What Miranda's Reading...

... But Not Finishing.

I've found that working in the cataloging department at the library exposes me to hundreds of books that sound really good. Unfortunately, I don't have the time to read them all. I've started a few but I haven't finished many of them. Here are some of the books I've been kind of reading:

My Sister's Keeper by Jodi Picoult. Now, I've never heard anyone accuse Jodi Picoult of being a great writer. But her M.O. is tackling controversial moral arguments in her stories, and they seem very interesting. My Sister's Keeper is about a little girl who was born to be a genetic match for her older sister who has leukemia. Eventually older sister (can't remember their names and can't be bothered to look them up. One was Anna...) needs a kidney transplant and younger sister decides it's high time she was given the rights to her own body. So she decides to sue her family. Now, I'm all about women and young women having the right to decide what medical procedures are done to their bodies.... but... I just can't get behind this book. Maybe it's because I'm older than the characters in the book so I have more perspective, or maybe it's that I'm the older sister so my situation isn't the same, but I can't imagine letting my sister die for selfish reasons. I didn't finish the book, so I don't actually know how it ends. Maybe I'll pick it up again someday, but for now there are other books I'd rather read.

Whiskey Sour by J.A. Konrath. There's actually nothing wrong with this book. My only complaint is that the FBI characters are cartoonishly dim. I get that there's a rivalry between the detectives and the FBI but there's a more subtle way to go about this. It was actually really interesting, like an extended episode of Law & Order: SVU. The main character is Jacqueline Daniels (which some people think is too twee, but since I actually have a cousin named Jacqueline Daniels, it seems perfectly plausible. And unlike the Jack in the book, my cousin Jackie was born with the name, she didn't marry into it) and she's kind of awesome. She's a great female character, not stereotypical at all (which is great considering J.A. Konrath is a man), tough and funny. Even though the book describes her as a redhead, in my brain I picture her as Mary from In Plain Sight, only less annoying. So why did I stop reading it if I don't have any complaints? Well, it was taking me forever to read (I usually read just before bed, and the crimes are pretty gruesome), and I just got the next book on my list, and it takes precedent:

Juliet, Naked by Nick Hornby. I'm only two chapters in, but it's pretty good so far. I've liked almost everything else I've read by Hornby (A Long Way Down is another I started but never finished [possibly because I started reading in an airport and the title seemed inappropriate so I switched to another book I had with me) so I've got high hopes for this.

I think the last book I finished was Wintergirls by Laurie Halse Anderson. It was awesome. I want to read more of Anderson's books to see if they're as good as this one was. Wintergirls is the story of 19-year-old Lia after the death of her best friend Cassie. The whole book is told from Lia's perspective, and it has a stream-of-consciousness to it that is very poetic. Lia suffers from anorexia, and the way she deals with food and those trying to get her to eat is really compelling. A friend of mine once said that she prefers books that are about people, not events, and that's what Wintergirls is. There are very few "events" in the book, it's all about Lia and how she interprets the world around her. A wonderful book, pick it up in the Young Adult section of your local library/Barnes and Noble.

Currently Reading

I don't have a new review to post, because I haven't finished a book in the last month. Longer than that, probably. I got this new social life thing and it's really cutting into my reading time. But, here is a summary of what I have been reading, but not finishing:

1- Snow Falling on Cedars. I'm pretty sure I mentioned this before. I think I'm just going to take it back to the library, I'm not going to finish it right now. I'll get it again someday, but I'm too distracted by Jane Austen and the 3 awesome books I got for Christmas.

2- Northanger Abbey. My first Austen, and I'm loving it. I started reading it last week when our power was out (couldn't find Cedars in the dark) and I was really enjoying it. But then Christmas rolled around and now I'm distracted by...

3- Good Omens. So far, very good. The story is, basically: What if, in The Omen, Damien was accidentally given to the wrong family? Hijinks ensue. I also have The Keeper and Wicked lined up (this is actually the first year I've recieved books off my amazon wishlist... we should keep this up).

So there. You have a taste of what's to come. Please Please Please, somebody else post about what they've been reading. I feel like I'm talking to myself up in herr.

I was nominated for a Nobel Prize in 1993 for something you're too stupid to understand

Yes, I was eight. Go ahead, just try and disprove me.

What does this have to do with books, you might ask? Well, I learned something very interesting from a review of Bonk: The Curious Coupling of Science and Sex. Apparently, in the footnotes of Chapter 13, you'll find the following nugget of information:

“Nominations for a Nobel Prize, I found out when I contacted the Nobel Foundation to try to verify Shafik’s, remain secret for fifty years. You make the claim, and nobody can prove otherwise until after you’re dead. Add one to your résumé today!”

Brilliance. I may have to check out this book, along with the author's previous works: Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers and Spook: Science Tackles the Afterlife. Who doesn't love a little humor in their science?

Book Club Suggestion

--by Abby

I am not making good progress in Atonement, because I spend all my time on engineering. Lame!

A book I know at least 3 of us have read is Love is a Mix Tape by Rob Scheffield. I believe Dia has it at the moment... Maybe we can circulate this?

Blurb: "Music critic Sheffield's touching and poignant memoir of love and death will strike a chord in anyone who has used a hand-selected set of songs to try to express something that can't be put into words. A socially awkward adolescent, Sheffield finds true love as a college student in the late '80s with Renée, a "hell-raising Appalachian punk-rock girl." ... Each chapter opens with a song list from a mix tape made at the time."

I loveded this book. I laughed, I cried, you know. I'd read it again and post chapter-to-chapter if anyone is interested. Also, I feel that someone should make an audio companion so we could listen to the songs as they are on the tapes. I have no time for this obviously, but it would kick ass.

My Next Book

I've finished Wonderful Tonight (more on that later) and I'm deciding now which book to read next. I think I'm going to read the Curious Incident... next, but I did also start Chuck Klosterman IV last night as I was going to bed, so who knows if I'll actually stick to the plan. And also I'm on my way to Barnes and Noble because I'm going a little stir crazy in this house.

Check back later tonight if you want to know what I thought of WT.

The History of Love

by Nicole Krauss

While buying copies of "Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close" for my book club, the shop keeper, Heidi, recommended this book to me as well, which, as it turns out, is by Jonathan Safran Foer's wife.

Synopsis: This book is similar in style to Foer's work. Foer uses multiple story lines to describe a common theme, and so does Krauss. She takes three very different lives that seem to be on complete opposite ends of the grid, and weave them together in surprising and interesting ways that you would have never anticipated. One story involves an old man bent on his own death, a young woman who lost her husband and whose daughter constantly tries to set her up, and an author of an inspirational book that motivates many characters entitled, "The History of Love". It's also a book within a book.

This sounds intense and unlikely to make sense, but so far, I'm more than half way through and it is downright fantastic. I just hit a point where I gasped and said, "WHAT!? Wow! I did NOT see that coming."

Book Recommendations

My friend Jean has a fancy real book club with live, face to face meetings and everything. She recommended this book.

Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathan Foer. It was very creatively written from the viewpoint of a nine-year-old child who lost his father in the 9/11 tragedy. The kid was on a quest to find the lock to a key that he found in his father's closet after his death, so there is a bit of a mystery about it.

Another Book?

Having Finished Time Traveler, I'm looking for my next book. Atonement is an option, I also have Love in the Time of Cholera on my shelf. I saw Charlie Wilson's War and loved it and would love to read that one if anybody loves nonfiction. I've got a few others at the ready that are not really book-clubish so maybe I'll delve into one of those while we sort of get on the same page.

Any other suggestions?

-Abby