Good Reading

May 1, 2010

I cannot add pages here, so I will just keep adding to the page.

The Postmistress….ugh….long and almost plotless, but I finished.

Read Sold by McCormack.  It is adolescent literature, and I read it in an hour. However, I cannot tell you how good it is. Becky, your girls would love it. It is the story of a twelve year old girl from Nepal who is sold into sexual slavery in India.  It is not graphic, but you feel her frustration. It has a wonderful ending..powerful young woman!

I have always loved to read. I only read fiction, and I do not read romance novels. I have a very wide range of reading interest too. I listen to books on the way to and from work, and I usually have a couple of books going on at the same time. I have read that you should give a book one hundred pages before you decide the book is not something you want to read. I never give it that much time.

I thought I would keep a running discussion of the books I read, and I would love to get suggestions of all of you. I will also welcome discussion with any titles.

I know Becky has a favorite book, but I cannot remember what the name is.

The Twentieth Wife by Indu Sundaresan
Historic fiction.  This is the story of Mehrunnisa, one of the Empresses of India in the 17th century. I enjoyed the story a lot. This is one I listened to, and it probably made it better because the narrator could pronounce all those names. There is a sequel, and I will read it.

Prayers For Sale Sandra Dallas
Great story. It takes place at the turn of the last century in Colorado. Sandra Dallas has written many books, and I am going to read many of them. It is a story that makes you smile when it is finished.

Garden Spells, The Sugar Queen, and The Girl Who Chased the Moon by Sarah Addison Allen
Three novels by a local, Asheville author. Each of them has a little magic, but nothing that makes any of them absurd. Garden Spells, which is the author’s first, is my favorite of the three.

The Help by Kathryn Stockett
I usually do not read what everyone is reading. I read this one anyway. I am so glad I did!  I will read it again very soon. I hear it will be made into a movie, and I will certainly see it. It is the story of maids in Mississippi during the 1960’s. It is fun, and an eye opener.

The Postmistress by Sarah Blake
I am listening to this now…..stay tuned.

Sweeping up Glass Carolyn D. Wall
I loved this book. It is the story of a woman in Kentucky around the time of the Depression. Twists and turns and very satisfying ending.

The Bee Queen by Chris Cleave
I have mixed feelings about this book because I did not like the ending.

The Lace Reader by Brunonia Barry
This was a good, quick read. Takes place in Salem, home of the witch trials.  I would love to discuss the ending with someone.

The Little Giant of Aberdeen County by Tiffany Baker
Seems as if so many of the books I have been reading take place in the first half of the 1900’s in the South. This was a good one. Woman is literally a giant.

A Long, Long  Time Ago and Essentially True by Brigid Pasulka
I was not crazy about this. It took place in Poland, and my family is Polish, so I finished it. This is a modern story that contrasts with an old story..contrasts and compares.

The Memory of Running by Ron McLarty
I have not read this book recently, but it is one of my favorites of all times. It is the story of Smithson Ides, who as an overweight forty something man who rides a bicycle across the country to pick up the remains of his sister. Sounds gruesome, but it is not. It is the story of his journey, within and out. He meets so many odd people along the way, and finds himself in the meantime. I have read this book so many times that I can recite some of it. I listened to it too.

Handmaid’s Tale, Cat’s Eye and Lady Oracle by Margaret Atwood
I love these three books. Margaret Atwood use to be my favorite author, but her last books have left me changing my mind. Handmaid’s Tale is futuristic, and concerns a society where woman, by law, have certain roles. A Handmaid is a woman who carries the children for sterile government officials. Cat’s Eye and Lady Oracle are stories of woman who find themselves.

Island Beneath the Sea  Isabel Allende
I love everything Isabel Allende has written. She first writes in Spanish and then the book is translated. Probably her most famous is House of Spirits, which was made into a movie. Island Beneath the Sea is outin English on the 27th of this month. I have pre-ordered it.