As my usual, I haven’t reported on this reading project lately. My designated reading shelf is looking emptier but has managed to fill up with other lovely books waiting to be read. As shelves tend to do. The books I l have left to read are, fittingly, on the left.
Here’s the full, updated list here.
Little Bee. Chris Cleave
A heavy-handed novel about a Nigerian orphan and a British couple who meet on a beach with devastating results. I did listen to this and I have to wonder how the delivery changes my interaction with the story, with the writing, with the characters.
Townie: A Memoir. Andre Dubus III
Affecting memoir of a scrappy, difficult boyhood and young adulthood. While his father was a respected writer and college professor, his kids and ex-wife live in much more difficult circumstances. One of those books I would have never read without Powell’s Indiespensable but so glad I did. The opening running scene has stuck with me all summer…so much there.
A Rope and A Prayer: The Story of a Kidnapping. David Rohde & Kristin Mulvihill
In 2008, David Rohde, a New York Times reporter and newlywed, was kidnapped by the Taliban and held for seven months. The book alternates perspectives of David and his wife, Kristin. A fascinating account and I loved the different tones of the chapters – Rhode’s writes of his experience in captivity and includes analysis of various Middle Eastern issues while in Mulvihill’s sections she talks of trying to get her husband back from the Taliban but also, the Manhattan Cosmopolitan photo shoot of a persnickety Gossip Girl actress. Absolutely bizarre juxtapositions of both author’s very real experiences.
Fairy Tales from the Brothers Grimm. Philip Pullman
Cate and I read a good chunk of these tales together. She loved many of the tales, even the dark and gory ones, and I appreciated the notes after each tale discussing provenance and artistic license, etc. There’s isn’t a clunker in the whole collection. I will read pretty much anything Pullman writes…
Also, you can tell I have had a stressful few weeks because last night I stayed up way too late reading Persuasion, my go-to reread novel when I am feeling overwhelmed. Once Anne and Captain Wentworth are together (but not together) in Bath, I am a goner. Have.to.finish.
Andrea Y. Griffith 