Book 48: The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry

After a false start in which I discovered I was listening to the tracks on shuffle, I got into this book.



Mostly, I liked it. There were some really interesting moments and reflections. I enjoyed seeing the characters change as the story unfolded. On the other hand, there was a lot of navel gazing, and once in a while I got a little tired of that. There was one moment when I actually yelped, "Yuck!" because some "memories" didn't seem like they belonged in Harold's memory--at least not to be shared with me.

Book 35: Fever, 1793

This was a neighborhood book club read. Otherwise, I don't think I would have chosen to read this. I almost never read young adult books.



This one was ok--for a young adult book! But I swear, if I encounter another book about the smart, spunky, slightly awkward and not-that-attractive girl who grows up and turns into a beauty, I . . . won't read it. I have had enough of that formula.

I do love my neighborhood book club, though, so if they choose another YA title about a smart and spunky girl who comes into her own, I suppose I just might end up reading it.

Book 20: I Am Nujood

I picked this for our neighborhood book club because it looked reasonably interesting and it was a book club set available immediately from the public library.


It turned out to be an interesting story that gave me a view of Yemen, which is a place I don't know that much about. It was a bit simplistically written, but it was the account of a child.

While I live happily in my bubble of literacy and self-determination, there are many women and children around the world who are not so fortunate.

Book 61: Frankenstein

This is October's book club "spooky read".



It was fun, and strange. I want the monster's language learning ability and eloquence, though. Monsters these days just aren't as genial and eloquent as they used to be.

Book 56: May the Road Rise Up to Meet You

This is September's book club read. I enjoyed it.



The characters were engaging, and the story was interesting.

I found its descriptions of awful things (the Civil War, slavery) a lot less disturbing than what I have recently read, so that was nice, though it feels a little like emotional dishonesty. But I was grateful not to have to stop every few minutes and decide if I wanted to continue reading.

I was a little disappointed when I discovered that the characters were all going to be romantically involved with one of the other ones, but that is a peculiar quirk of mine. And the ending was unsatisfying and confusing for reasons I haven't yet figured out for myself.

Book 48: The Great Gatsby

Like many of you, I read this in high school, lo these many, many years ago. I remembered only one thing about it, and that was something about Robert Redford and Mia Farrow. Oh wait . . . .




Well, I loved it. It was so well-written: so spare, yet so descriptive! I listened to the audio book, and it was just a delight to listen to.

And now I feel that education is wasted on the young. I should probably re-read everything I read in my youth.

Book 42: Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet

We have a winner, folks--for the worst book of 2012 so far!



This book raised my ire from the second chapter in, when a glaring anachronism made its appearance (I have heard it was fixed in later editions, though). The characters did things that didn't make sense, too much was explained and reexplained, and overall, the writing wasn't at all to my taste. There were far, far too many similes. On the bright side, the narration of the audio book was very good.