Books

Book 42: Gilead – Marilynne Robinson

Gilead - Marilynne RobinsonI purchased this book with the 13 or 14 others at the Boston Book Festival last year in a bag for $20 from one of the book sellers. And although the elusive ‘they’ say never to judge a book by its cover, I would not have read Gilead If I hadn’t. From the beautiful and simplistic close up of a fading front door to the title so steeped in folkloric and mythic tradition, I never once read the synopsis until I decided to read the book and there was no turning back.

The lack of religiosity impressed me considering the book’s protagonist is a Congregationalist minister. The religion that does seep in comes across more as universal kindness and understanding than tongues and bible thumping. The protagonist, his best friend, his father, his grandfather, and various other characters are all ministers and yet they are real people–they love, they kill (in the name of abolition), they run away from the world and they live normal lives.

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Books

Book 41: Room – Emma Donoghue

Room - Emma DonoghueI finished reading Room in three days. Now that might not sound like much of a feat, but it was actually closer to 48 hours (which if you know me still isn’t much of a feat, but with a full-time job and a million other things to do, it sounds like a challenge). After hearing Emma Donoghue read a portion of the first chapter (Oh Hey, Big City…), I of course had to start reading immediately. Her reading was perfect and the Irish tilt of her American accent gave voice to the characters in my head as I was reading.

From the various Booker Prize winning novels I must say that I feel those that make the shortlist and those that ultimately win are distinctly different. For me it is much easier to read the shortlist novels and they are almost always invariably more enjoyable. The one exception so far is Margaret Atwood’s Blind Assassin (Book 27: The Blind Assassin – Margaret Atwood), but perhaps that is because I thoroughly enjoyed the uniqueness of the three distinct stories weaving into one.

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Books

Book 40: Boston Noir – Dennis Lehane (ed.)

I assumed this was a random small collection of short stories as I picked it up for very cheap at the 2010 Boston Book Festival, but this past week I was in a Barnes and Noble (resisting going off on a ridiculous rant about BN) this past week and it was on display with other ‘New Fiction.’

Overall I enjoyed the various short stories, but a lot of them didn’t really connect me to Boston, the feeling of Boston. Quite a few of them took the typical route – through the Irish connection or the crime, but a lot of them were just sort of stories that could have been anywhere else in the world with the change of a few signifying characteristics (and some couldn’t be). With subjects ranging from turn of the (18th) century dockside stories to Catholic priests and child abuse and WWII survivor stories to a financial district murder, they are broad and cover most of the city.

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Books

Book 27: The Blind Assassin – Margaret Atwood

What can you say about Margaret Atwood that hasn’t been said? She has been nominated for countless awards (including 5 Booker Awards, winning once) and is just brilliant all around. I recommend checking out her Twitter (it’s political, about books and writing, about people who’ve been influenced by her works, and about any random thing she decides to mention).

I was first introduced to Margaret Atwood through The Handmaid’s Tale, a dystopic feminist novel written in the early 1980s. I’ll probably reread The Handmaid’s Tale next year and I’ll review it, but I definitely recommend it (especially if you read it and either precede or follow it with Marge Piercy’s Woman on the Edge of Time [Wikipedia link]).

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Books

Book 12: Mockingjay – Suzanne Collins

[To see an updated review of when I re-read it in 2013 before the release of the films click here.]

I honestly don’t know how I feel about Mockingjay. My reaction isn’t as strong as it was to either The Hunger Games or Catching Fire. I’m not sure if it has to do with the psychological aspect of the novel or the context of this novel or the ending of such a strong trilogy in such a lack-luster manner. As with the first two I read the novel very quickly and enjoyed the read.

However, I once again have to say that I believe the trilogy would’ve been stronger if it was a quadrilogy or even five novels. More detail of the minor characters of the skirmishes would have created a stronger ending to the series and would’ve perhaps built more realistic characters and created empathy with many of them. DON’T READ AFTER THIS IF YOU WANT TO READ THEM ON YOUR OWN (SPOILERS).

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