Member Blogs

I've always had a goal of keeping a running journal of the books I read for an entire year. This was one of my New Year's Resolutions... and hasn't happened yet. Luckily, I haven't read so many books that I can't remember and get started now!

Matrimony (can't remember author right now, Joshua Something)- this was good, not great. The main characters never seemed like they were really "in it," and it's often hard for me to really get in to female characters written by men (certain authors are an exception to this- Wally Lamb).

 

The Master Bedroom (Tessa Hadley)- also good. Didn't make me cry, kept my interest. Main character was very sad to me. She seemed like she couldn't quite take herself seriously. The wife of the male character annoyed me. I get cranky when women characters leave their families to "go find themselves" without the author demonstrating how the children are considered or cared for. (BTW, this is just me reacting as a reader to a storyline, as I can be more sympathetic to these kinds of issues in actual people).

 

Water for Elephants- oh, what an awesome book. LOVE it when authors can keep me interested in stories that take jumps in time. The main character was so real- flawed but with such integrity. I will say, however, that this book reinforces some of my stereotypes about the circus being skeevy. Terrific writing, though.

 

Second Glance (Jodi Picoult)- meh. I'm not a fanatic of hers, but I usually enjoy her plotlines. This felt really manipulative and the love stories annoyed me. But I still read it, so that says something.

 

With or Without You (Carole Matthews)- this was cute! I like me some chick lit, but really enjoy it without shame when it's done well. This was a good easy read, isn't going to stick with me for too long, but doesn't make me feel like I've wasted my time either.

 

Not Buying It (Judith Levine, I think)- I read this a year or two too late, I think. It's been on my list forever, and I felt compelled to be able to say that I've read it, but it didn't really 'do it' for me. Actually, a lot of her ideals fit with some of my own values, but somehow reading about someone else trying to live up to similar ideals leads to me feeling crappy about how I'm living up to my own. Now there's some neuroses for you. As for this as a book I spent my time reading, it was more of a speed bump than a destination.

 

Sammy's Hill (Kristen Gore)- LOVED this. Very fun. Living in DC this year, it was fun to read something political, but hilarious. I'm not much of a laugh-out-loud reader (more of a cryer while I'm reading), but I did many times during this one. I also read it in an afternoon while I was home sick (hadn't done that in years; I need to get sick more often- or just call in sick more often), so it was certainly an easy breezy read.

**That's it, for now. I'm currently in the black hole of reading a book I don't really like, and trying to push my way through. When that happens it really slows me down, so we'll see what I can do. One of the reasons I wanted to do this was so that I could look at the list and see how I felt about my choices as a whole. At this point my first observation is that I sure am reading a lot of books I would have laughed at myself for reading 10 years ago... Ever since I had kids, I really gravitate towards books that are engaging but not really hard to read. Hmm... wonder what that's about (I don't really have to ask- this is all I've got the bandwidth for these days- and that's okay!)**