Water For Elephants - Sara Gruen

I'd heard about Water For Elephants, but never got it until I saw it at the used paperback store a few weeks ago. Still, I was in the middle of a few other books and wanted to finish the other ones I started first (Love In The Time Of Cholera, Raw Shark Texts, etc.) But last night I had dinner with my friends Erin and Denise, and Denise mentioned how excited she was to get home to read her book. I asked what she was reading and she said Water For Elephants. That was all the recommendation I needed. I know that feeling all too well, of looking forward to reading, and when I got home last night, I started reading. I came home for lunch and read some more. I read it when I walked on the treadmill. I read it through dinner. And I just finished it, with tears in my eyes, telling Tom, "That was sooo good!"

It was well-written, without being too descriptive or flowery. It was fast-paced, but the plot was well-developed. And of course, I have a huge weakness for any story about animals, and the interaction between the animals and the main character was really touching and sweet. I also have a huge soft spot for elephants, I LOVE them. And even the character of the animals was developed enough so that their personalities were also part of the story.

The story was written with alternating time frames between present-day and the past, told from the first person point of view, which I thought was interesting, and was done seamlessly. The story ranges from humorous to dark and dramatic, but always touching and moving.

I really loved this book.

Shantaram - Gregory David Roberts

The first time I read this book, it was early 2005. I was a little intimidated by it, being over 900 pages, but by the time I read the first chapter, I realized that no way could this book possibly be long enough. I never wanted it to end, although 3 days of almost nonstop reading later, I was through. This is by far one of the best books I have ever read. Probably my favorite, which says a lot considering I have read a lot of excellent books.

I'm actually finding myself at a loss to describe this book, which only goes to show you the power it has. The writing is eloquent and beautiful, telling tales that are all at once gut-wrenching and hilarious and sad and painful and magnificent. Experiencing Bombay through Lin's eyes, along with all of the characters that are painted by GDR so vividly, will leave you transfixed and breathless and wanting more.

One of my favorite passages:

One of the reasons we crave love, and seek it so desperately, is that love is the only cure for loneliness, and shame, and sorrow. But some feelings sink so deep into the heart that only loneliness can help you find them again. Some truths about yourself are so painful that only shame can help you live with them. And some things are just so sad that only your soul can do the crying for you.

I've read Shantaram twice more since the first time I read it. I told everyone I knew about it but most were put off by the # of pages... Tom finally read it and loved it as much as I did. Then we got Jake to read it. He loved it. Katie read it last year and she loved it. Tom's stepmom Tina chose it for her book club. And now that the writer's strike is over, it's finally being made into a movie, starring Johnny Depp. I admit, I am nervous about how the book will translate onto the big screen, but if anyone can do the main character justice, Johnny Depp can. The movie has huge shoes to fill, though.

Then We Came To The End - Joshua Ferris

I read this book in Jan. 2008. It was a fast read and I loved it. I'd heard good reviews of the book, but when I read a summary of it, I knew I had to read it. Being in the advertising industry, it's always interesting to read other perspectives of it. And Joshua Ferris' take was right on. Anyone who has ever worked in an agency will be able to relate to nearly every story and every character stereotype in the book.

One of my favorite things about this book was the clever and unique use of the first-person plural narration, using "we" for everything. I've never read a book that used this point-of-view (in fact, I had to do a little researching to find out exactly what it was called!) and I thought it was interesting, how everything came from the collective perspective, and the narrator was not the center of any story, yet he was a part of all of them. I've read other reviews where this particular point-of-view criticized as confusing, but I personally loved it.

As far as plot goes, it's not overly developed... the stories are more about the banalities of everyday life, the mundane office tasks, things everyone can relate to regardless of career path. There is a plot though, and it varies from touching to suspenseful to laugh-out-loud funny.

Some of the awards this book has received:
Best Books of 2007: Amazon Top 100 Editors' Pick, a Top 10 fiction choice for Time magazine, and one of the 10 Best Books in the New York Times Book Review.

*a short history of nearly everything, by bill bryson

I just finished this great book by Bill Bryson.  I absolutely loved it.  It was a combination of copious amounts of "fun facts" (I feel sorry for anyone who has to make small talk with me in the next several weeks, all I will do is start with "did you know...?" followed by random Bryson facts about sperm whales or mitochondrial DNA) and a refresher course for every science class I took from elementary school through college.  As a marketing person, I do not encounter science on a daily basis, or think about it actively, well, ever.  So a lot of this material about cells, the solar system, genetics, tectonic movements etc has been lost to me.  There couldn't be a more entertaining, well-written, and at times laugh-out-loud-funny way of revisiting these topics.

The most interesting point to note, and this is how Bryson wraps it all up, is that modern humans "have existed for only about 0.0001 percent of Earth's history."  The book explores all the events that had to transpire (from the creation of the universe down to the migration patterns of homo sapiens) in order for us to get here.  It's amazing.

This is one of the best non-fiction books I've ever read.  Of course, by it's very classification as "non-fiction", this means it took me approximately 400 times longer to read it than an equally engaging novel. Morgan and I were discussing this the other day; it's just that you want to dedicate some uninterrupted time to "concentrate" on this type of book.  This book will give your brain a workout...

Self Help: Stories - Lorrie Moore

This is a book of short stories that I started reading yesterday during lunch. The first story, about how to date a married man, I loved. I hoped I would love the rest of the stories equally, but out of the rest of the stories in the book, I only liked maybe two of them. When they were good, they were really good, but when they were bad, they were uninteresting, melodramatic and hard to follow. It didn't take long to read (I finished it last night), so at least I didn't feel like I'd invested a lot of time or energy into it. I do want to read more of Lorrie Moore, because I have heard good things about her, but I feel like this must not be her strongest work.

The Secret History - Donna Tartt

Lauren loaned me this book and I just finished it last night (2/25/08). Sometimes you love a book immediately. Other times it's more of a struggle to get through. This book was one that I liked from the first page. The story was captivating, interesting and intriguing, both philosophically and ethically. Some of the references to classic literature and Greek history were over my head, but it didn't get in the way of my understanding. The plot was a little improbable, and I am not generally a fan of typical murder mysteries, but I didn't ever feel that this was one of those stories. I liked how you saw the story unfold through the narrator's eyes, you learned things as he did and were shut out when he was shut out. One element I was constantly trying to figure out was when this took place. I had a vague idea, based on songs or cultural references, but some of the characters spoke in such archaic dialogue that it was a little disconnected. Overall I was definitely impressed with this ambitious first novel by Donna Tartt... it was one of those books that keeps you awake long after you should have been asleep because you just can not put it down.


P.S. I just learned on Wikipedia that a passage from the novel was used as a sample reading selection on the June 2, 2007 administration of the SAT.

A million little books.

All of my life, I have loved reading, ever since I can remember. My grandmother used to take me to the library with her when I was visiting in the summers. I would get a whole armful of books and by the time we got home, I had read half of them in the car on the way. (Funny what you can do as a kid... the thought of that makes me sick now!) I would read anything I could get my hands on. Now that I am older, and time is more scarce, I am a little bit pickier about what I read, but I still love it, and curling up with a good book and a soft blanket is one of my favorite things to do.

Most of my friends are voracious readers too, and we all share our thoughts and opinions on books, and even the books themselves. So I thought it would be cool to have a place to keep a record of what we're reading, what we've read, and what we thought of it. Feel free to share your thoughts and comments too.