Look! It's a book post! From Europe!
My reading options are severely limited while I travel since I can't carry many books with me, but here's what I've managed to read (that I can remember) since leaving the States.
The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch by Philip K. Dick
My brother sent me off with a couple of Philip K. Dick books. I read this one on my way to Rome. I liked it. I don't remember the specifics of what it's about, but it's sci-fi. When I picked up the second Philip K. Dick book I had with me, I couldn't get into it and I think it accidentally got left in Kirsten's dorm.
Persuasion by Jane Austen
I bought this one in Bath, because it cost less than 2 pounds at the Jane Austen Centre and because I was already feeling the Jane Austeness of Bath and watching the movie version of Persuasion every other night anyway.
Anybody Out There by Marian Keyes
Marian Keyes writes chick lit along the lines of Sophie Kinsella and Katie Fforde. This one was on the bookshelf at our flat in Bath. It's more serious than the other Marian Keyes fiction I've read. It was good enough.
Pudd'nhead Wilson by Mark Twain
Also on the bookshelf in Bath. I was enjoying it, but I hadn't finished it when we were leaving England and I didn't want to haul a hardback book with me. I'd already been ripping my guidebooks to pieces so that I only brought the relevant pages with me to Scotland. Paper is heavy.
The Girls by Lori Lansens
I picked this up at a thrift store in Bath, and it's a wonderful novel. Conjoined twins Rose and Ruby Darlen are about to reach their 30th birthday, making them the oldest surviving craniophagus twins in history. As they approach this milestone, Rose sets out to write the story of their lives, chronicling their experiences growing up in rural Ontario with their adoptive parents. Chapters alternate between Rose and Ruby's perspectives--a perfect device to reveal the unexpected plot elements that drive the story. Really, really good. Read it!
A Moveable Feast by Ernest Hemingway
My sister-in-law gave me this one to read after I went to Paris. True confession: I'm still not done. I started reading it after Paris and it was fantastic to read about places I'd just visited, but I find I can only read a couple of chapters at a time before I wander off to another book. I pull it out every few weeks and read a little more.
The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
AJ brought me this one when she joined me in Greece. If you follow YA fiction even a tiny bit, you already know all about this one. It's a well-written, dystopian, adventure story and it's enormously popular. I really enjoyed it, but, unlike most of the people I know who have read it, I'm not willing to sell my grandma to get the sequel.
The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery
AJ brought me this one too. A concierage and a 12-year-old girl living in an exclusive Paris apartment building both find themselves alienated from the society and cultural of the building, but they're brought together by the appearance of a new tenant. It's translated from French (and, unfortunately, it shows sometimes) and it's interesting and has received excellent literary reviews, but there's a twist at the end that I think I'm too American to appreciate. I'm still thinking about it and fretting about it. I know why it ended as it did, but . . . I need someone else to read it so I can talk about it.
Vinyl Cafe Unplugged by Stuart McLean
I was given this one in Scotland and read it in Turkey. It's an amusing collection of short stories about a Canadian family. One of the blurbs on the back cover calls it "ridiculously wholesome." Possibly because I'm homeless and always on the move, I find the gentleness of the domestic humor very comforting.
The Book Thief by Marcus Zusak
Yeah, I know that everyone in the world who loves books has already read this one, but I hadn't gotten around to it yet, so I grabbed a copy in the Istanbul airport to use up my remaining Turkish lira and to provide myself with something to read while stranded on the side of the road in Romania. It is, as promised, excellent. Some of the language is just so good that I wished for someone to be nearby while I was reading it so I could shake them and say, "Hey! Listen to this!"
The Audacity of Hope by Barack Obama
My roommate here loaned me this one, and I'm only about halfway through, but I'm finding it very compelling. It's going to be a sad, sad day when I'm done with it, because I already checked out the selection of books left behind by former volunteers and it's all Stuart Woods mysteries and poorly-written inspirational romances. Apparently, volunteering to work with children does not draw a literary crowd.
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13 comments:
I just finished _The Book Thief_ myself, recommended to me by my neighbor via GN of PCL fame (or the other way around, GN recommended it to my neighbor etc etc) . . . and . . . I didn't particularly like it. Am I the only one in America?
If you like _The Audacity of Hope_, you'll love _Dreams from my Father_.
We all miss you. Sure those babies are cute and all, but do they go to bed with tiny ears of corn tucked under their chins??
You ARE the only one in America! Didn't it kind of give you chills when Death says that he found a soul "caked" in its body? True, I found parts overly-long, especially toward the end, but the language!
I just finished Elegance of the Hedgehog. I quite enjoyed it, but I know what you're saying about the twist at the end. I see what the point was, and I thought it was beautifully written, but it was still a little disappointing.
LOVED the characters in this book. I felt like I could really relate to them, so I don't know what that says about me.
I was wondering where the book came from. I donated it to the public library.
Yeah for books!!! Thanks.
I actually have a friend who couldn't get beyond the first few chapters of Book Thief. It wasn't until I finished it that I realized "WOW."
SCS -- no, you aren't the only one. I didn't particularly like it either.
E--Yeah, right?! The point of the book is illustrated in the twist, but I didn't want an illustration. I wanted the fulfillment of the storyline that was in progress. And they were great characters. Maybe that's why the ending is so hard to handle.
Heidi--I tried reading (and listening to) it a couple of times before I actually made it through.
HAH--You all are breaking the hearts of librarians the world over. Please tell me that you love The Guernsey and Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society.
Guernsey Lit & Potato Peel Society was about the first book I read in 2009, and it is still my #1 favorite this year. :-)
One of these days I will give Book Thief another try.
The first section of HEDGEHOG was too french and philosophical for me, but then it improved so much. I could have enjoyed more at the end. AUDACITY OF HOPE...dare I say such I thing? It gave me hope. I'm glad you haven't forgotten how to read.
I'm a former volunteer at Tutova. While I've never succumbed to trashy romances I may have left some mysteries. In defense of other former volunteers, after all day taking care of babies sometimes an easy read is about all I can manage. I suspect most of us read "literature" as well. Thanks for the posts and great pix.
I was disappointed with the selection of "left books" at the clinic, as well...but I still wasn't willing to part with the books I had brought with me to read. Sorry. :-)
Anon--No offense meant. I love a chick lit at the end of the day myself! Some of the other volunteers on my team took much better pictures. I hope I can get some of theirs posted eventually.
Alexandra--I found a Graham Greene among the romances, so all was well!
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