Some books I've read lately
All of these receive a thumbs up from me. (If I really hated a book, I would probably tell you, but this time they're all recs.) Sort of in order of preference, I guess.
1. How to Be Good, by Nick Hornby. OMG how much do I adore this book? It's only about 300 pages, and it's light on plot (something I can appreciate) but that's fine with me, because Hornby is such a brilliant observer of human nature and his turns of phrase are so sly and ingratiating. I found myself chuckling a lot through this book, which actually involves a fair amount of domestic anxiety. I've never read any of his books before, nor seen the films made from them, but now I want to. I know he wrote High Fidelity and About a Boy.
2. The Lovely Bones, by Alice Sebold. This is one of those books that's impossible to forget. I thought it was wildly original, one of those books that's hard to put down. The premise is pretty crazy and now and then I had to actively suspend disbelief, because it's such a supernatural fantasy, in a way, but Sebold always managed to hold my attention, and she had me rooting for Susie's family and their friends to pull things together.
3. The Lord God Made Them All, by James Herriot. This is the 4th and last of James Herriot's books about his years as a country veterinarian in Yorkshire, England. I sort of fell in love with James and his colleagues Siegfried and Tristan Farnon in the late 1970s in the BBC series All Creatures Great and Small. I'd read the first book, from which the TV series got its name, and loved it. Herriot was a wonderful story teller, and this book is as lovely to read as the first one. I guess I should find the other two, All Things Bright and Beautiful and All Things Wise and Wonderful, to complete the set.
1. How to Be Good, by Nick Hornby. OMG how much do I adore this book? It's only about 300 pages, and it's light on plot (something I can appreciate) but that's fine with me, because Hornby is such a brilliant observer of human nature and his turns of phrase are so sly and ingratiating. I found myself chuckling a lot through this book, which actually involves a fair amount of domestic anxiety. I've never read any of his books before, nor seen the films made from them, but now I want to. I know he wrote High Fidelity and About a Boy.
2. The Lovely Bones, by Alice Sebold. This is one of those books that's impossible to forget. I thought it was wildly original, one of those books that's hard to put down. The premise is pretty crazy and now and then I had to actively suspend disbelief, because it's such a supernatural fantasy, in a way, but Sebold always managed to hold my attention, and she had me rooting for Susie's family and their friends to pull things together.
3. The Lord God Made Them All, by James Herriot. This is the 4th and last of James Herriot's books about his years as a country veterinarian in Yorkshire, England. I sort of fell in love with James and his colleagues Siegfried and Tristan Farnon in the late 1970s in the BBC series All Creatures Great and Small. I'd read the first book, from which the TV series got its name, and loved it. Herriot was a wonderful story teller, and this book is as lovely to read as the first one. I guess I should find the other two, All Things Bright and Beautiful and All Things Wise and Wonderful, to complete the set.