It Dawned On Me

Monday, December 30, 2024

2024 Books

As I did last year, I'm posting the books I've read this year...mostly as a time capsule for myself, but also to share a very little bit about myself with my friends.

It's been a difficult year, but I've read a surprising number of books, some of which were quite spectacular. Overall, I'd say it's been an excellent reading year for me. Unfortunately, a few books by authors I'd previously read and enjoyed, but didn't love this year. A couple of unintentional (though perhaps subconsciously driven) themes include ghosts and menopausal/postmenopausal women. Oh yeah... and there was an unusual amount of revenge fantasy.

Here's what I've read in 2024. As always, * for recommended, X for avoid.

Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe - Fannie Flagg; I'd read it many years ago, but it was worth the second read. Very sweet portrayal of a lesbian relationship in a don't-ask-don't-tell we'll-all-pretend-we-don't-know-whats-going-on-and-be-friends environment. Kind of implausible how accepting everyone is about gender and race issues. But definitely feel good.
Ella Enchanted - Gail Carson Levine; I'd read it many years ago with the kids and enjoyed it greatly. I still enjoyed it, but maybe I've outgrown it a little.
* The Night Circus - Erin Morgenstern; Loved it. It's kind of fluff, but very beautiful, dark fluff, with a little metafiction to weight it a tiny bit. The imagery and general sensory experience is very intense.
The House of the Spirits - Isabel Allende; Started it and didn't manage to finish it (it got recalled by my library)... didn't get so into it that I went back to it. I know I should, and probably will at some point.
* Boy, Snow, Bird - Helen Oyeyemi; Started it and didn't manage to finish it (it got recalled by my library). I will say this... the writing is TRULY SPECTACULAR. I don't often say this. I know it sounds terrible, but I don't often notice writing quality. If it's good writing, I get sucked into the story and that's it. In this case, the writing was just sparkling. It's a complex story, and if I haven't gone back to it, it's simply because I feel like I need to dedicate quality time with the book to give it the attention it truly deserves. I fully intend to.
The Lost Apothecary - Sarah Penner; I think you can safely skip this one, though I won't give it an X. The premise was good, poor execution: wronged housewife goes on her very first mudlarking tour and discovers a 200 year old artifact belonging to a woman who doled out poisons for wronged women. It could have been quite good, but I think I found it implausible, heavy-handed and a bit heavy on the deus-ex-machina.
The Divine Comedy - Inferno prose translation by John Aitken Carlyle; Started but not finished. I've tried a few times over the years, but can never quite get through it.
On Earth as It Is on Television - Emily Jane; Fluff...kind of sweet...aliens secretly live among us and LOVE television and calorific food. Basically go native. And then the spaceships come to bring them back. To their consternation.
* The White Lady - Jacqueline Winspear; Fabulous story. Woman trained to be James Bond-caliber wartime spy is no longer needed post war. Turns her attention to domestic violence, organized crime and corruption. Which, of course, are all overlapping.
* Victory City - Salman Rushdie; really entertaining and interesting story. The very light, fairy tale-like, almost frivolous tone belies the Indian history lesson and parallels to current events. Many of the characters and events described in here are historically accurate, even some of the quite outrageous ones.
Transcendent Kingdom - Yaa Gyasi; I read this on Annapurna's recommendation. I wasn't as fond of it as she was. An addiction story with immigrant experience twist. Not sure why I didn't find it super compelling.
The Street of a Thousand Blossoms - Gail Tsukiyama; Interesting from a historic point of view. What it takes to become a Sumo wrestler. With World War II in the background.
* Lessons in Chemistry - Bonnie Garmus; Very sweet book; Nice reminder about what it was like for women with scientific aspirations (or even aspirations to be not infantilized) in the times of tradwifeworld.
A Breath of Snow and Ashes - Diana Gabaldon; Slowly making my way through the Outlander series. Another entertaining actiony bodice ripper.
* Erasure - Percival Everett; Very thought provoking story, basis of the movie American Fiction. On our society's tendency to boil individuals of color down to a simplistic poverty porn/racial oppression porn narrative, rather than seeing them as complex individuals who experience their own human drama that may or may not overlap the standard narrative.
My Brilliant Friend - Elena Ferrante; It was OK, but I don't really understand all the breathlessness about Ferrante's work.
An Elderly Lady is Up to No Good - Helen Tursten. Hilarious, but I won't give it a * because it really is not for everybody. Let's just say an elderly lady really was up to some serious no good, but... well... they had it coming.
The Vanishing Half - Brit Bennett; A novel on passing (as white). I liked it, but found it a little overly melodramatic.
People of the Book - Geraldine Brooks; another one that had an interesting premise that didn't deliver as much as it should have. About the Sarajevo Haggadah, which is a real thing - a haggadah that was made in the renaissance, apparently for a wealthy Spanish Jewish family, which was rescued from destruction several times by some very unlikely actors. The story imagines its journey to recent times during the war in the 1990s. Because the novel attempts to be faithful to the known history and because the known history has many gaps, the story feels a bit choppy. And where characters have been invented to propel the plot, there is a fair bit of melodrama. As is there in the framing story. But it was very interesting from a historical perspective.
The Magicians - Lev Grossman; Didn't care for it. Execution is ok, so I won't give it an X, but really didn't do much for me, even though I like fantasy.
* Killers of a Certain Age - Deanna Raybourn; Just loved this one... a bunch of retired professional assassin women become the targets of assassination attempts.
The Empress of Salt and Fortune - Nghi Vo; Started it and dropped it fairly quickly. I had read The Chosen and the Beautiful by Vo, which I loved. This one I did not enjoy, and found somewhat hard to follow.
Castle in the Air - Diana Wynne Jones; Started it and got maybe halfway through; I loved Howl's Moving Castle, so thought I'd try this one. It's kind of an Arabian Nights wannabe novel. Didn't love it, and felt slightly uncomfortable with some fairly cringey lazy/sneaky Arab trope content.
* Stone Blind - Natalie Haynes; Similar vibe to Madeline Miller's Circe - a retelling of Medusa's story from her point of view.
The Daughters of Temperance Hobbs - Katherine Howe; Another one you can probably safely skip. Generations of women who can do magic... at the expense of the weather. I didn't find any of the characters terribly compelling.
Moby Dick - Herman Melville; I'd read it many years ago and remembered it as a really interesting story. It stood up to that memory. I liked it a lot...it's a slog, and I wish I knew the bible references better to understand the story better, but it was pretty fascinating. I won't give it a * because it is a slog and it is not likely to be for everyone. I tried to get my cousin, who is a voracious reader and IS more familiar with the biblical references to read it and she gave up. I was particularly surprised by the gay vibe that I hadn't previously picked up on.
Beautyland - Marie-Helen Bertino; Strange little story... sleeper alien gathers information about human behavior and faxes it back to her home authorities. I feel like it's maybe some kind of fable about being neurodivergent. I enjoyed it. Probably not for everyone.
The Scarlet Letter - Nathaniel Hawthorne; They made us read this in high school, but it didn't make a huge impression on me. Then I read it when Annapurna was a toddler, and it felt much more relevant in many ways. I don't remember why I decided to read it now, but I did enjoy it. Including the framing story.
Land of Milk and Honey - C. Pam Zhang; Another strange story. Dystopia of when we destroy the environment so badly that we cannot support normal crops or livestock, but the tech bros MUST have their delicacies from the secret stash. The secret stash is...mouthwatering.
Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee - Dee Brown; A very important book but very hard to read. It documents many, many injustices that have been wreaked upon Native Americans over the centuries. Unfair treaties. Bait and switch treaties. Out and out reneging on treaties. Outright theft of land and resources. Instigation of violence. Random violence. I started the book but could not finish it. Partly because depressing, partly because it is so densely packed with names and dates and facts that it becomes a little hard to follow. It did motivate me to read more about Native American history and experience.
* The Personal Librarian - Marie Benedict and Victoria Christopher Murray; Novelized biography of Belle da Costa Greene, who passed as white, but long after her death was discovered to have been classified as black on her birth certificate. She was instrumental in making the JP Morgan Library the institution it was. Fascinating story. The passing plotline had to have been invented from whole cloth by the authors, but was well done, I think. Her contributions to the Princeton and Morgan libraries must have been well documented, and are quite breathtaking - this plotline could stand on its own.
Goddess of the River - Vaishnavi Patel; I loved her book Kaikeyi, and was looking forward to this one. I read part of it and was not as impressed. I will go back to it at some point.
* The Fraud - Zadie Smith; I just loved this one - the events surrounding the Roger Tichborne Trial of the 1860s described in here are fascinating. The national hysteria about whose narrative to trust in that case is not unlike our current national gaslighting about the media, in the age of the orange man.
X The Great Divide - Cristina Henriquez; this one was such a major disappointment. Fascinating premise... what would life have been like for the people impacted by the construction of the Panama Canal? Including for laborers who traveled from surrounding countries, people displaced by the construction, workers doing the backbreaking work, and technical experts. Unfortunately, while there are tidbits touching on each of these in the book, the plot is very melodramatic, full of implausibilities, and key details you'd expect to see are completely missing. Forced feel good.
The Alienist - Caleb Carr; I'd read this a long time ago and really enjoyed it. This time, I felt like the pace was a bit rushed, and after I was done I realized that it was a very abridged edition...so...there's that. Interesting from a historical point of view.
Razor Girl - Carl Hiaasen; Entertaining, as always.
The Mists of Avalon - Marion Zimmer Bradley; I've always kind of hated a lot of the King Arthur mythology - at least the stuff that came out of Malory's Morte d'Arthur. It feels like a lot of Big Thuggy Guy fights with Other Big Thuggy Guy because I'm right, No I'M right. On Lather-Rinse-Repeat mode. The Mists of Avalon is a refreshing change from that, and provides an actual coherent narrative full of political exploits, with the added interest of being from the point of view of some powerful women. I haven't finished it - it's very long and keeps being recalled by my library.
The Change - Kirsten Miller; Talk about revenge fantasy and middle aged women! A group of women track down the killers of young women, using tips provide by the victims' ghosts along with their new found menopausal don't-give-a-fuck hormones. I mostly enjoyed the book a lot, except for this one weird plotline that seems to be a kind of strange fictional reflection (or perhaps apologism?) on how Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell got that way.
***The Ghost Map - Steven Johnson; FASCINATING and accessible discussion of how the London cholera epidemic of 1854 unfolded and how cholera's waterborne transmission was proved in its wake (as opposed to the prevailing "miasma" theory). There was no public health methodology in 1854, but the techniques used to track down the source of this outbreak ended up laying foundations for modern public health analysis. The story has, in many ways, so many parallels to our covid experience, though it was written about a decade earlier. Such a thought-provoking book. YOU MUST READ IT.
Anita de Monte Laughs Last - Xochitl Gonzalez; I'd read her book Olga Dies Dreaming last year and LOVED it. This one was quite good and interesting, as well, but I didn't enjoy it as much. It felt (justifiably) angrier, and maybe therefore, just more exhausting. On the topic of the difficulty of being an extremely talented woman (specifically a woman of color) and breaking in to the (white) boys club. One plot line is loosely based on the life of Cuban artist Ana Mendieta, who may or may not have been pushed out of a window by her artist husband, Carl Andre (in real life).
The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store - James McBride; still working on it - jury's out. It's been recalled by my library
* The Sentence - Louise Erdrich; Wonderful story, somewhat metafictiony, on the Native American experience in the time of covid in Minneapolis. Also a reflection on the incarceration experience. With a couple of ghosts and Native American spirits.
The Vegetarian - Han Kang; Very strange book, and in a weird way, a little too close to home in my current life situation. On the topic of control and personal autonomy, even when the autonomy is to be used self-destructively. Thought provoking and disturbing.
*** How to Build a Girl - Caitlin Moran; It's not for everyone, but I don't care...I'm still giving it 3 *...it's the second or third time I'm reading this book,and I just LOOOOOVVVE it. Absolutely filthy and cringey and hilarious and insightful coming of age book. Everything you don't want your daughter to go through, but much of which she probably will go through, and live to prevail. Was a great mood improver in the immediate aftermath of my mother's passing.
The Good Lord Bird - James McBride; Novelization of the events at Harper's Ferry. Currently almost done with it. I'm not sure how I feel about it. It's a very irreverent view of John Brown, making him look kind of silly and clueless and almost willfully obtuse about information that is right in front of him. Told from the point of view of a slave boy who is reluctantly freed by Brown.

Tuesday, December 26, 2023

2023 Books

It's been a while since I've posted my reading list, but I decided I like remembering what I've read when, so I'm gonna try starting it up again now.

As I'm typing up this list, I'm noticing that there are quite a few re-reads this year, mostly because I felt a need at the time for something that was uplifting or hopeful. Sigh. As in the previous few years, a lot of fantasy, primarily by women authors.

Here's what I've read in 2023. As always, * for recommended, X for avoid.

Flow My Tears, The Policeman Said - Philip K. Dick
Normal People - Sally Rooney; enjoyed it, but it felt a little...normal
The Name of the Rose - Umberto Eco; I enjoyed it a lot. Really interesting to read about the minutiae of Christian doctrine that can lead to wildly different expectations of human behavior, depending on interpretation. But it may not be for everybody.
The Chosen and the Beautiful - Nghi Vo; I really enjoyed this re-imagining of The Great Gatsby. It's got the mildest touch of fantasy or possibly magical realism to it. Told from the point of view of Jordan Baker, who turns out, in this rendition, to be Asian, adopted as a small child by a wealthy family. I'll let you imagine where this could go in the context of upper class Roaring 20's society.
The Great Gatsby - F. Scott Fitzgerald; Had to re-read this to compare with the Chosen and the Beautiful.
Beowulf; I still don't get it.
*Uprooted and Spinning Silver - Naomi Novik; Greatly enjoyed these YA fantasy stories, subversion of Fairy Tale genre. I'd read Spinning Silver a few years ago, enjoyed it a lot and felt like I needed some upliftment, so re-read it. So glad I did.
Dune - Frank Herbert; Finally got around to reading it for the first time. By rights I ought to have loved it, but I really didn't. I think I found it a little too militaristic or monarchistic or something. Maybe trying too hard for the Lawrence of Arabia vibe? I guess I'm not big on the whole Rightful Lord or Prophesied Savior themes.
A Long Petal of the Sea - Isabel Allende; Interesting historical read about the relationship between the Spanish Civil War and migration to Chile, but I didn't love the writing, compared with other of her works
Trust - Hernan Diaz
The Ten Thousand Doors of January - Alix E. Harrow
Agent Running in the Field - John le Carre; His last novel published during his lifetime. Enjoyed it a lot, though it's pretty standard le Carre fare.
Her Body and Other Parties - Carmen Maria Machado; I didn't actually get through the whole thing, but I think it deserves a mention - it is epically weird and dark...I didn't have the attention span to finish it at the time I was reading it - it requires a bit of thought.
Ninth House - Leigh Bardugo; I dunno...it was OK...somehow didn't grab me - I'm not big on murder mysteries, and this was more murder mystery than fantasy for my taste.
Light From Uncommon Stars - Ryka Aoki; Read it on the recommendation of Donna Minkowitz - enjoyed it a lot. Very off-beat sci fi featuring a donut-shaped donut stand run by refugee aliens and an AI, as well as a pact with...well...it's never explicitly stated who...to provide virtuoso violin students, with a trans girl autodidact virtuoso violinist whose soul hangs in the balance...
* How to Build a Girl - Caitlin Moran; I read this a number of years ago - It still holds up. Absolutely filthy, but such a hilarious, poignant, cringey coming of age story about a nerdy, socially awkward, working class girl. Let's just say...it's the ultimate in feel good.
X The Witches - Stacy Schiff; I've always had a bit of a fascination for the Salem witch trials. This is not the book to read about it - seriously hard to follow.
The Witch of Blackbird Pond - Elizabeth George Speare; Needed to read this to cleanse my palate from The Witches
The Crucible - Arthur Miller; Same
* Counterfeit - Kirsten Chen; I loved this one - very clever novelized reflection on status, status symbols and imposter syndrome, revolving around the knockoff industry
Fairest - Gail Carson Levine; She is always good for a feel good experience
A Court of Thorns and Roses - Sarah Maas; It was OK...I wasn't super excited about it...not interested enough to pick up the next in the series. Normally I like the subversion of fairy tales genre (this is essentially the Beauty and the Beast), but it didn't do it for me.
The Murder at the Vicarage - Agatha Christie
Searching for Sylvie Lee - Jean Kwok (a Hunterite, which I didn't know at the time.) I enjoyed this one a lot
* The Book Thief - Markus Zusak; Loved this one so much.
* Lord of the Flies - William Golding; Felt so relevant
* Homeland Elegies - Ayad Akhtar; Such a wonderful, humorous, thought provoking call for tolerance.
A Visit from the Goon Squad - Jennifer Egan; This one keeps coming up on lists of books recommended for me, but somehow I didn't love it that much - it was ok, but not fabulous
The Haunting of Hill House - Shirley Jackson; I enjoyed it
44 Scotland Street - Alexander McCall Smith; also a reliably feel-good author
Drums of Autumn and The Fiery Cross - Diana Gabaldon; what can I say? I'm an Outlander groupie.
The Mind's Eye - Oliver Sacks - I think I didn't get through all of it. At some point it felt a little too close to home for my aging body :-)
X She Who Became the Sun - Shelley Parker Chan; it was an interesting premise that just didn't end up working for me - sort of an east Asian Yentl with an Ayn Rand vibe. I think you could safely skip this.
Precious - Sapphire - liked it a lot
* The Golem and the Jinni - Helene Wecker; I'd read it a number of years ago and loved it. Needed some feel good, so read it again. It still works magic.
* The Mermaid and Mrs. Hancock - Imogen Hermes Gowar; This one was a bit of a surprise for me but I really enjoyed it
The Hunger Games, Catching Fire, Mockingjay - Suzanne Collins; I'd read The Hunger Games a number of years ago, but never read the others. Sooooo dark. Enjoyed them a lot, though I feel like they are intended, among other things as a critique of "coastal elites."
* Hench - Natalie Zina Walschots; loved, loved. loved this one. So snarky. Such a great parody of corporate life, and the personality-driven culture of our modern tech companies.
The Glass Castle - Jeannette Walls (who apparently overlapped with me at Barnard) - I enjoyed it. Some things felt very familiar - growing up with parents who really didn't get the concept of parenting.
Down the River unto the Sea - Walter Mosely (who I checked out on the recommendation of Joanne Sutera) - I enjoyed it a lot - very thought provoking
The Comedians - Graham Greene; Very thought provoking novel on life in Haiti under Papa Doc Duvalier
* Olga Dies Dreaming - Xochitl Gonzalez; This one felt sooo familiar in many ways - life as a child of parents with a Cause
* Afterlife - Julia Alvarez - a very moving novelized reflection on grief and also living with family drama
Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad; I found it interesting
Enchantress of Numbers - Jennifer Chiaverini; I don't love the writing, but the story of Ada Lovelace is necessarily interesting
Siddhartha - Herman Hesse; Yes, I finally got around to reading it. I'm sorry, but it feels like it was written by a guy who is very proud of his Big Thoughts.
The Good Earth - Pearl Buck; Enjoyed it. I was required to read it the summer before 7th grade - can't imagine what was going on in the teachers' heads.
Sister Carrie - Theodore Dreiser; This is another one that I was required to read in 8th grade - can't imagine what was going on in the teachers' heads. What a downer.
Convenience Store Woman - Sayaka Murata; enjoyed it... so cringey...neurodivergent woman's reflections on neurotypical people's ways of trying to "fix" her...with a little help from an incel
Voyage of the Beagle - Charles Darwin; Just started this at the end of the year. Jury's still out on whether I'm going to finish it - it's so...shopping listy. I'm not seeing any structure or organization to it. It's like a stream of consciousness. Many of the things that wash up in Darwin's stream of consciousness are necessarily going to be interesting, but really, the format doesn't help me understand much.

Wednesday, October 3, 2018

2018 books

As I did last year, I'm posting the list of books I read this year, partly as a memory aid, partly to share with my friends one view into who I am and what I like. I'm pretty sure I'm missing a few that I read, as I wasn't very disciplined about tracking them, but...
This was (unintentionally) a very refugee/war conditions reading year, including items such as The Scarlet Pimpernel, The Ministry of Utmost Happiness, Midnight's Children, The Muralist, Rob Roy, Remains of the Day.
Hard to say what my favorites were...several I really enjoyed. I think I'd have to go with a couple of the chick-lits: The Woman Who Stole My Life and Where'd You Go, Bernadette. Though I also really enjoyed Rob Roy and Remains of the Day. And Midnight's Children.

* = Recommended
X = Stay away

* The Woman Who Stole My Life (audiobook): Marian Keyes - completed from last year...loved it
Girl With a Pearl Earring: Tracy Chevalier - I did not love this as much as Remarkable Creatures
Oliver Twist: Charles Dickens
The Ministry of Utmost Happiness (audiobook): Arundhati Roy
The Scarlet Pimpernel: Baroness Emmuska Orczy
Flowers in the Attic: VC Andrews
Midnight's Children (audiobook): Salman Rushdie - liked it a lot, but may not be for everyone
* Remains of the Day: Kazuo Ishiguro - greatly enjoyed this
* Where'd You Go, Bernadette? (audiobook): Maria Semple - kind of the story I used to fantasize about writing - lots of snark, especially about annoying school parents, but also a meditation on depression. I was also flabbergasted to find out that Maria Semple was apparently my college classmate. I'm certain I didn't know her.
* Rob Roy (audiobook): Walter Scott - just loved it. I love Di Vernon.
From Doon With Death (audiobook): Ruth Rendell - interesting and daring choice of murderer and motive, considering the times in which it was published
The Tenant of Wildfell Hall: Anne Bronte - I somehow ran across the movie with the very talented Rupert Greaves (who played an almost diametrically opposite role in The Forsyte Saga), and decided I needed to re-read the book. It's interesting to see a Victorian portrayal of an abusive relationship. Those Brontes sure weren't afraid to probe the ugly.
The Muralist (audiobook): B.A. Shapiro - I loved Shapiro's The Art Forger, so decided to try this one, as well. I enjoyed it - it had some very interesting perspective on history and art analysis. What was particularly fascinating about it was its portrayal of the plight of Jewish people in Europe in the lead-up to WWII, in which people became increasingly desperate to leave, in the face of more and more closing doors. Though it was written in 2015, it could not be more relevant to today's refugee crisis, and the Trump administration's refusal to admit individuals fleeing from horrific conditions. From a writing point of view I might quibble with it in that I found it a little saccharine towards the end and I did not find the portrayal of mental illness very compelling.
*The Cuckoo's Egg: Clifford Stoll - I lent this to a friend, and upon return I decided to re-read it. I still love it.

Started:

Gods Without Men: Hari Kunzru
Telegraph Avenue (audiobook): Michael Chabon (completed in the new year)

Sunday, January 7, 2018

2017 Books

As I did last year, I'm posting the list of books I read this year, partly as a memory aid, partly to share with my friends one view into who I am and what I like. The year started off fabulously with the wonderful, wonderful, wonderful The Jinni and the Golem and How to Build a Girl. Quite a few coming of age books this year...not sure why...just turned out that way.

* = Recommended
X = Stay away

* The Jinni and the Golem: Helene Wecker (audiobook). Think I'd like to give it 3 *'s, though * on my reviews is generally binary - you get one or you don't. On the immigrant experience in early 20th century New York, from the points of view of a jinni and a golem, who, by their natures are outsiders to the community of immigrant outsiders. An exploration of human values. Coming of age, Golem-style.
Ender's Game: Orson Scott Card (audiobook). Meh. Actually I found the ending really interesting, but most of the book kind of too much about the choreography of simulated battles to be very captivating for me. The story is a reflection on genocide, the cultivation of a mentality that can support it, and ultimately the responsibility of a conqueror to enable the re-establishment of the destroyed race. However, given that the story is from the point of view of the instrument of genocide who is made into a sympathetic and tragic character, and given that the story ends without showing us how he settles his dilemma of whether or not to make reparations, I am less than motivated to follow up on other stories in the series. Coming of age, warrior-style.
* How to Build a Girl: Caitlin Moran (audiobook). Can I give this 3 or maybe 4 *'s??? Such a fabulous coming of age book. Absolutely filthy, but so poignant, so hilarious, such a great portrayal of a teenage girl's maturing process as she experiences economic, physical and emotional life challenges. Fathers of girls will probably be a bit squeamish about reading this one. Women will probably nod, even while cringing at some of Johanna-Dolly's choices.
LaRose: Louise Erdrich (audiobook) - liked it a lot, but may not be for everyone. An accidental shooting of a beloved child by his uncle exposes the stressors (and strengths) within the Native American community and the historical factors leading to those stressors.
The Gem Collector: P.G. Wodehouse - meh...I love Wodehouse, but this isn't one of his more entertaining ones, IMHO
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo: Stieg Larsson (audiobook) - this was an abridged edition...not a good abridgment, I think - this version is not as gripping as I remembered it. Superstar investigative journalist Mikael Blomqvist and the super messed up and abused superhacker Lisbeth Salander team up to locate a decades-missing heiress, and uncover a lot of dirty secrets in an industrialist family. Still really want to meet this Mikael Blomqvist guy.
The Museum of Extraordinary Things: Alice Hoffman (audiobook) - an interesting story, but the writing is a little disappointing, especially towards the end. Another coming of age story. Some interesting historical perspective of turn of the (20th) century New York
Mansfield Park: Jane Austen - annoying, as always (as I think I've mentioned previously). Don't ask me why I keep reading it.
* The Last Nude: Ellis Avery (audiobook) - sort of a coming of age book, though the main character is a little older than what we would normally think of in this genre - definitely the ingenue losing her innocence.
Labyrinth: Kate Mosse (audiobook) - kind of a disappointment - interesting historical setting (Crusaders turning on Cathars in early 13th century Languedoc), and interesting structure (parallel stories of academics doing research about the Cathars in the 2000s and mystics doing stuff in the 1200s), but I found the writing somewhat grating. Also, there is a supernatural element to the story that I found annoying -- I love magical realism, but when you have characters reflecting on how strange things are, you spoil the effect. I had a similar gripe with 1Q84. For the parallel story between academics and historical figures genre, I found Possession by A.S. Byatt a far, far, far better novel.
* Gone Girl: Gillian Flynn (audiobook) - quite good...very strange story. Not totally bought in to the ending, but it was an interesting ride. Dysfunctional marriage between two first class narcissists gone very, very dark..hyperintellectual scavenger hunt for an ostensible body.
* Swamplandia!: Karen Russell (audiobook) - another very strange story. A family with an alligator wrestling theme park in the Everglades falls apart upon the death of the mother, the star of the show. Without her guidance and glue, each family member follows a different path, putting themselves into great danger, that is only resolved when they find their ways back. Pacing could have been picked up a tiny bit, I think, but overall very well done. Very good voice of a couple of teenagers. To the credit of Russell's writing, there was one scene that was so distressing, I had to listen to it in bits and pieces...took me a couple of days to get through it. I didn't love the readers who did the audio. And another coming of age book.
Alif the Unseen (audiobook): G. Willow Wilson - interesting piece. Teenage hackers in an unspecified middle eastern country (modeled on Saudi Arabia, I guess), working with jinnis, mullahs and other progressives to fight oppression by the ruling royalty. The IT aspect was a little grating because the author doesn't seem to have an idea of how you actually do coding, leading to some extremely implausible climactic scenes, but mostly it didn't matter.
The Color Purple (audiobook): Alice Walker - read by the author, which was really interesting...can't imagine reading it on paper with all that dialect
The Illegal (audiobook): Lawrence Hill - I like the structure of the story a lot. Kind of turns the stereotype of illegal immigrant as uneducated, skill-less, dispensible/interchangeable human on its head. Details the experience of living outside mainstream culture. Gets a little expository, though. End is a tiny bit treacly.
The Daylight Marriage (audiobook): Heidi Pitlor - Somewhat like Gone Girl, but without all the mindfucking. Search for missing wife in somewhat dysfunctional marriage, interspersed with narrative of the wife leading up to her disappearance.
* The Time Traveler's Wife: Audrey Niffeneger - listened to this a couple of years ago and loved it; then I ran across a $1 copy in the library's fundraising section, or maybe at Shoprite...I forget...I still love it. You know I do because I read it on paper :-). Amazing structure, especially since the narrative skips back and forth in time, as Henry is abruptly yanked back and forth in time. Reflection on memory and predestination, and love and all that sort of thing. What would you do if you knew part of your future? What if your partner knew parts of your future that you don't yet know? Mind blown.
fledgling: Octavia Butler - Ashamed to say I'd never read Octavia Butler before (in my own defense...I'm not much of a sci-fi reader). I enjoyed this one, but I found it a little problematic...I guess I'd summarize my issues as: a bit heavy on the tell, to the extent that I found the ending unconvincing and unsatisfying. Another coming of age book...if you can accept as an adolescent a 53 year old vampire in a body that appears to be a six year old, having sex with several studs in their 20s as well as a couple of middle-aged women. (Which is, indeed, the premise of the book.) Kind of a Harry Potter purebloods vs mudbloods setup.
* What Every American Should Know About Women's History: Christine A. Lunardini - a fascinating collection of overviews (each about 2 pages) of events or people, starting in colonial US, that had impacts on the modern woman's experience. Very informative, very engaging, great context. Many of the people/events covered I was familiar with, but many I was not, and learned a lot even about those I was already familiar with.

Started

The Custom of the Country: Edith Wharton
* Eats, Shoots & Leaves: The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation: Lynne Truss - another $1 Shoprite acquisition
* An Enemy of the People: Henrik Ibsen - I would love to see a production of this
Moonglow (audiobook): Michael Chabon - I was listening on audio...it just never got around to grabbing me
Lysistrata: Aristophanes - still working on it
Love in the Time of Cholera: Gabriel Garcia Marquez - still working on it
* The Woman Who Stole My Life (audiobook): Marian Keyes - really enjoying it, still working on it

And with Sidharta

What Do You Care What Other People Think?: Richard Feynman - (finished)
* Please Don't Eat the Daisies: Jean Kerr - pretty hilarious - kind of a 1950s Hyperbole and a Half, without the graphics and only somewhat as dark
Cat's Cradle: Kurt Vonnegut (started...he lost interest early, which is a pity)
Brave New World: Aldous Huxley (started...he lost interest early, which is a pity)
Black Like Me: John Howard Griffin - Griffin's innocence or naivete or maybe arrogance of ignorance is fairly stunning...it is incomprehensible to me how a (presumably educated) adult can simply decide, in 1959 Louisiana, over the course of a couple of days to walk away from family and responsibilities and with absolutely no training or preparation or research simply get his skin pigment changed, and hope to have any sort of meaningful experience as a member of a different race. To his credit he seems to have gone in with good intentions and an open mind, and fairly quickly absorbed some nuances. But oh man!...the utter chutzpah!
* The Cuckoo's Egg: Clifford Stoll - still working on it

Saturday, November 11, 2017

Suicide prevention or detention? You tell me.

I'm working through an emergency call I participated in the other night that is kind of bothering me.

We got a call for a psych transport. It seems that the patient was on the phone with her therapist and something she said (I don't know exactly what) alarmed the therapist, who called 911, who dispatched the rescue squad and the police. There was some sort of concern that she was a suicide risk, and protocol dictates that suicide risks MUST be taken in for a psychiatric evaluation. (I should note that there was an unrelated suicide in town the day before, so maybe everyone was a bit extra on edge.)

Long story short...this particular patient did not strike me as terribly suicidal (but I am not qualified to judge), and emphatically did NOT want to be evaluated. However, under threat of arrest she allowed herself to be taken to the ER. Which she wished to leave, immediately, because she felt she was fine, and she had committed no crime. Except that once at the ER, they have to take a suicide risk seriously, and have to lock her up until they determine that she's actually not a suicide risk. My discomfort comes from my participation in requiring her to follow this process, against her will. I should also note that this patient was pretty close to my age, so perhaps the incident hits a little closer to home than I might like to think.

When we got to her home, the patient was sitting in a chair, part irate, part frustrated, part tearful, being lectured/cajoled by a state cop. (I'm not sure why state cops were called in, instead of local...might be because there was a lot of other cop activity in town earlier...it was a crazy night.) It transpired that the cop was calm but firm that if the patient did not get in the ambulance of her own accord, she would be taken in, in handcuffs. She insisted that there was nothing wrong with her, she did not need to go to the Emergency Room, she did not wish to leave her home (and her dog), she was fine. The cop was adamant about those handcuffs. So she came with us. She was clearly a bit alcohol-impaired, as she stumbled a lot getting out of the house. However, her conversation was perfectly clear and coherent. In the ambulance she claimed that she had only had 2 glasses of wine and nothing else, including no medications, which I don't know if I should believe, given her lack of coordination. The whole time she was cogent and more or less cooperative with us, if a bit whiny (as I would probably have been in a similar situation). She was clearly not happy about being forced to go to the hospital. She talked to her friend and her brother on the ride, and insisted that as soon as she got to the hospital she would be returning to her home.

I am very grateful for the presence of my crewmate. He was kind but very firm in reiterating several times that (1) we were just the messengers and (2) she HAD to go to the ER. I am not certain that I could have been so assured. I tried to reassure her that we were there to support her and make sure that she is safe and well and that at the ER they would probably send her home immediately.

Upon arriving in the ER, our protocol is to (1) provide details about the patient to the intake nurse; (2) obtain a bed for the patient from the ER supervisory nurse; (3) accompany the patient to the bed and help them into it; and (4) officially transfer care by making a report on the patient to their assigned nurse. A patient is the rescue squad's responsibility until we complete step 4.

While we were waiting for step 1 (the intake nurse was MIA for a couple of minutes) the patient made motions to climb off the stretcher and leave the ER. This made me nervous for several reasons, including (a) the stretcher hadn't been lowered, so that in her slightly inebriated state she might have fallen off and hurt herself, and (b) if she runs off without our check-in, it raises all sorts of questions, especially for a suicide risk. So, again, with a little discomfort on my part, we talked to her and calmed her down and encouraged her to sit still and allow herself to get evaluated. Another crew member got a wheelchair and we helped her into that, with the hopes that it would make her feel a little less like a seriously ill person. The intake nurse tried to get her to sign the paperwork that gives consent for treatment (which of course she refused to sign), and tried to put the hospital bracelet on her, which at first she refused, but eventually allowed. The ER staff, at this point, recognized that we had a serious "elopement risk" on our hands (yes, that is the technical term), and they whisked us into the psych wing of the ER (step 2 accelerated), to wait for steps 3 and 4.

The psych wing of the ER is a very special place. Unlike the rest of the ER (where there's pretty free access to everything and patients and family wander at will), you can't get in there without a special badge.

You also can't get out without a special badge.

And there's no working patient bathroom in there.

You want to pee? You WILL be accompanied by a security guard.

When we got her into her assigned room, the patient was, of course, still planning to make her exit. She asked for water (which we are not allowed to provide) and a bathroom (see previous paragraph). She got up and walked to the door of the psych wing. Which, of course, didn't work for her. I think that's when it really hit her. At least that's when it truly hit me.

She asked me to be let out so she could go to the bathroom. Presumably with the intention of sneaking out from there. I could not have helped her with this, even if I felt it right to do so. So a security guard was summoned.

That was the last I saw of her.

Even before we left her home, I was reflecting on how I would wish to be treated in a similar situation. And throughout I felt obligated to do what I would not wish done to me. I am reminded of the very short story by William Carlos Williams, The Use of Force (an excellent read if you haven't already). I am very comfortable that IF she was actually a suicide risk, we did everything right and acted as compassionately and respectfully and helpfully as anyone could wish. I would not want it on my conscience that I didn't bring someone in, who I could have, and then have that person end up committing suicide. What I am NOT so comfortable about is whether our response was more helpful than harmful to a person who was NOT a suicide risk. It felt to me like the standard definition of a tragedy: everyone does what they are SUPPOSED to do, and yet we get a bad outcome.

I can easily see myself venting about a crappy day to someone. Maybe that person hears something I did not intend. Maybe that person doesn't know me so well. Maybe that person is a little overly sensitive because they've experienced a suicide in their family. Maybe that person is a mental health professional who has liability insurance to consider. Maybe that person is a close friend who doesn't want to take ANY chances with my well-being. But once they make that call, and the police get involved, I am essentially guilty of suicidal thoughts until proven innocent, and will suffer a corresponding loss of autonomy until I can clear myself. Frankly, in the patient's position, I think I'd have been far more enraged and probably far more verbally abusive to anyone within earshot.

I have to wonder whether these kind of considerations deter a lot of people who might want and benefit from mental health treatment from getting it. I suspect that people know that once you get flagged for mental health issues, you are at risk for having parts of your autonomy taken away in various low-risk situations, so why allow yourself to get flagged in the first place? And wouldn't having part of your autonomy taken away further undermine your mental health, leading to a downward spiral?

I wish the best for this patient. I fervently hope that she has no suicidal tendencies, and that this incident will be speedily forgotten, and that whatever bad day she was having that triggered these events will not repeat. I hope that she will continue to receive whatever mental health services she needs, from a therapist who will be therapeutic for her.

And mostly I want to know better how to do right for patients in this sort of situation. Which is probably impossible. Without being able to look directly into another person's heart, I don't know that we can ever really know what is the best and safest course of action, even when we have the best intentions. In the absence of perfect knowledge I believe we did the right thing. I just wish I felt more convinced.

Sunday, January 1, 2017

2016 books

As I did last year, and the previous few before that, I'm posting the books I read last year. More than a couple of doorstops in there. And a lot of strange stories. I think my best reads for the year were: The Forsyte Saga, The Girl in the Garden, The Art Forger, Silver Linings Playbook, Lab Girl, and The Magician's Lie, and with Sidharta, Good Omens.

* = Recommended
X = Stay Away

Finished off * The Forsyte Saga: John Galsworthy - well...just because...I read it only about 2 years ago, but...it's SO well done.
Finished off The Daring Ladies of Lowell: Kate Alcott - Meh - very disappointing. Such a good premise (investigating the murder of a defenseless factory girl), with lots of room for depth...just not realized.
The Witches of Eastwick (audiobook): John Updike
* Bartleby the Scrivener (audiobook): Herman Melville - I enjoyed this novella a lot. I could tell you more about what I think of it, but I would prefer not to. I enjoyed this annotated version, as well.
The Price of Salt (audiobook) (Currently titled Carol, as in the recent film of the same name): Patricia Highsmith - enjoyed it a lot. It is amazing to me that such an open and matter-of-fact description of homosexuality could be published when it was (1952).
The Invention of Hugo Cabret (audiobook): Brian Selznick - meh
The Secret Garden: Frances Hodgson Burnett
Wolf Hall (audiobook): Hilary Mantel - a lot like a Philippa Gregory novel only better written, but I'm not sure I get why this is Booker Prize material. Don't get me wrong...I love a good Tudor skullduggery story, and this one was very well done (I enjoyed it a lot), but...I guess I just expect something a little more unusual from a Booker
X Some Luck (audiobook): Jane Smiley - major disappointment...I don't know what I'm missing, but I seriously don't get why this was a National Book Award winner. I found the writing fairly awful, full of tell, full of summary, often precious, characters I couldn't care less about, no idea what their issues were, mostly external conflict or fairly pedestrian internal conflict, at best (e.g. annoying, embarrassing relatives, cheating on your perfect girlfriend with your deceased best friend's girlfriend, etc.), with nothing to learn from the resolution of those pedestrian internal conflicts short of "Suck it up" or "Everything's gonna be OK in the end. Because it is." From about disc 2, I was planning to abandon it, but I kept hoping that sometime soon the point was going to be revealed. Foolish me. Even places that ought to have been fraught with tension and self-reflection were passed over with ho-hum resignation. Farm boy's first kill in WWI? No biggie. Eloping with a stranger you met a couple of days ago? See ya later, mom, gotta go! I think a lot of reviewers have responded positively to the book because it portrays the troubles of an "ordinary" family. For me, though, this misses the point. It is the job of the writer to make "ordinary" troubles personal, special, and thereby elevate the ordinary to a greater significance, to inspire some urgency in the reader. It is in this that I feel that Some Luck failed miserably. I've really enjoyed other work by Jane Smiley (A Thousand Acres, Moo, The All-True Travels and Adventures of Lidie Newton), so I was a little (OK, a lot) surprised to see this kind of stuff out of her. Though, it's true I also kind of hated Duplicate Keys - don't remember it well enough to remember why.
* Elmer Gantry (audiobook): Sinclair Lewis - While I love the theme of It Can't Happen Here more, I have to admit, I think Elmer Gantry is better written.
* The Guide: RK Narayan - strange little story - I always love Narayan's writing
Northanger Abbey: Jane Austen - every year's gotta have at least one
* Fuenteovejuna: Lope de Vega - I read this years and years ago, I think for my 11th grade Spanish class or else for my college Theater History class, and loved it. I still love it. But I don't remember clueing in at that time that this was a sort of homage to Ferdinand and Isabella (in opposition to Alfonso of Portugal)
Three Soldiers (audiobook): John Dos Passos - a little disappointing. It may be an anti-war book, but it's no Johnny Got His Gun. More about the petty humiliations of the military hierarchy than about the carnage and destruction.
Celestina: Fernando de Rojas
Never Go Back (audiobook): Lee Child
The Trickster of Seville: Tirso de Molina (Can you tell, yet, that I've got an anthology of Spanish Gold Age plays?)
* The Girl in the Garden (audiobook): Kamala Nair
* Silver Linings Playbook (audiobook): Matthew Quick
Tender Is the Night (audiobook): F. Scott Fitzgerald
The Pilgrim's Progress (audiobook): John Bunyan - because...well...I'd never read it...now I'm done, and don't have to any more. I always knew that Little Women (which was one of my formative reads from childhood) made references to this one, but the extent of the connection became much clearer after I read this.
Ragtime: E.L. Doctorow - there goes one of those strange stories
To a God Unknown (audiobook): John Steinbeck - another very strange little story
* The Art Forger (audiobook): B.A. Shapiro - such a great story. Very interesting from a technical standpoint, but also a very compelling narrative.
Love and Freindship: Jane Austen - because there's a new movie...haven't seen it, though. Can't begin imagine what they could possibly put in it...the piece is so utterly silly...clearly something Austen cooked up on a dare or to make her siblings double over with laughter....how goofy can you go?
* How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe (audiobook): Charles Yu - I enjoyed this a lot...thought provoking reflection on getting stuck in the past, couched as experimentation in time travel. I think it needed a little more editing (a bit too much on the tell/summary end of things - gets a bit expository at places, but...well...I liked it anyway) - yet another strange one
Citizen Creek (audiobook): Lalita Tademy - interesting historical story, gets a bit mawkish at times...a little disappointing.
* Lab Girl: Hope Jahren - wonderful memoir of the life scientific. Jahren is...how to characterize her?...a botanist? a geologist? (you wouldn't think one would get confused about the boundary between those, now would you? but that's who she is!) She weaves a narrative that uses human experience to illuminate botany and botany to illuminate human experience and shows some of the truly crazy and/or beautiful things a passion for science can lead to
Straight Jacket and Tie: Eugene Stein - I picked it up based on a reference to "the dark side of Planet Debbie" by David Brooks (regarding our...um...unfortunate...GOP primary process in this year's festivities)...when I looked at the reviews, it sounded hilarious. It was OK...not fabulous, though I have to say, one thing I liked about it was how recognizable it was...apart from the bits about the green aliens and the young gay/bi man struggling with his identity, much was incredibly familiar. Set in the Bronx and Upper West Side of NYC in a liberal Jewish family with mental health issues, and with a cube-worker office shtick, it could have been about my own friends and family. And yet, very strange.
Hallucinations (audiobook): Oliver Sacks - Liked it a lot, though not as much as some of his other work. Very thought-provoking, as always, but with a bit of a shopping-list feel. I prefer his other works that are in-depth pieces on specific individuals, like pieces in An Anthropologist On Mars.
Persuasion: Jane Austen - Because...well...I couldn't help myself. Like I said. Every year's got to have two and a half, at least.
* Caleb's Crossing (audiobook): Geraldine Brooks - liked it a lot, though Jennifer Ehle's narration was a little disappointing...I mean...considering it is Jennifer Ehle. Kind of surreal listening to her with a full-on American accent.
* Mike and Psmith: P.G. Wodehouse - my election night comforter - I don't get all the cricket references, but...it kind of doesn't matter
* The Magician's Lie (audiobook): Greer MacAllester - it is a testament to the quality of MacAllester's storytelling that I had to stop listening at a few points in the story and resume several days later (after several failed attempts at resuming) because I found some of the scenes so disturbing.

Started

It Can't Happen Here: Sinclair Lewis - so prescient
Practical Magic (audiobook): Alice Hoffman
The Well Ain't Dry Yet: Belinda Anderson - Some lovely little stories here...I've enjoyed it a lot, but it may not be for everyone. I particularly admire her portrayal of women from across a broad spectrum of age and class, giving them all distinct voices - still working on it
The Secret Adversary: Agatha Christie - never read her before...she's been on my queue since this spring when I was treated to a performance of The Mousetrap, and the intro for the show mentioned that much of her work was intended to make some kind of social point. I hadn't realized how much like Wodehouse she sounds - I'm still working on this one

And with Sidharta:

* For the Win: Cory Doctorow - (continued) Annapurna loved this when she was about the same age...I read it a while ago and loved it. Figured Sidharta's about ready. Fabulous intro to economics for the young adult crowd. But Sidharta lost steam and abandoned it about 2/3 through :-(
Candide: Voltaire - ooohh!!! Burn! He liked it a lot.
* Good Omens: Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett - I read it previously and loved it. He loved it, too. Talk about strange.
Of Mice and Men: John Steinbeck - he was very moved by this one
Animal Farm: George Orwell - he enjoyed this one a lot; made a lot of connections to the World History class he took last year
What Do You Care What Other People Think?: Richard Feynman (started - still working on it)
The Once and Future King: T.H. White (started - still working on it)
As always, lots of Calvin and Hobbes, though rather diminshed from years past
A bunch of Peanuts books--Sidharta discovered Charlie Brown this year

Sunday, January 3, 2016

2015 Books

As I did last year, and the previous few before that, I'm posting the books I read last year. More than a couple of doorstops in there. Couple of disappointments but mostly a reasonably good year. I think the most enjoyable of the year were The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay, Water for Elephants and The Good Luck of Right Now.

* = Recommended
X = Stay Away

A Game of Thrones (Audiobook): George R.R. Martin - liked it better than I thought I would, based on the opening. I have to give it to Martin, he does have a respectful treatment of women and children, making them active, complex, full human beings and key players in the machinations of court life, present in realistic numbers, rather than as mere tokens. I hated the zombie-based plot line, and am not thrilled at the prospect of a dragon-based.plot line that is hinted at as a teaser for the next volume. I recognize the need for a formidable external enemy that might serve to temporarily re-unite the warring families, but in my opinion, resorting to supernatural forces weakens, not strengthens a plot about very human rivalries. I might or might not work myself up to reading the next volume. If I do, it will probably be because of interest in Tyrion Lannister, Jon Snow and possibly Arya and Bran Stark. I don't really find any of the others very compelling. I take a rather dim view, in general, of stories where characters are clearly on the side of "good" or "evil" and I find most of the characters in here a bit too cartoonish that way. Tyrion and Jon have divided enough loyalties that my interest in them is piqued. I may try to get the video of the series...I think my interest might be sustained a bit better in movie mode.
Emma: Jane Austen - I enjoyed this more than I have in the past (Emma is not one of my favorite Austens.) I found it a bit more forgivable, this time, though I continue to be disappointed with the overly elitist ending for poor Harriet.
Sense and Sensibility: Jane Austen (most of it) - what can I say? Comfort food.
Pygmalion: George Bernard Shaw
The Yellow Wallpaper: Charlotte Perkins Gilman
Emergency Care and Transportation of the Sick and Injured, Tenth Edition (most of it): American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons
1Q84 (Audiobook): Haruki Murakami - kind of interesting. Could have stood a bit of pruning, IMHO - a fair amount of redundancy and tell stuff. And you kind of spoil the magical realism effect when your characters reflect on how weird things are getting for them.
Snuff (Audiobook): Terry Pratchett. Enjoyed it a lot. Not quite * material. I love Pratchett's theme of tolerance that wends its way throughout his work.
Mrs. Warren's Profession: George Bernard Shaw
* The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay (Audiobook): Michael Chabon - loved this. Started a little slow, but it really pulled me in. I started it a bit reluctantly, not expecting to like it a lot, as I'm not much of a comic book enthusiast.
Possession (Audiobook): A.S. Byatt - Enjoyed it a lot, but I won't put it as a *, as it may not be for everybody. I have to be entertained by the digs at academe, which
some of you may understand :-)
The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby (Audiobook): Charles Dickens - Liked it better when I read it years ago. A little disappointing this time round.
100 Years of Solitude (Audiobook): Gabriel Garcia Marquez
* Water for Elephants (Audiobook): Sara Gruen - really enjoyed it
* The White Tiger: Aravind Adiga - you know I liked it because I actually read the whole thing on paper. (This is my second read of it...it still holds up, even knowing the punchline.)
X Ann Veronica (Audiobook): H.G.Wells - big disappointment...I normally like HG Wells a LOT, but this one...sigh. I kept waiting for him to get to the point, and then...he neatly missed it. There was so much potential in the premise.
* The Good Luck of Right Now (Audiobook): Matthew Quick - not the sort of book that you'd (I'd) expect me to like - full of spiritual themes. But really the voice was so wonderful, characters so real, and the story and structure so good, that all-in-all it was one of the best reads I had this year. Now I'll have to go read Silver Linings Playbook (I liked the movie a lot). The narrator of this one is a totally different voice/character than the protagonist of the Silver Linings Playbook movie, but I can see the connection in terms of the delicate and nuanced handling of emotionally damaged characters.
Death Comes to Pemberley: PD James - kind of a serious disappointment. The premise and the historical fiction aspect were interesting, but I found the writing distractingly bad. I liked the movie/miniseries, though, which I saw before I read the book. Kept waiting for the character motivations/plot twists of the movie to appear in the book, which they didn't. I say good job to the screen writers - they added a depth to the work that was entirely missing in the text.
Oedipus Rex: Sophocles
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime: Mark Haddon - read it to discuss with Sidharta (who had strong negative reactions to it), as he was required to read it over the summer. He found the narrator overly stereotyped and was confused/annoyed by the lack of consistency between the narrator's behavior and his words (I had to remind him about unreliable narrators). By a curious coincidence, it so happened that I was reading The Good Luck of Right Now at the same time, and while it isn't for the same audience, the narrators are very similar in some ways. I liked The Good Luck of Right now much, much better.
The All Girl Filling Station's Last Reunion (Audiobook): Fannie Flag - sweet, but kind of predictable. Some interesting historical detail on the WASPs - WWII women's flying unit.
Reamde (Audiobook): Neal Stephenson - the premise was so interesting (using gold farming to solve computationally difficult problems, and using this for economic benefit), but this was pretty much dropped in favor of more action, which was kind of disappointing to me
* Americanah (Audiobook): Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie - lovely reading
Stones from the River (Audiobook): Ursula Hegi - reading was a little annoying, interesting perspective on life in Germany from WWI on, including a feel for life in the days leading up to WWII and the holocaust, which felt eerily like modern US.