Mexico Beach Reading Round Up

Thought I'd report back on my beach reading last week in Mexico.  Here's what kept me busy during those long, hot days on the beach:

The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest by Stieg Larsson:  The third book in the Lisbeth Salander trilogy.  Like the other two, I really enjoyed this one and was entirely engrossed at the end.  Also like the other two, however, it took me about 200 pages to get into the book and I thought the cast of characters was too big to keep track of.  I know it sounds like a lukewarm review, but I really did enjoy it and was curious to see how all of the various story lines would come together.  

A Soft Place to Land by Susan Rebecca White: The story of two sisters who are torn apart when their parents die suddenly in a plane crash.  I really enjoyed this one but thought the ending was a little abrupt.  Since finishing the book, I've thought a lot about the relationship between the personalities of the two sisters and their living arrangements, and how those two factors affected the course of their lives.  I don't usually analyze books so carefully, so I think that's a testament to how provactive this one was.

A Reliable Wife by Robert Goolrick: The tale of a lonely man who places an ad for a reliable wife.  The women he gets is not what he expected, but neither is he what she expected.  I thought it was a good beach read but nothing more.

Look Again by Lisa Scottoline: What would you do if you realized the child you thought you legally adopted actually belongs to someone else?  Another really thought-provoking book.  I thought the ending was clever, though perhaps a bit too neat. 

Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese: I'm not quite finished with this one, but I got far enough to call it a beach read.  It's the story of twin brothers born to a nun and a surgeon in Ethiopia and their coming of age.  I can't tell you how many good things I've heard about this book (and how many people stopped me on the beach to tell me how much they loved it), but I confess that I'm not loving it myself.  I think the story is interesting, but I find the pace somewhat slow.  Now that I'm back, we'll see if I actually finish it.  I'm so disappointed, because I want to enjoy it as much as everyone else, but to each her own, I guess!

The Girls From Ames

Just wanted to plug the book I've been reading and really enjoying.  It's called The Girls from Ames, and it chronicles the lives of 11 women from Ames, Iowa, who have been friends since childhood. 

Ever since I saw Beaches, I've been a sucker for these kinds of friendships-triumph-all sagas in movies and books.  Similarly, this book describes the ups and downs of these 11 (now 10) women's lives and how their friends are there with them through it all.  It's nonfiction, but it largely reads like fiction (though it is a written documentary of sorts, so it's somewhat meditative).  Reading it has made me reflect on my own friendships.  I don't have a big group of 10 friends like the women in the book (though now I kind of wish for one!), but I do have a few friendships that date back to my very early years, which I treasure. 

There are no major conflicts among the women, at least once they reach adulthood, and I find the lack of major drama somewhat reassuring that most friendships are actually not what we see in the movies.  (Translation: if you want action and intrigue, try another book.)

The book's website has an interview with the women, so you can get a real sense of who they are.  I thought it was really interesting to see how close my imagination came to real life. 

Summer's almost over, but if you're looking for something to take you through those last few weeks by the pool, think about this one.

Beach Reading Round Up

Sadly, for me, vacation is over and it's back to real life.  All in all, it was a great trip.  The bulk of my time was spent with my nose in a book--either at the beach, on the porch, in the pool, or somewhere else.  Here's a quick rundown of what I read.  I think it was a nice mix of fiction and non-fiction, serious and frivolous.

The Sinner's Guide To Confession by Phyllis Schieber: The story of three friends, each with long-held secrets, who struggle to come to terms with those secrets.  A good "beach" book.

Putting Away Childish Things by Marcus Borg.  A religion teacher and her students struggle to understand the role of Christianity and the Bible in today's society.  It does a nice job of framing the important issues dividing Christians today.

Game Change by John Heilemann and Mark Halperin.  Insights into and analysis of the 2008 election and the lead-up thereto.  I also thought it was an interesting view of how elections are run (and won).  The book does not play favorites--all of the players are at times portrayed in a negative light. 

Freakanomics by Stephen Dubner and Steven Levitt.  Real world application of economic principles from standardized test scores to real estate agent commissions to bringing down the KKK.  I've been wanting to read this book for a while now, and it was worth it.  Fascinating.

Slavery by Another Name by Douglas A. Blackmon.  An account of the forced servitude of convicts (often arrested for such crimes as selling cotton after sundown) to private businesses and forced to work in mines and at other hard labor during the period after the Civil War when slavery had supposedly been outlawed.  Graphic.  Sobering.  Heart-wrenching. Important.

Book Club

I realize that I'm a little late to this party, but I just started reading The Help, and I have to admit that it's totally worth all the hype.  I'm about 150 pages into it and am already loving it.  I used to be something of a voracious reader, but more recently, my reading has fallen away in favor of staring aimless at the TV.  I have consistently vowed to do better--to no avail--but I think it's just a matter of finding something that grabs me.  The Help has definitely grabbed me, so I'm hoping it will be my ticket back to the reading world.  (Hopefully my upcoming week in Hilton Head will also help to remedy my reading void.) 

I have a special fondness for Mississippi.  I spent a fair amount of time in Northern Mississippi when I lived in Memphis, and I've also been to the Gulf Coast a few times--both pre- and post-Katrina, so I'm really enjoying reading about this part of the country, even if the stories can be hard to hear.

I have no idea how Kathryn Stockett is ever going to follow this one up, but I will be excited to see what she comes up with next.