Books 30 - 32 / 100
30. The Year of Magical Thinking - Joan Didion
A book about the year after Didion's husband's death, where the 'magical thinking' she engages in are all the little grief games she plays with herself, such as acting as though her husband was going to come back some day. Besides being a memoir, also somewhat of an examination of grief, as opposed to mourning.
I never would have read this if it hadn't been pulled off the shelf for me by a friend, and, man, that would've been a shame. What a great book. The only problem, I think, is that I'm at the wrong point in my life to be reading this. As a 24 year old, who's never been in love, much less married, and has never experienced grief or the death of a loved one, I couldn't approach this book with any sort of empathy. It was still powerful and amazing, which speaks to how good the book is. I can't imagine what it would be like to read this actually understanding what Didion was describing.
31. Dead I Well May Be - Adrian McKinty
A "thriller" that wasn't terribly thrilling, about an illegal Irish immigrant in New York, who works for an Irish mobster and ends up on his bad side.
This book wasn't terrible, but it wasn't so good either. It was far too wordy, and there were plenty of times I wanted to say "Quit with the yakking already!" My favorite parts were the Irish slang, which I bet wouldn't be that interesting for anyone not Irish-American. Also, the narrator made tons of allusions to other books and that's always interesting to try to figure out.
32. Pericles - William Shakespeare
A play about Pericles, a prince of Tyre. He has to run from assassins, gets married, thinks his wife dies, thinks his daughter dies, then everything turns out alright in the end.
This was my last Shakespeare play! Official done reading them all. Finally.
A book about the year after Didion's husband's death, where the 'magical thinking' she engages in are all the little grief games she plays with herself, such as acting as though her husband was going to come back some day. Besides being a memoir, also somewhat of an examination of grief, as opposed to mourning.
I never would have read this if it hadn't been pulled off the shelf for me by a friend, and, man, that would've been a shame. What a great book. The only problem, I think, is that I'm at the wrong point in my life to be reading this. As a 24 year old, who's never been in love, much less married, and has never experienced grief or the death of a loved one, I couldn't approach this book with any sort of empathy. It was still powerful and amazing, which speaks to how good the book is. I can't imagine what it would be like to read this actually understanding what Didion was describing.
31. Dead I Well May Be - Adrian McKinty
A "thriller" that wasn't terribly thrilling, about an illegal Irish immigrant in New York, who works for an Irish mobster and ends up on his bad side.
This book wasn't terrible, but it wasn't so good either. It was far too wordy, and there were plenty of times I wanted to say "Quit with the yakking already!" My favorite parts were the Irish slang, which I bet wouldn't be that interesting for anyone not Irish-American. Also, the narrator made tons of allusions to other books and that's always interesting to try to figure out.
32. Pericles - William Shakespeare
A play about Pericles, a prince of Tyre. He has to run from assassins, gets married, thinks his wife dies, thinks his daughter dies, then everything turns out alright in the end.
This was my last Shakespeare play! Official done reading them all. Finally.