A Year of Reading: March 2012
1. Judi Dench: With a Crack in Her Voice by John Miller
gave up
I had just read 'And Furthermore' which is Judi Dench's autobiography (instead of biography) and thought this would be an interesting follow-up ... but it was mostly the same stories so I got bored very quickly and gave up.
2. The Shortest Way to Hades by Sarah Caudwell (reread)
3. The Tudor Throne by Brandy Purdy
gave up
I wanted to like this - wanted to love it, really - as an alternating POV story of Elizabeth and Mary Tudor after the death of Henry VIII. I had to put it down when the author got Anne Boleyn's motto wrong, though. Blurg.
4. Gold Diggers: Striking It Rich in the Klondike by Charlotte Gray
4 stars on Goodreads
I really liked this!! I knew little about the gold rush and I felt this book gave me both a wider context and a specific understanding of certain peoples' experiences. Charlotte Gray is a good writer and a great researcher; in this book she follows the story of the Klondike gold rush through the stories of a prospector, a priest, a businesswoman, an English journalist, the law officer Sam Steele, and Jack London. I liked some chapters/characters (all real people, please note) better than others but it was all interesting. There are lots of 'words of the time' (letters, newspaper articles, etc.) to give more details and veracity to the stories. Recommended.
5. Admission by Jean Hanff Kroelitz
3 stars on Goodreads
This was on my to-read list for a while but when I read that Tina Fey was possibly going to play the lead in the movie, I moved it up my list. And it was OK. The narrator - Portia - is both likeable and annoying. I was interested in the admission(s) process (Portia is an admission(s) officer for Princeton but then not sure how much of the insider information was true. I saw the 'secret/twist' from a mile away and even though it didn't pan out as I expected, it was still kind of cliche. I'm undecided on this one.
6. Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience and Redemption by Laura Hillenbrand
5 stars on Goodreads
I loved this, even though it was rough going at times. (Reading about Japanese POW camps will do that to me.) This is the biography of Louis Zamperini, childhood hooligan, teenage athlete, Olympian, WWII airman, plane crash survivor, POW, and beyond.
The author, Laura Hillenbrand - who wrote Seabiscuit, which I also loved - is an amazing writer, and clearly did metric tonnes of research for this book. Really amazing story, and story-telling.
Note: if you are going back in time and fighting for the Allies, and are going to be a POW, be in a German camp, not a Japanese one, OK? I had to return the book to the library, but the death rate in Japanese camps vs. in German camps is INSANE. It would still suck to be in a POW camp, but in a German camp they (mostly) respect the Geneva Convention and aren't starving/torturing/killing prisoners.
7. Fire by Kristin Cashore
2 stars on Goodreads
Meh. I couldn't put a finger on what I didn't like about this, but it just didn't work for me.
8. The Lincoln Lawyer by Michael Connolly
4 stars on Goodreads
I had seen the movie so wasn't entirely surprised at the plot but still really enjoyed this (mostly) courtroom drama. (The movie is really good, too!)
9. Lord John Gray and The Scottish Prisoner by Diana Gabaldon
3 stars on Goodreads
One of the books Diana Gabaldon puts out when she is writing another in the Outlander series. This was OK - a lot of people seem to like it mostly because it has Jamie Fraser in it, which ... I prefer Lord John on his own. But this was OK. I'd rather read an Outlander book, though.
10. A Place of Hiding by Elizabeth George
2 stars on Goodreads
I read this and read this and read this and nothing happened. I read the whole thing, though - and it was not short!!! I won't be picking up another in this series unless someone really strongly recommends it and none of the other books on my to-read list are available.
11. Thirty-One Brothers and Sisters by Reba Paeff Mirsky
4 stars on Goodreads
One of my favourites from childhood - this is from the 1950s and belonged to my father before he passed it on to me - and I am happy to say it held up really well on a reread!! This is the story of Nomusa, a Zulu girl, and her daily life (with wildlife encounters, chores, parties, and more) and then her adventures on a hunt with the men on the tribe. Not at all condescending or patronizing, is like really fun cultural anthropology.
Reading Now, Up Next, or In Transit At the Library:
-Crucible of Gold by Naomi Novik
-Drop Dead Healthy: One Man's Humble Quest for Bodily Perfection by A.J. Jacobs
-The Mysterious Affair at Styles by Agatha Christie
-The Golden Mean by Annabel Lyon
-Our Queen by Robert Hardman
What are you reading lately? What do you recommend? Are you on GoodReads? If so, please feel free to add me there!