; she could perform that final kindness." - As if, she would be giving up her last chance for suicide.

"The green silence." - A much better way to picture death - all leafy green and fresh, and really not that silent.

"She herself is trapped here forever, posing as wife."

"Like his father, what he wants most ardently is more of what he's already got... Like his father he senses that more of this is precisely what they may very well not get."

This one will stay in the library, I would like to read it a few more times. Maybe next time, I'll keep a pencil nearby...

Update 5/30: Passed it on instead.