Books-2010, Delectable Novels and other good (and not-so-good) reads

Even though I haven’t been posting much, I’ve been reading a ton. I’m a novel gal at heart and I’ve had the immense pleasure of picking up a number of really amazing novels (and some other not so great books) since I last posted. Be forewarned, this is long, but I’d definitely be interested to hear what you think about any of the books on here that you’ve read yourself.

#3 Spooner by Pete Dexter

As my dear friend Arch Support pointed out while reading the jacket, the subject matter of this book, a white dude with a white dude’s problems, isn’t exactly compelling. And we all know that white dudes are already a very well-represented segment of the literary canon. HOWEVER. Pete Dexter is an amazing story-teller with a dry wit and that was enough to get me hooked. The title character is quirky at best, but despite his obvious character flaws is somehow still quite likable, and the book tells the story of his life. Definitely worth the read.

#4 Picking Bones from Ash by Marie Mutsuki Mockett

This book is a little like Memoirs of a Geisha meets The Joy Luck Club with the benefit of being authored by a Japanese-American writer. (Seriously, I could never get over the weirdness of reading about geishas as documented by a white dude.) This book deals with some interesting questions about motherhood and daughterhood, and the what happens when people pursue the things they do the best. An excellent read.

#5 Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese

Oh, this novel was absolutely delicious. It follows the story of conjoined twins born to a nun and a British doctor, both of whom work in an Ethiopian hospital. If that doesn’t get you hooked, the rich prose and complex characters should do the trick. I loved, loved, loved this book. As in couldn’t put it down at night to sleep. Really, I can’t stress how beautiful the language in this story was to me. Can’t wait to read more by this new-to-me author.

#6 The Help by Kathryn Stockett

So I know this book has gotten a lot of positive press. And don’t get me wrong I liked the story and the characters. I didn’t like the way the story was told. If you don’t know anything about the book, it chronicles the process of a white woman writing a book about being a black servant in the South riiiight on the edge of the civil rights movement. She talks to black servants in her town and documents their stories. Fine. But I have a huge problem with this. First, the book itself was written by a white woman. Second, the book within the book is written by a white woman. So we’re reading a story about white oppression of blacks in the U.S. that has been filtered twice by white women’s voices. And I think that that is deeply, deeply problematic. I am not suggesting that white people can’t ever write characters of color. I AM suggesting that white writers who are writing specifically about oppression need to tread VERY carefully and consult with their sources extensively, which I’m not sure the author did. I am also suggesting that there is a temporal aspect to this issue as well. When we’re looking at oppression that is so very recent in our history, I think it is only right and fair to allow the voices of the oppressed to tell their own story without any interference from their oppressors. I can’t possibly imagine that there are NO black servants from the 60s still alive and well today. This book should have been written by them.

#7 The Believers by Zoe Heller

Be forewarned, this book is very dark, but very entertaining. You will not like any of the characters, but their stories will intrigue you, nevertheless. The book documents what happens to the wife and three adult children of a left-wing, atheistic lawyer when he suffers a massive stroke. The family is all manners of dysfunctional, but it’s interesting to see how each of them adjusts and copes when the central figure of the family is suddenly and unexpectedly removed from the equation.

#8 Happens Every Day by Isabel Gillies

Gillies memoir documents the disintegration of her marriage after she and her family migrate to Oberlin, Ohio to allow her husband to pursue a tenure-track faculty position in English. I…honestly didn’t love this book. I found Gillies’ narrative voice a little obnoxious, and I actually wanted very desperately for the book to end. That being said, a lot of people have loved this book, so don’t discount it just because of me. If you enjoy memoirs, this may very well appeal to you.

#9 The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein

This is a dog book a la Marley and Me, but I don’t think it was as well done. Firstly, the book was written in the voice of the dog. Fine. Second, for whatever reason, when I read the title, I assumed it referred to dogs racing (ie. running) through the rain, not people racing cars through the rain. My bad, but that completely disarmed me when I started to read and discovered that the book does talk a lot about racing cars (the narrator’s owner is a race car driver). Also frustrating, the cover of the book features what looks like a golden retriever, but the dog in the book is mixed breed and has some terrier in him. I found that really obnoxious. Overall, the book was…okay. A quick read, definitely one for the animal lovers out there, but it didn’t do it for me the way Marley and Me did.

#10 The Life of Pi by Yann Martel

I know, I know; I am totally late to the game on this one. This was, however, another one that I couldn’t put down. The narrator is an Hindu, Muslim, Christian, Indian son of a zookeeper who winds up stranded on a lifeboat with a 300 lb Bengal tiger, an orangutan, a hyena, and a wounded zebra. Loved the premise, loved the story. It raises all kinds of interesting questions about the reliability of the narrator, as well as questions about spirituality and the act of story telling. A must-read, if you haven’t already.

#11 The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows

Despite the setting (post-WWII England) and some of the subject matter (the aftermath of war), this was, dare I say it, a cute book. The story is told through a series of letters between the main character, Juliet, and various friends, including a members of the Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, which was formed as a way for the citizens of Guernsey to cope with the German occupation of their island. The characters are infinitely likable, and their stories, though sometimes quite painful, and similarly charming. A very fast, enjoyable read.

#12 Nurtureshock by Po Bronson and Ashley Merryman

This is another book that has received a great deal of press, and although I found the book useful and intriguing, I didn’t find a whole lot of new information in the book that I hadn’t already read in one form or another. It offers new data and studies that show that conventional parenting wisdom may not be all its cracked up to be, and offers some suggestions on how to parent differently. Definitely worth a read for parents of children of all ages.

#13 The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larson

The original Swedish title of this book, Men Who Hate Women, should give you an inkling that the subject matter of this mystery isn’t for the faint of heart. I have always loved mysteries, and I found that this one had me hooked immediately. By about 2/3 of the way through, I had figured out at least part of the mystery, and where that would usually frustrate me (I want to be kept in the dark, dangit!), I found that I still couldn’t stop reading because the characters were still so very compelling. I can’t wait to read the other two books in the series.

#14 A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini

Yes, I know, another one I should have read ages ago, but I only just got around to it in recent months. If you loved The Kite Runner, you will love this book, too. It is deeply sad (as I imagine almost any book about Afghanistan might be), and examines the experience of two women, married to the same man, in an unapologetically violent, and misogynistic culture. It was absolutely heart-breaking to read, but beautifully written.

#15 The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield

Another intriguing mystery, which this time I didn’t manage to solve before the end of the book. In this novel, Vida Winter, an aging British writer, engages Margaret Lea, amateur biographer and daughter of a bookshop owner, to write Miss Winter’s biography. We find out that Miss Winter has long been spinning fantastic tales about her origins, none of which have been true, but as she nears the end of her life, she’s finally ready to reveal her story. Lots of gothic castles, ghost sightings, fires, and governesses in this one, as well as interesting questions about storytelling, narration, and truth. Definitely an enjoyable read.

If you made it this far, you deserve a sticker. So what do you think? Am I completely off my rocker, or do you agree with my assessments?