#0001K: HG Wells: The Invisible Man [This was a great read, much different than what I was expecting- dark and exciting. A good adventure!]
#0002K: Gabriel Garcia Marquez: Love in the Time of Cholera [Marquez was always an author I wanted more of. This book had been on my "to-read" list for awhile, and I'm sad that it's over. It was slow in a few parts, but all together lovely.]
#0003K: Yann Martel: Life of Pi [Alyse gave me this one to read. I had been hearing good things about it for years, and it lives up to the hype. I definitely recommend it.]
#0004K: Sara Gruen: Water for Elephants [I had Alyse read Water for Elephants once I was done. I devoured it in a day and a half. If you're a sucker for a good circus story being told by an old man, please pick it up.]
#0005K: Herman Hesse: Journey to the East [I hate to say it, but I don't remember much of this. I get lost really easily in a writing style like Hesse's, and tend to love the book in the moment. This is another author I need more of.]
#0006K: David Eggers: You Shall Know Our Velocity! [My favorite by leaps and bounds so far. A friend recommended it to me, I passed it along to Alyse and we both thought it was great. The writing style is unlike any I've witnessed before and so so pleasing.]
#0007K: Khaled Hosseini: Kite Runner [I read this book in 3 days. One of those days, I sat for 3.5 hours and raced to the ending. It's a life story that pulls at your heart strings.]
#0008K-#0010K: Anton Chekhov: Ivanov; The Seagull; Uncle Vania [I am working through a collection of plays by Chekhov, but count each one individually. They've all been quite good so far and have just the right sense of humor.]
#0011K: Gabriel Garcia Marquez: Collected Stories [This is a collection of 26 stories, separated into 3 books. Marquez's writing style is much gentler in a short story venue, and very easy to read. Many of the stories had a metaphysical feel to them, which made reading a lot in one go a bit of a challenge. Still, another favorite so far.]
#0012K: Wulf Zendik: a Quest Among the Bewildered [This is an autobiographical stream-of-consciousness book. Zendik is lumped in with the beat generation, and it's clear why. Some of the chapters were heartbreaking, but so gentle. It reminded me of a mix of Bukowski and Brautigan. 5 stars, easy.]
#0013K: Charles Bukowski: Fac-to-tum ["And I couldn't get it up." God bless Bukowski. Read the book to get the quote.
#0014K: Kurt Vonnegut: Jailbird
Vonnegut has been my favorite author for years now, and I still haven't gotten through his entire catalogue. I got an early edition of Jailbird from an online thrift store and read it as soon as it got to my door. It was a beautifully silly story.
We meet the narrator on the day he is to leave prison. He was in for being very loosely involved in the Watergate scandal. In his journey back to normal life, he meets old companions from his college days. One thing leads to another leads to another and he is living with an incredibly wealthy bag lady who is paranoid about people cutting off her hands, and who was once his sweetheart.
I love Vonnegut for his portrayal of the human conditon and all of its absurdities, and Jailbird was no exception. I will definitely be reading this again, and I highly recommend it. Three claps!
No comments:
Post a Comment