As I mentioned yesterday, I've been reading some books lately. I finally got a library fine cleared up, and have read 7 books in the past 9 days. You might say I was a bit starved of new literature!!
One of the authors I read was Lori Wick. She is a Christian author, and writes mostly romances. Browsing through the titles, it seems that much of her work historical fiction -- late 19th century mostly. To be honest, those books didn't interest me, but some of her more contemporary works did.
I read The Princess, Sophie's Heart, and White Chocolate Moments. I thoroughly enjoyed each of them. I liked Bible references and way the characters prayed frequently throughout the day. They made me want to be a better person and Christian. They've also made me look at my own beliefs and compare them to those of the author.
Another book I read was Laura Jensen Walker's Miss Invisible. It's about a "big" girl who basically lives her life invisible, but things happen and she becomes visible. It's made me look at my body differently (or at least my attitude towards it), and how I treat others, and it made me LAUGH OUTLOUD. More than once. Highly entertaining. (The main character even starts a blog!! How could I NOT like it?!) It's also got some Christian themes and references, but they aren't as prevalent as in Lori Wick's books. I'll definately be looking for more from her.
One final author I want to share with you is Alice Sebold. I read The Lovely Bones. It's the (fictional) story of a girl who was murdered in 1973. The book actually starts with the day she dies, and what her heaven is like. Most of the book is her looking down on her family, and seeing how they cope with her death.
I loved it. I couldn't put it down. It was sad and captivating and intriguing. There was very little language in it, but I just loved the story. It's not like anything I've ever read before.
I had checked out another book of hers, The Almost Moon. This one........I started and didn't finish. The book starts, "When all is said and done, killing my mother came easily. Dementia, as it descends, has a way of revealing the core of the person affected by it. My mother's core was rotten like the brackish water at the bottom of a weeks-old vase of flowers."
Despite this rather abrupt and disturbing opening, I pressed on, quite curious. It tells the story of a daughter, caring for her elderly and ill mother. But within first 30 pages, there were multiple "rough" swear words, and I just didn't like the tone of the book. It takes a lot for me to not want to finish a book, but even as it lies here in front of me, I have no desire to read further.
It would seem a common thread in these two books of hers is that of a repressed mother. Both mothers in the books had plans outside of a family. They dreamed of and briefly pursued careers. Then in the mid 1960s, they got married, started families, and ended up resenting either their husband, their children, or both, because they had to stay home.
As I started reading The Almost Moon and realized that this was going to be an even bigger theme than in The Lovely Bones, I just decided that I didn't care to read another book about a repressed mother. I'm sure it happened to many, many mothers at the time, but I just didn't feel the need to read it.
I actually called my mother and told her briefly about the books. I said, "I'm just glad that you liked being a stay-at-home-mom and didn't scar me for life! Thanks for being a good mom and not making me want to swear at you!"
She laughed and said she hoped it would always be like that. I told her that I didn't think we had anything to worry about.
The next book on my list is The Poisonwood Bible. I've heard someone talk about it recently, but for the life of me can't figure out who it was. Have any of you read it? What did you think? Or what other books have you read recently?
13 comments:
I've heard The Lovely Bones is an amazing book. I'll have to check it out.
Reading is something I do not do very much of (well, books anyway...news, magazines, medical articles, blogs, etc. seem to be where I spend my time
Anyway, I don't know why I do not do it more because I LOVE reading a good book. It's so enriching.
Wel...point of this comment:
Do you remember my BFF from home/roommate Becca at BYU-I? Well, she is an avid and serious reader and she LOVED the Poinsonwood Bible. I would be willing to bet she has read it 20+ times. I bet you're in for some great reading with that one.
I too enjoyed The Lovely Bones. Good book. And I've wanted to read The Poisonwood Bible.
Right now I have hunger games waiting to be read.
I liked The Lovely Bones. I had to ignore the whole repressed mother bit, though. I find that theme in far too many books. The Poisonwood Bible is by far one of my all time favorites. I hope you like it as much as I did. A few other books by the same author ... I didn't like so much--themes, you know.
You should try Midwives or The Dogs of Babel. Those are two of my other faves.
The Poisonwood Bible is one of my all-time favorites too. It's one of those books that is SO engaging
I had trouble putting it down.
The lovely Bones is actually one of my favorites as well, but I've passed on her others until The Almost Moon. I've done the same thing with it as you- put it down for weeks at a time because I was a bit disgusted with it. I hate leaving a book unread though. SO, I tried it again the other day and the section I was in was better, it shed more light on the whole nature of both their disfunctions . . . very sad. Still don't know if I'll finish it though. :)
Oooo - thanks for the suggestions!
I started Poisonwood Bible, liked it, but stopped for some reason. Probably because it was at my mom's house and then I had to go home.
Yet I must say that though I couldn't put The Lovely Bones down, it disturbed me. Shook me. I wasn't myself for a good week afterwards.
I just can't handle death and despair. I think I ... internalize it. I dunno.
Maybe I'm just a freaky head case.
I thought The Lovely Bones was really well done. I think I had to keep reading to know if everyone found peace. But The Poisonwood Bibile...incredible. I think you'll like it.
I haven't read any of these. I always put books on hold at our library and then I forget to pick them up once they're in...
I read The Lovely Bones last summer and couldn't put it down. But I agree with that girl. I was about halfway through before I decided that I liked it. The beginning was hard for me to read.
But the Poisonwood Bible. Oh, my. That introduced me to one of my favorite authors: Barbara Kingsolver. I haven't read a thing she has written that I didn't like. She is amazing. So read that and then any thing else she has written. You won't be disapointed.
OOOO! i LOVED the lovely bones! the rest of her books are kind of hard to take though. lucky is a good one and is a memoir of her rape. that one was hard for me to get through, since i was in college at the time and so is she.
i miss reading!
Poisonwood is the best of Kingsolver, who is one of my favorite authors. I got my first copy of THE BEAN TREES as a wedding present in 1996 (good friend who knew me very well thought I"d need something to do on the plane to Mexican honeymoon), and since, I have read everything she has written, and liked every one except prodigal summer. I gave my original Poisonwood Bible away after I read it years ago, and just recently bought myself a new hardback copy. Let's chat about it when you are finished!
Also liked lovely bones, and didn't read Almost moon after seeing the synopsis.
Oopsy-daisy. That was me, signed in as my daughter.
I am always looking for good books. They are hard to find. I don't think I will give the Almost moon to my teenage daughter! JK Thanks, m
Post a Comment