Recent Reads

• The Road by Cormac McCarthy=4.20 out of 5

  John picked this one up out of my books after we watched No Country for Old Men (which I give a straight 5!).  I had set this book aside this summer after reading Jim Crace's The Pesthouse, as two post-apocalyptic stories in a row can be quite a downer.

I liked this book, but not as much as I would have liked to have loved it.  I had heard so much praise of the works of McCarthy (esp. Blood Meridian) that I imagine I expected so much more of him.  His writing is sparse--perhaps Hemingway-ish--and is pointedly missing punctuation; especially with contractions.

Oddly enough, I found the fundamentalist Christian nightmare of Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale to be much more frightening than McCarthy's post-nuclear holocaust world.  I think we are conceivably at a stalemate with nuclear weapons--excepting perhaps North Korea?  (I think the Iranian nuclear rumor is just a scare tactic)--whereas, there seems to be a serious drive to re-imagine American history as a country founded upon/created by  Christian men (NPR Link here).

Nevertheless, I must tack on this gorgeous little excerpt:

Rich dreams now which he was loathe to wake from.  Things no longer known in this world.  The cold drove him forth to mend the fire.  Memory of her crossing the lawn toward the house in the early morning in a thin rose gown that clung to her breasts.  He thought that each memory recalled must do violence to  its origins. As in a party game.  Say the word and pass it on.  So be sparing.  What you alter in the remembering has yet a reality, known or not.  (emphasis added, McCarthy 131)

 

• Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life by Anne Lamott=4.75 out of 5

  Excellent read for those who get a bit fussy and nervous about writing.  And let's be realistic, who doesn't?  I especially liked the essay on procrastination.

• The Abstinence Teacher by Tom Perrotta= 3.9 out of 5

Perrotta writes convincingly and lushly of the realities of everyday life.  Characters are detailed, real.

I especially enjoyed the main character, Ruth's, spiel on her issues with Christian Fundamentalism as I am pretty much in agreement with her:

In a way she was grateful to Maggie's [Ruth's daughter] coach for making the situation so clear.  Until she'd seen those girls, those beautiful young athletes, sitting on the grass in the sunshine being coerced by adults into praying to the God of Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson and the Republican Party--the God of War and Abstinence and Shame and Willful Ignorance, the God Who Loved Everyone Except the Homosexuals, Who Sent Good People to Hell if They didn't Believe in Him, and Let Murderers and Child Rapists into Heaven if They Did, the God Who Made Women an Afterthought , and Then Cursed Them with the Pain of Childbirth, the God Who Would Have Never Let Girls Play Soccer in the First Place if It Had Been Up to Him [...] (Perrotta  161)

• The Year of Living Biblically: One Man's Humble Quest to Follow the Bible as Literally as Possible by A.J. Jacobs.  (I refuse to rate it as the author admits to looking up his Amazon ratings; naming it as one of his sins.)

  Heard about this book on NPR (Link to Bryant Park Project interview) and found it while browsing the new book section at the library.  (BTW: I have a pretty whacked-out library--the San Francisco Public Library Park Branch just a block off of Haight Street.  Just a few weeks ago someone overdosed in the library bathroom!  But the new book section rocks!)
  
  I've made it through A. J. Jacobs 198th day of living the bible literally and I have found it funny, entertaining, educational, and sometimes shocking.

• Currently reading--and loving--The Secret History by Donna Tartt.  Although set in somewhat contemporary times, it has a very Gatsby-ish feel to it.

Comments

[Courtney]

I love your review roundups! They always give me ideas about new books to pick up. I'm definitely going to get my hands on The Handmaid's Tale and The Road (which my best friend might be convinced to let me borrow). That little excerpt was truly lovely, though the idea of recalling a memory damaging the origin saddens me. The Pesthouse sounds good too. I'm a big fan of views of the post-apocalyptic world, which is why The World Without Us is definitely high on my queue.

Sometimes I feel like there's just TOO MANY good books out there waiting to be read! I'll never make it through them all and knit all the things I want at the same time unless I can learn to focus on both at once. :)

[Amanda]

I read The Secret History a long time ago (maybe 6 years?) and really enjoyed it! Not too big a fan of Tartt's The Little Friend, though. Sort of ho-hum.
Have fun!