more books
A Spot of Bother (Mark Haddon) A british comedy about a father coming to grips with his mortality and a family figuring themselves out. It will probably be made into a movie at some point, it has that kind of familiar plot. Although it would lose a lot, I think(similar to Maybe Baby, the book(Inconceivable) was very good, the movie was pretty dumb). I enjoyed the crazy antics of everyone. I was somewhere in the middle, where everyone's relationships are falling apart and no one is treating each other properly and I had to stop reading and go out somewhere. It was hard to shake the mood! I was relieved to get back to it the next day and see how it all got sorted. It was a bit scattered at first, but for a good reason, and it doesn't continue the whole way through like that.
A Walk in the Woods (Bill Bryson) My boyfriend gave me his copy when he finished it, and I read it straight through while I was at home during the ice-snow-rain storm. It's hilarious. It's a travelogue of sorts, of the Appalachian Trail. A perfect mix of guide book and humour and details about biology and geology and history. Very interesting to read about the landscape in the southern parts of the trail, and cool to read about the VT and NH parts I have already seen. I was pleasantly surprised that it's not one of those super-man mountain trip books. It's inspiring in an accessible way.
A Thread of Grace (Mary Doria Russell) I loved Russell's previous series about Jesuit missions to another planet. Even if you aren't into Science Fiction, they are well worth reading for the relationships and morality questions. This one is equally detailed and philosophical. It's set in the mountains in Italy in WWII, where the farmers are protecting their villages and fleeing Jews from Italian, German, and English forces in turn. It's incredibly complex and I think I read it too fast. I had trouble keeping track of who and where and when. She's woven the intensely personal stories of many families on all sides of the conflict together, and she writes beautifully as always. I'm astonished at the research that goes into her books. The language, landscapes, and characters are flawless.
A Walk in the Woods (Bill Bryson) My boyfriend gave me his copy when he finished it, and I read it straight through while I was at home during the ice-snow-rain storm. It's hilarious. It's a travelogue of sorts, of the Appalachian Trail. A perfect mix of guide book and humour and details about biology and geology and history. Very interesting to read about the landscape in the southern parts of the trail, and cool to read about the VT and NH parts I have already seen. I was pleasantly surprised that it's not one of those super-man mountain trip books. It's inspiring in an accessible way.
A Thread of Grace (Mary Doria Russell) I loved Russell's previous series about Jesuit missions to another planet. Even if you aren't into Science Fiction, they are well worth reading for the relationships and morality questions. This one is equally detailed and philosophical. It's set in the mountains in Italy in WWII, where the farmers are protecting their villages and fleeing Jews from Italian, German, and English forces in turn. It's incredibly complex and I think I read it too fast. I had trouble keeping track of who and where and when. She's woven the intensely personal stories of many families on all sides of the conflict together, and she writes beautifully as always. I'm astonished at the research that goes into her books. The language, landscapes, and characters are flawless.