A Year of Reading: October 2012
1. The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry by Rachel Joyce
3 stars on GoodReads
More like 3.5 stars. Some great writing and storytelling, but so far-fetched and somewhat repetitive (it's a story about a guy who walks - so lots of walking, obviously) so I did get a bit bored/tired at times. But a quick read with lovely moments and bits of description throughout.
2. The Soldier's Wife by Margaret Leroy
3 stars on GoodReads
Not as soap-opera-y as I expected, but honestly the Channel Island setting (which is what drew me to it) wasn't as strong as I had hoped. Someone could make a really good film out of this book. Playing the Sympathetic Nazi would totally get award nominations, I bet.
3. Murder in the Marais (Aimee Leduc Investigations #1) by Cara Black
2 stars on GoodReads
So-so mystery set in Paris, about Nazis and Crimes From Years Ago Coming Back To Haunt Those Involved. I'd try another of this series but I wasn't blown away by this one.
4. The Paris Wife by Paula McLain
3 stars on GoodReads
The story of Ernest Hemingway and his first wife, Hadley Richardson, in 1920s Jazz-age Paris and elsewhere. The narrative covers the time Hemingway was writing despatches for the Toronto Star, as well as what would go on to be 'The Sun Also Rises'. A good read, but frustrating - I kept wanting to punch Hemingway in the head. (As you do.) I knew very little about the era or the people involved, so I liked that aspect of it.
5. Regeneration by Pat Barker
So many good reviews, I just could not get into this book about the psychological effects of World War I and soldiers (such as Siegfried Sassoon) who would not/could not return to fight.
6. Into Great Silence: The Great War, Mallory, and the Conquest of Everest by
3 stars on GoodReads
Liked the first 150 or so pages, and the epilogue. In between I was bored. Walking, climbing, climbing, freezing, etc. I've read other Everest accounts and novels so knew the rough outlines. It felt a bit laboured in its detail. I really want to learn more about the 1999 Conrad Anker research expedition that discovered Mallory's body. (Nominated for the Samuel Johnson Prize.)
7. Tiny Beautiful Things: Advice on Love and Life from 'Dear Sugar' by Cheryl Strayed
2 stars on GoodReads
I found this book frustrating. I usually love advice columns but this was mostly Sugar responding to letters by calling people annoyingly cute endearments (if I read 'sweet pea' one more time I was going to scream) and then telling stories of her own life and how it was much worse than the questioner's situation. I read the whole thing but the pattern just kept repeating.
The essay The Ghost Ship That Didn't Carry Us, though, moved me to tears.
8. Above All Things by Tanis Rideout
2 star on GoodReads
This book is described as ""The Paris Wife" meets "Into Thin Air"" - and I wish that for me that was true. I have read both of the above and liked them more than this. I found this book frustrating, obvious, and tedious. (Maybe because I knew the story?) And when I got to the end and read that the author had moved around things (like deaths of characters she deemed important to the plot BY 20 YEARS) and had characters discussing things that happened 7-8 years after the events of the novel, I was really angry.
9. Plan for Chaos by John Wyndham
2 stars on GoodReads
A sort-of mystery, a sort-of commentary on gender and eugenics, this had promise but didn't really go anywhere. I loved the premise but got bored about halfway through.
10. Nothing to Envy: Real Lives in North Korea by Barbara Demick
4 stars on GoodReads
A great book, this follows the lives of six North Koreans over 15 years and tells their back-stories and the stories of their families through the death of Kim Il-sung and the rise of his son Kim Jong-il. If you read some of this stuff in a novel you'd think it was made up - it isn't. (Nominated for the Samuel Johnson Prize.)
11. As the Crow Flies by Jeffrey Archer (reread)
3 stars on GoodReads
I quite enjoy the epic family saga as a genre, and this is no exception. Still enjoy this upon reread, but the unrelenting assholerey of all the Trenthams gets tiring. I always think Nigel's wife is going to transform him, but no.
12. Catching Fire: How Cooking Made Us Human by Richard Wrangham
Interesting book (though it might work better as a long essay) about how humans discovering/eating cooked food was central to the biological and social evolution of humanity. Gave up after 50-60 pages. (Nominated for the Samuel Johnson Prize.)
13. Pontius Pilate: The Biography of an Invented Man by Ann Wroe
An attempt to write the history of a man with an unknown history. Interesting but I couldn't keep my interest sustained. Gave up. (Nominated for the Samuel Johnson Prize.)
14. Considering Aaron Sorkin: Essays on the Politics, Poetics and Sleight of Hand in the Films and Television Series by Thomas Fahy
3 stars on GoodReads
3 stars because I do like reading meta-critique of Sorkin shows, but honestly I was so pissed that the first essay (by the editor, Fahy) gets an episode title wrong, that I was angry the whole way through. How can I take your critique seriously if you can't even get an episode title right? ARGH.
15. Mr. Sorkin Goes to Washington: Shaping the President on Television's the West Wing by
3 stars on GoodReads
I think this was basically a thesis that got turned into a book. I really liked the chapter/essay 'Communicating the Presidency on Screen' which talked about the President (real and fictional) (and Presidential candidates) and how that portrayal on-screen affected success or failure.
Reading Now or in the 'To Read' Pile
-1491: New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus by Charles C. Mann
-Death on the Dun by Paul Knowles (mystery book by a friend)
-Marking Time (Cazalets #2) by Elizabeth Jane Howard
What are you reading lately? What do you recommend? Are you on GoodReads? If so, please feel free to add me there!