so much reading in my first month of summer - and all really fantastic books! i'm checking books out of the library at school and crossing them off my endless "to read" list at a good clip. this month's reading includes no books that i was obligated to read - july will be quite different, with two books to read for school and one to read for a conference i'm going to. but we can worry about that later!
this month i read:
orphan train, by christina baker kline (i actually read this in may [i thought may's numbers looked low!] - and somehow forgot it until after posting about may's books. this is a fictional account of a real life event - orphans from new york city being sent to the midwest by train to be adopted in the early 1900s. in the book we get the story of one such orphan alongside the story of a modern day girl in the foster care system. it was an easy read, and i love historical fiction. i'd recommend it!)
a god in ruins, by kate atkinson (remember when i told you about the morning edition book club? this is their pick from may, and since i really enjoyed life after life when i read it two years ago, i doubly wanted to read this one. and it was fantastic! it's the story of the brother teddy from life after life [though you don't need to read that book to understand this one], told at various times in his life. you jump from old age to WWII [which is the real focus of the book] to becoming a parent and around again. i got a lot out of listening to NPR's interview with atkinson after i read the book, so i'd recommend that you do that, too. the bottom line is: if you haven't read a kate atkinson book, you are really missing out. i love the way she tells stories and i love her "voice"!)
the road from gap creek, by robert morgan (this is the sequel to an earlier book by morgan - this one follows the children of the characters in the original book. it takes place in the mountains of north carolina - my favorite setting - in the 1940s. it's sad but well written, and i'm glad i read it.)
the storied life of a.j. fikry, by gabrielle zevin (this is a super quick read about a bookstore owner, with chapters titled and themed by books. this isn't the most profound book in the universe, but i really enjoyed it and it would be a great book to bring along on vacation!)
the buried giant, by kazuo ishiguro (i LOVED never let me go, and was excited to read the newest book by ishiguro. this book is so different in tone - but not in a bad way - and the story is intriguing, the setting described so vividly, and i didn't know where the adventure was going but i was excited to go on it alongside the characters. this is a book where i kept thinking the author was doing something deeper than i was fully grasping, but i think i understood this book on the 80% level, which i'll take. ishiguro is a beautiful writer, and i am glad i read this book.)
deep down dark, by hector tobar (this was the morning edition book club pick from december - so now i am fully caught up on my morning edition reading and can't WAIT for them to tell me what to read next! ann patchett chose this book, which she said was one of only a few books in her life that made her cry. when she talked about it with others, she realized that they had all cried at different parts of the book. i listened to this audiobook in the car, and it was the kind of book that i was telling EVERYONE about, unsolicited, during the month or so while i was listening to it. i knew the story - that 33 miners were trapped underground in chile in 2010 for 69 days - and i knew they were found and made it out alive. but i'll be damned if i didn't cry when the drill found them on day 17. and then again when the first miner made it to the surface 52 days later. and i think that tells you so much about this book - you know how it will end and it is incredibly moving and captivating anyway. the author is the only person authorized to tell the miners' story, and he does an amazing job taking us between the surface, where the miners' families wait, and below ground where the miners wait. i cannot recommend this book highly enough. you should be reading it RIGHT NOW.)
station eleven, by emily st. john mandel (i love a post-apocalyptic story, and this one takes place immediately before and then 20 years after a plague kills 99% of people on earth. the plot revolves around a group of classical musicians / shakespearean actors who travel around the great lakes region performing to the remaining people in the remaining towns. the dust jacket proclaimed that this would be a book that i didn't even know i needed to read, and it was shockingly kind of right. i really liked the premise and the story line was richly described - it was a book where i had no trouble visualizing the setting or the characters on their travels. i read it quickly and would highly recommend it!)
No comments:
Post a Comment