|
Number |
Author |
Title |
Published |
Rating |
Mini Sum |
Comments |
|
1 |
Pearl S. Buck |
The Good Earth |
1931 |
 |
(Fiction) Chinese farmer loves the land throughout
life. |
On the pro it's well done and rings true to the setting. Con, it's
a suffering book, prose feels kind of dated, and the characters are
completely misogynistic. |
|
2 |
Sarah Vowell |
Assassination Vacation |
2005 |
 |
(Essays) Sarah's essays bring assassinated US presidents to
life. |
Sarah Vowell's books are always awesome, & this is no
exception. The Garfield section is particularly wonderful. No one makes
history as personal as Vowell. |
|
3 |
Gary Shteyngart |
The Russian Debutante's Handbook |
2002 |
 |
(Fiction) NY poseur looking for love & fortune joins the
Russian Mafia. |
I liked the book more as I got further into it, but the main
character is still a loser & hard to like. |
|
4 |
Asne Seierstad |
The Bookseller of Kabul |
2003 |
 |
(Non-fic) Journalist tells stories of the Afghani family she
stayed with in 2002. |
Between the constant war and lack of basic human rights living in
Afghanistan would be no fun. |
|
5 |
Eudora Welty |
The Optimist's Daughter |
1969 |
 |
(Fiction) Southern woman grieves for lost family. |
Reading this is a lovely empathetic experience. It's all kind of a
big sigh. |
|
5.5 |
Ellen Behrens |
"Her Feelings For Him" |
2006 |
 |
(Short story) Magical Realism about too much love. |
Read
the story at Margin now. It's worth your 5 minutes. |
|
6 |
L. Ron Hubbard |
Battlefield Earth |
1982 |
 |
(Sci-fi) Humans fight for freedom from aliens on postapocalyptic
Earth. |
He could have cut this book down by several hundred pages. Good
action, but Jonnie Goodboy Tyler (obviously the hero) is too invincible.
Could do without Cold War stuff. Still above average Sci-fi.
|
|
7 |
Jeannette Walls |
The Glass Castle |
2005 |
 |
(Memoir) Writer grows up in poverty with neglectful/abusive
parents. |
The reviews on the back really bother me. It's not "eccentric"
when you steal grocery money from your hungry children. That's abusive. My
"faith in the human spirit" is not affirmed. It's not "funny," "quirky,"
or "loving." Those kids were abused and their parents should have been in
prison. |
|
8 |
Norman and Betty Donaldson |
How Did They Die? |
1980 |
 |
(Non-fic) Mini-bios of famous people focusing on their
deaths. |
Morbid. Similar to the famous graves part of findagrave.com,
except where there are pictures instead of strictly portraits &
gravestones the book has pictures of death masks, coffins & a few
bodies - ew. |
|
9 |
Daniel Wallace |
Big Fish |
1998 |
 |
(Fiction) As his dad dies Southern man tells dad's
stories. |
What a joy to read! I loved the movie, and I adore the book. They
are different takes on the story, but both wonderful. |
|
10 |
Booth Tarkington |
The Magnificent Ambersons |
1918 |
 |
(Fiction) Chronicles the fall of a prominent Indy family at turn
of the 20th cent. |
It's fun to read about my hometown (100 years ago). I like this
book. The characters are very human without being hateful. |
|
11 |
Cynthia Kadohata |
Kira-Kira |
2004 |
 |
(YA) Japanese-American family works to buy a home and care for ill
daughter. |
This is the newest Newberry book & really deserves it. Great
book. It has pathos and a sense of hopefulness, but it keeps both tragedy
and optimism in check with reality. This book walks a fine line
beautifully. |
|
12 |
Kate DiCamillo |
Because of Winn-Dixie |
2000 |
 |
(YA) Florida dog & girl make friends in their new
town. |
Cute, but not much substance. Would translate well to children's
theater. I'm so not a small-town person - I'd have a heart attack if my
kid was wandering around town making friends with strange
adults. |
|
13 |
Khaled Hosseini |
The Kite Runner |
2003 |
 |
(Fiction) Afghani boy betrays friend seeking father's approval; as
a man he seeks redemption for childhood betrayal. |
This book is wonderful. Best book this year. Simple, powerful
themes. Flawed but likable, genuine characters. |
|
14 |
Susan Cooper |
King of Shadows |
1999 |
 |
(YA) Boy actor travels back in time to act at the Globe with
Shakespeare in "A Midsummer Night's Dream. |
Kind of weak explanation for time travel device. Makes Shakespeare
very accessible for modern kids. Fawning toward the Bard, but has some
cool theater history. |
|
15 |
Misao Inagaki, Koji Suzuki, Hiroshi Takahashi |
The Ring (I) |
1998 |
 |
(Manga) Angry ghost kills video watchers through cursed
video. |
Decaying corpse grabs the journalist's wrist, gurgles to the
surface, and her reaction is "I wanted to see you!!"? Next day crazy dead
girl is still killing people thru tv. She was hugged in her well, but she
needs an eternity of chain letters? The dead must have better things to
do. |
|
16 |
Natalie Babbitt |
Tuck Everlasting |
1975 |
 |
(YA) Immortal Tuck family befriends girl who discovers their
secret. |
Good. |
|
17 |
Audrey Niffenenger |
The Time Traveler's Wife |
2003 |
|
(Fiction) Love story about inevitability. |
Cool. At times painful. Very character driven with excellent
character development. The kind of book where you miss the people when
you're finished. |
|
18 |
Vivan Vande Velde |
Magic Can Be Murder |
2000 |
 |
(YA) Teen witch witnesses murder, uses magic to show authorities
murderer & hide her powers. |
Not her best, but not awful. |
|
19 |
Leon Uris |
The Haj |
1984 |
|
(Fiction)History of the Middle East through fictional
characters. |
|
|
20 |
Jeffrey Eugenides |
Middlesex |
2002 |
|
(Fiction) Hermaphrodite tells family history. |
|
|
|