Thursday, April 03, 2014

Books, Books, Books

I didn't think I had read many books last month but when I look at my GoodReads list, I see it's time to post about books, books, books.

Aging with Grace: What the nun study teachers us about leading longer healthier, and more meaningful lives by David Snowdon - This was actually a second read for me.  I bought my original copy in an airport bookstore and subsequently gave it away.  I think I paid as much for it in Kindle but it's still just as good and still worth the price.  Aging?  If you're reading this, you are.  Read this.

The good luck of right now, by Matthew Quick - I've never read anything like this so it's hard to compare.   Bartholomew, the protagonist is a dim-witted man trying to live on after his mother and caregiver passes away.  A close friend of his mother's is his priest who is devastated by this death. Oddly delightful.

Glitter and Glue, by Kelly Corrigan - This was one of those fast-grabs from the Costco book aisle.  I trust them to decide what's hot and always look to be seduced by their choices.  This an autobiographical recounting of a six-month period as a nanny in Australia, rated 4.5 stars on Amazon.

The One-Way Bridge by Cathie Pelletier - This book showed up one day as one of those Kindle offers.  Most of the time I don't know who the authors are and I'm not interested, but I had read all of Pelletier's books years ago - and then she disappeared.  I downloaded this one with trepidation.  No need.  She's on top of her game.  May she live a long and wordy life.  Go Cathie, go!

Wait 'til next year by Doris Kearns Goodwin.  This was a departure from what I've come to expect from this author.  It seemed to be a quiet and boring story of her childhood, but it ended up being a story of time and place.  Yet again, she delivers

Gosh, I read more than I realized and some of it was reading for a second time, but if you haven't read Barbara Kingsolvers duo, Bean Trees and Pigs in Heaven, I really enjoyed them again.  Another second time around that I enjoyed this month was Buddha in the Attic by Julie Atsuka.  It's been a cold and gray month.  I didn't realize that I had read so much.  Two more that I can recommend

Brain on Fire: my month of madness by Susannah Cahalan - I'm a huge fan of Oliver Sachs so when I stumbled across this book at Costco, it went right into my shopping cart.  I think I read it in two days.
The Monuments Men:  Allied heroes, Nazi thieves, and the greatest treasure hunt in history by Robert M. Edsel - This read like fiction.  The last hundred pages I was flipping like mad.  I know the movie is going to be good if it covers jut an nth of the book.


3 comments:

Laura said...

I have all of Barbara Kingsolver's fiction except "Flight Behavior," which I got from our library to read. I've re-read them so many times they're quite evidently loved, with dog-eared pages and covers on the paperbacks. She is exactly my age, and has the same degree as I do (though she has her MS). Her writing has always resonated with me somehow.

Jodi said...

Glitter and Glue is on my to-read list. Kingsolver is always terrific -- this is a good reminder that I need to read more of her books! I've only read a few (Animal Dreams; Animal, Vegetable, Miracle; The Poisonwood Bible).

Amanda said...

Don't bother with the Monuments Men movie. It guts the book, turns it into just another WWII movie. Also made the Nazis 'way too nice. Spent the whole thing saying "It didn't happen like that!" Husband type was threatening to leave before the half-way mark; I'd have followed with no regrets.