Friday, October 28, 2005

Steph's (Lonely) Book Club (1) -- Read These to Join. Or Don't. Whatever.

My recent and current reads and thoughts:

A Million Little Pieces, by James Frey -- Excellent book. I didn't want to put it down, and now that I'm finished with it, I want to know more. What did James do after the last scene in the book? What did he do yesterday? What did he eat for breakfast this morning? The book was so detailed that I'm actually feeling at a loss because I don't know the answers to these questions. Go out and read it. Now.
P.S. - I took the "Oprah's Book Club" sticker off the book before I read it, out of principle. I wanted to read that before Oprah made her Everyone-Read-This declaration. (Although if I had been in her audience and she personally had bought it for me, I would've left the sticker on.)

The Year of Magical Thinking, by Joan Didion -- Bought this last night, read the first couple chapters and I can't wait to leave work and read more. The story is heartbreaking, and I'm only hearing it for the first time. Didion is a writer I've always meant to read, but forget about constantly. The plan is to finish this book (and love it, I'm sure) and then pick up the rest of her collection and be able to point out (to myself) the motivation for sadness in this piece or that, etc. I'll let you know how that goes.

The Liars Club, by Mary Karr -- Started this awhile ago but put it down in favor of A Million Little Pieces. I think that was the right decision. I like this book, but now that I've finished Pieces, The Club is looking pretty sad. (Although, how many books can compete with painfully honest drug addiction and recovery?) I'm getting back into it now, but, in the back of my mind, I keep hearing professors talk about how she couldn't possibly remember all this -- from age seven -- as clearly as she writes it, and she makes no attempt to say, "This is how I remember it, but I could be wrong" or "So-and-so supplemented my memories with facts." I kind of resent that kind of writing. I would have much more respect for her if she had told me from the beginning that she could be making up a lot of the story, or if she inserted "I think" into every chapter or so. I'm way more into random thoughts. (Duh.)

The Chronicles of Narnia, by C.S. Lewis -- Started these awhile ago, too, because I saw a preview for the movie, and I won't see it until I've finished the books. I should have read them when I was a kid. It's tragic, really.
So I'm on the third book (The Horse and His Boy) and I really enjoy them. Again, the series got put to the side for Pieces (talking animals vs. crack addicts?), but the books are quick reads and, I say, fun for all ages. I sound like a commercial.

Now I Can Die in Peace, by Bill Simmons -- I'm not actually reading this, but I feel like I am because Bill (my fiance, not the author) reads aloud to me every five minutes. Which I love. I've been trying to get him to read to me since I met him. Then there's me -- I read aloud bits of anything I get my hands on. I think it's because I like my voice so much. (Ha!) But anyway, this book is by an ESPN writer and it's a collection of his past columns about the Red Sox. I think. But he has a whole bunch of footnotes where he ties other stuff (like weddings) into sports and he's really funny. I'll probably read it when Bill's finished (my fiance, not the author).

That's it for now. I'm sure I'll do this more in the future, so that's why I numbered the title. Happy reading.

2 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

am I part of the book club since one of the books you mention is the one i'm reading? i've never been a part of a book club. one more note: i hate oprah.

9:28 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

how could he hate oprah????????????? she rocks my whole world for serious.
this is your cousin. i will join your book club, i'm already a little ways into a million little pieces.
i feel kind of badly that i didn't use correct punctuation in the book title.
but oh well. i have to go read your other entries cause i've fallen behind.

2:08 PM  

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