101 Books to Read Before You Die discussion
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The Unbearable Lightness of Being by Milan Kundera/review/show...
This is a complex philosophical essay couched in the guise of a novel about two womanizing men, their respective wives and the mistress they have in common. At the outset of the book, the author notes that people regard heaviness, being tied down by obligations, weighed down by the mundane as something negative while viewing lightness, the freedom to soar above tedious commitments and the unending repetition of the ordinary as a positive. But, is lightness really what brings happiness and fulfillment? Where do we find meaning and contentment? While asking this question through the life choices of these characters, the same question is asked of history particularly that of Czechoslovakia under Communist rule. Historical events that do not repeat themselves have no meaning claims the author. These and other themes such as the nature of love and the way individuals and society construct meaning out of reality are all touched on in this very complicated book.
So Big by Edna Ferber/review/show...
I loved this story of a late 19th century woman who maintained a joi de vive and love of beauty despite life’s toils and hardships. The characterizations in this novel was amazing. Ferber made these characters pulse with life. This is my first book by Ferber and I want to read much more.
All the Bright Places by Jennifer Niven/review/show...
This is a teen romance made unique by the emotional circumstances of the couple. Finch, who has bi-polar disease, swings from suicidal dark phases to socially odd behavior in his manic times. Violet is paralyzed by grief and survival guilt 9 months after her sister died in a car crash that she lived through. I find the characters in young adult fiction to be unlike any of the teens I work with. And, this book was no exception. Finch’s dialogue came across as corny to me. The kids are drawn in such stark lines that there is little nuance. The adults are either so clueless or so inept that they remind me of the adults in the Peanut comic strip, largely reduced to background sounds. I suppose that I would have enjoyed this when I was 16 years old and the world had far less grey and I longed to be free of adult control. But, at this point in my life, it was a disappointing read.
Finished two completely different books:
by Bill O'Reilly- 4 StarsMy Review:
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by Cynthia D'Aprix Sweeney- 4 StarsMy Review:
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His Whole Life by Elizabeth Hay/review/show...
Despite hurt, anger, betrayal, even self-imposed absence, family bonds survive and are often most evident at times of pain. This is the thesis of this mediocre novel. My primary complaint was the author’s choice to play tour guide to the reader, pointing out every motivation, thought, feeling and perception of each character. I suspect this is an easier and safer way to construct a novel. The reader is never in danger of an incorrect assumption or developing an opinion different than the author intended. But, it is a far less interesting experience for the reader. Blake was the one exception to this pattern. We were never told why this zealous born again Christian blamed his mother for his parents� divorce and how he could persist in a refusal to even entertain the possibility of forgiving her.
The Case For God by Karen Armstrongwww.goodreads.com/review/show/1755040131
This is a survey tracing the function of and attitudes toward religion from prehistoric cultures through the flourishing of Christianity in western Europe and North America. Armstrong claims that in earlier periods, religious systems were embodied in transformative rituals, conveyed in mythical narrative and lived out as ethical behavior. With the rise of the university system in Europe and the eventual domination of the scientific model for understanding reality, religion became associated with intellectual propositions and concerned with the proof of God. This modern approach impoverishes religious discourse and finds religion inadequate to the scientific world view. Covering so much material in so little space forced Armstrong to summarize the thoughts of great thinkers and large social trends in a few paragraphs. As a result, this book was often reductionistic. Islam and Judaism were given very little time. Christianity outside of western Europe and North America was completely ignored. And the remainder of the world religions were given only a cursery nod.
Finished
by Jodi Picoult-- 3.5 Stars.Race, Neo-Nazis, and a lawsuit. Typical Jodi Picoult- tackling tough issues in the courtroom.
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The Invisible Life of Ivan Isaenko by Scott Stambach/review/show...
The narrator is a 17 year old orphan; born with severe birth defects, he has spent his entire life in a Belarusian children’s hospital. All the other patients are either very young or cognitively impaired. With busy nurses as his only companions, he has grown into an emotionally isolated adolescent who chooses to respond to the world as an “asshole�. His world, his sense of self, his desire for relationship changes when a recently orphaned girl dying of leukemia arrives at his ward. I could complain that the young man seemed far more self-aware than might be expected of a 17 year old, let alone one who has been relatively isolated from the world and peer interactions. I could note that the young girl lacked the depression or anger that would be expected of someone suddenly bereft of family, friends, independence, every element of normal life and facing a terminal diagnosis. I could claim that the ending was a bit sweet for my taste. But, I found the writing so strong, the narrative voice so immediate, the characters so engrossing that I willingly suspended quibbles that normally frustrate me as a reader. I won the audio version of this book as a GR Give Away. The reader was excellent, giving just enough to vivify the text but never overpowering the fictional narrator’s voice.
Finished
by Benjamin Alire Sáenz- 4 Stars.Beautiful story with characters whom I loved. Coming of age story of two teenage boys who discover themselves along with the rest of the universe...
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Radio Girls by Sarah Jane Stratford/review/show...
I enjoyed the setting of this story, the early years of the BBC, the 1920s when women won the right to vote, were elected to political office in Brittan and began to push their way into professional roles, an era when every new door that opened for women revealed a new ceiling which was not yet glass. I appreciated the author’s end notes which informed me that nearly all the characters were both historical and faithful to the historical record. The fault I found with this book was in the writing. The author needed an editor willing to remind her that she could trust her reader. Back story details were repeated over and over to no purpose; most of these were not relevant to the story line. Over-the-top metaphors and dramatic adverbs were used with such regularity that it gave the book a melodramatic tone that bordered on the silly. I suspect that most readers will not find the writing distracting; I am supersensitive to purple prose and a heavy hand with the details. I wish I could award this 2.5 stars.
The Heart Goes Last by Margaret Atwood/review/show...
As usual, Atwood gives us a piece of wonderful writing. But, in this instance, the terrific writing could not make up for a problematic narrative line. Set in the near future when a sharp economic downturn has left the eastern part of the U.S. in social turmoil, large numbers of people being evicted from their homes and living in their cars, gangs of armed thugs attacking, raping and looting these vulnerable folks, this book sets up the tension between freedom and security. If no industry is employing, the private for-profit prison industry is still economically viable and offering employment. A unique model is created, a closed community in which people spend half their time as prison inmates and the other half working for the prison. The premise was intriguing, but there were so many unanswered questions that I could not get past. Who is paying for these innocent, voluntary prisoners� incarceration? Why does the town need to be completely isolated from the outside world unless the founder was anticipating the undertaking of some unspeakable horror from the start? Why are so few people spooked by a scenario only posited in dystopian novels? The final quarter of the book took such a strange turn that it no longer felt like the work of a brilliant author but the trick of a teen dreaming up a crazy plot for a graphic novel or video game.
Finished
by Martha Hall Kelly-- 5 Stars.Fell in love with this Holocaust historical fiction book. I loved the three parallel storylines and at times had to put this down because I was horrified with the content.
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The Witches Salem 1692 by Stacy Schiff/review/show...
A very interesting, very detailed history of the Salem witch trials of 1692.
All the Missing Girls by Megan Miranda/review/show...
This is a fairly typical missing person mystery made unique by being unfolded in reverse. The middle section of this book begins two weeks after the girl disappears and works backward. Unlike most mysteries where the resolution is revealed weeks or months after the event, the big reveal here comes on Day 1. It was an interesting technique, but slightly confusing. Holes in the narrative seemed to be obscured by a literary slide of hand.
Love Does by Bob Goff/review/show...
In 31 short chapters, Goff narrates various personal experiences to illustrate spiritual platitudes. His premise is that God’s love is real, active and whimsical and our love for God and one another must be the same. In tone, humor, word choice and even the terms he found it necessary to explain, this had the feel of an inspirational speaker addressing a middle school youth group. Although simplistic, I did not find his message offensive, but I did find the delivery of that message condescending.
Finished two!
by Laura Lippman-- 2 Stars.My review: /review/show...
AND
by Carol Rifka Brunt-- 3 StarsMy review: /review/show...
Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi www.goodreads.com/review/show/1778119040
This novel begins in the Gold Coast in the mid-18th century with a pair of half-sisters who have never met. One becomes the wife of a British soldier stationed in Africa to protect the slave trade, the other is captured and sold into slavery by the same British forces. In alternating chapters, we follow the generations of both women’s descendants. Gyasi brilliantly captures a character, a time, a cultural setting, in a single chapter. As Gyasi looks through the wrong end of the telescope to focus narrowly on a single character, she enables the reader to see through the other end to understand the history of an entire group of people.
Being Dead by Jim Crace/review/show...
How do you rate a book when you recognize the literary quality of the prose but can’t connect with the story? This book opens with the murder of a middle aged couple, both zoologists, as they picnic on a secluded beach. Descriptions of the decaying corpses in poetic language are interspersed with moments from the couple’s relationship and the events leading to the discovery of their bodies. Whereas the natural process of decay and the aging bodies are portrayed with prose so gorgeous it seems to render the grotesque as beautiful, the ordinary lives of intelligent, successful scientists, an intact middle-class family, and the range of ordinary people who are involved in identifying the bodies are depicted as bordering on the miserable. I am not sure what Crace was hoping to communicate in this juxtaposition, but it made me somewhat depressed. In the end, it does not matter what we accomplish, who we love, how we live, we all end up as worm dinner, and that is the best part of our existence.
The Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius of Loyola trans. by Lewis Delmage S.J. /review/show...
Ignatius of Loyola wrote this manual in the 16th century as a set of very clear and specific directions for those who would lead others in this particular spiritual retreat. Reading any set of instructions apart from their implementation is generally rather dry. Although I have the utmost respect for what Ignatius created and the spiritual gift he gave to the Church, reading this text without any plans to make or provide these exercises was a bit of a slog.
The Jury Master: David Sloan #1 by Robert Dugoni/review/show...
This was a very fast paced thriller. Although the main character is an attorney that never loses a case and the secondary figure was a dedicated cop, this was not really a legal thriller. Evidence and investigations were eclipsed by unrealistic shoot outs, foot chases, hand-to-hand combat and other pyrotechnics. There was more than enough times when our brilliant, drop-dead hunk of a lawyer who is kind to old ladies and orphans survived despite being out-numbered and/or unarmed before tremendous fire power to trigger my pathological case of terminal eye-rolling. And, this same magical protection extended to those Super Lawyer befriended. This is a great escape book; just don’t think too hard.
Infidel by Ayaan Hirsi Ali/review/show...
\This is the memoir of a woman in flight. As a child, she left Somalia fleeing political repression, than Saudi Arabia fleeing religious repression, than Kenya fleeing domestic repression and physical abuse, and as a young adult living in Holland, she fled the repression of a strict moral code and the Islamic faith that embodied it. Ayaan introduced me to cultures that I know little about. I admire the resilience and strength of this woman.
/review/show...This story of the kidnapping of a young woman nearly gave me whiplash. Short chapters not only rocketed between the narration of the kidnapper, the victim’s mother and the investigating detective, but also between the weeks of the kidnapping and the weeks after the woman’s return. The reader is supposed to grow in affection for the kidnapper as he is positively contrasted with the victim’s callous father. But, this contrast is not reliable since we know the kidnapper in his own internal monologue, but the father only through the critical eyes of his resentful wife. There were a number of details that felt anachronistic: the wealthy 21st century woman who does not appear to have a dishwasher, the ubiquitous presence of pay phones, the immediate disappearance of the victim’s only sister from the story, etc. Although I understood the narrative thrust of the epilogue, I was confused by the implied details. This is a 2 ½ star book for me.
Back from vacation so a couple to catch up on:Finished
by Jenny Lawson 4 stars. Another wonderfully funny and poignant account of the author's struggle with depression. Highly recommend the audio version read by the author.also finished
by Amy Gentry 3 Stars. I wanted this thriller to be as good as I had anticipated, but the ending fell apart for me, and the the chapter layout was confusing at times.
Forgot to link my reviews to my last post- SORRY!!Furiously Happy: A Funny Book About Horrible Things:
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Good as Gone:
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Finished
by Rainbow Rowell-- 4 Stars. This one brought back all the awkwardness of teenage love.
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The Plot Against America by Phillip Roth/review/show...
Roth is a masterful writer. I was immediately drawn into this alternative history. Written as a memoir recalling his childhood in a Jewish neighborhood in Newark, Roth creates an America where anti-Semitism is unleashed by the rhetoric of President Lindbergh who has aligned the U.S. with Hitler. If I wanted a scary October read, this book was it. Could America ever be seduced by a charismatic arrogant celebrity spouting hate-filled language? Would Americans ever elect an inexperienced anti-establishment figure, with leanings toward a foreign dictator as our president? And, if we did, what violence and hatred are we capable of unleashing? My only disappointment with this novel was its abrupt and inconclusive ending.
Shutter Island by Dennis Lehane
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A team of U.S. marshals investigate the disappearance of a patient from a hospital for the criminally insane situated on a New England island. But, it is soon clear that there is more going on than meets the eye. I loved the twist in this novel which I never saw coming.
Women Deacons: Past, Present, Future by Gary Macy, William Ditewig, Phyllis Zagano/review/show...
This is a collection of three essays on the topic of female ordination to the permanent deaconate in the Roman Catholic Church. This slim book was well researched, balanced and thoughtful.
The Keeper of Secrets by Julie Thomas/review/show...
A fourteen year old Jewish violin virtuoso in Nazi Germany is linked to his counterpart in contemporary America by a priceless violin, superlative talent and family line. In my opinion, this was an unremarkable novel comprised of rather average character development, mediocre writing and a predictable, sweet plot dependent on implausible coincidences and extraordinary circumstances.
We Have Always Lived In the Castle by Shirley Jacksonwww.goodreads.com/review/show/1798154797
Arsenic poisoning killed 9 members of a family gathered for dinner six years before the opening of the novel. One sister was accused and exonerated of the murders. Now the three remaining family members, two young adult sisters and an elderly senile uncle live a reclusive life to avoid the taunts and suspicions of the local town’s people. Jackson is a brilliant creator of character. This story of human cruelty makes the reader reconsider how we recognize and perpetrate evil. Totally captivating, psychologically jarring, I see why this book has risen to classic status.
Finished
by Milan Kundera-- 3 Stars.Simple story with philosophical undertones that I'm not entirely sure I understood.
My Review:
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The Centaur by John Updike/review/show...
Updike captures angst like no other author. This short novel set in 1947 in small town America, depicts the relationship between a father and his adolescent son by watching them over three days. These characters were so vividly portrayed that I felt as if I had inhabited their skin. Interspersed between chapters narrating the events of these days in a traditional form, were short passages in which these figures were transmuted into mythological figures. My knowledge of these figures is simply too limited for me to make sense of these passages. They left me frustrated and confused. And I did not understand the ending. Because of my limitations, I did not enjoy this book as much as it deserved.
Silence by Shusaku Endo/review/show...
A few decades after St. Francis Zavier first brought Christianity to Japan, the faith was outlawed and Christians forced to deny the faith under torture. This is the story of a Portuguese Jesuit priest who comes to Japan to serve the hidden Christian community ready to lay down his life. But the choice he is asked to make demands a conversion and a sacrifice he could never anticipate. This novel presents the priest and the reader with troubling questions of what it means to be faithful to Christ and the Church, to be willing to lay down one’s life. This short novel is powerful both in its themes and in its writing.
Finished
by Jennifer Niven-- 4.5 Stars.Heartbreakingly amazing! Go read this book if you're into broken, YA characters.
My Review:
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Upstairs At the White House by J. B. West/review/show...
This was not my cup of tea. West served as White House Usher (the department responsible for the managing of White House operations) from late in the Roosevelt administration until a few weeks after the inauguration of Nixon. This is a memoir of his 30 years serving in that post, focusing on his interactions with the First Ladies. This is definitely NOT a kiss and tell; he is extremely deferential to the presidential families. His overall impression of these families was completely consistent with everything I have read. The bits of trivia (e.g. Mamie Eisenhower liked to play a card game called Bolivia, Lucy Johnson signed her notes with a happy face, or the colors the First Ladies chose for the presidential living quarters) were of no interest to me. I found the writing style straight forward to the point of lackluster which added to my disinterest in this book. If this were not a book group choice, I would not have read it.
The Drummond Girls by Mardi Jo Link/review/show...
Eight women with no other connection than a particular Michigan bar, go on a weekend camping trip every October during which they drink heavily, flirt outrageously and act like irresponsible 19 year olds. Over two decades, they experience marriage and divorce, births and deaths, job loss and career changes and they grow in their friendship. I struggled to give this 2 stars. The writing was flat and overdone. Information about each woman, especially the narrator, was repeated so frequently I had to wonder if the author had a word minimum to meet. Every metaphor, every allusion, was over explained. We were told about the crazy things they did on their weekends and about the changes they experienced during the year, we were assured that these women became close friends as a result of this get-away, but any reader knows that being told is a poor stand in for being shown. Further, the plot was predictable. I could have written the book jacket summary after reading the first 20 pages.
Finished
by Colson Whitehead-- 4 Stars.Gorgeous writing, historical fiction plus SO MUCH MORE, had trouble connecting with Cora (the main character), but this one was so good.
My Review:
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In the Woods: Dublin Murder Squat #1 by Tana Frenchwww.goodreads.com/review/show/1811604452
In 1984, three pre-teens were playing in the woods behind their homes as they had nearly every summer day of their lives. But, that day, two went missing, their bodies never discovered, and the third was found covered in blood and so traumatized that he could not recall what he witnessed. Two decades later, another 12 year old is found murdered in the same woods and the lead detective on the case is the survivor of the earlier crime. Could these two horrors be linked? Although I predicted the solution to this investigation several hundred pages before the book ended, I remained engaged in the story. French gives us vivid characters who pop off the page and take the reader by the hand. Sharing their company, listening to their banter, sitting in the interview room or lingering with them over drinks in the evening was much of the pleasure of this novel.
Finished
by Thrity Umrigar- 4 Stars.India: Bhima (Servant) & Sera (Wealthy widow) become friends under the least likely circumstances. Until heartbreak after heartbreak finally test this relationship.
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Finished
by Kevin Kwan- 3 Stars.The book title perfectly sums up this book! Narrator was excellent.
My Review:
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A Movable Feast by Ernest Hemmingway/review/show...
Written near the end of his life, this is a collection of memories and impressions from Hemmingway’s years living in Paris in the early 1920s as an impoverished struggling writer and newly married father. The stripped down sentence structure for which Hemmingway is famous, tends to keep me at an arm’s length from the story. Despite the lack of engagement as a reader, I did come away with an impression of the literary expat community of Paris at that time.
Finished
by Brian Selznick-- 4 Stars.Gorgeous, Magical, and all the feels. Young Adult-ish and part novel part graphic novel. Go read this one!
My Review:
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In Memory of Her by Elisabeth Schussler Fiorenza/review/show...
This is a well research, densely argued, academically rigorous exploration of the role of women in early Christian leadership as revealed in a critical reading of biblical and extra biblical texts and a study of the role of women in various social subgroups of the time.
Finished
by Joshilyn Jackson-- 4 Stars.This may have been my favorite book to listen to on audio. What a great surprise of a book.
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Salt To The Sea Ruta Sepetys/review/show...
This piece of historical fiction is based on a WWII tragedy. It was told from the perspective of four characters in extremely short alternating chapters. I found the rapid moving from voice to voice jarring. Classified as young adult, there was much that was explained and repeated. I do not know if this is a technique favored by young adult fiction, but it became annoying. I just don’t seem to be able to connect with young adult books. It deserves more than 2 stars, but I can’t claim to have enjoyed it.
Into the Wilderness by Sara Donati
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This is a romance set in an American frontier town of upstate N.Y. in the late 1700s. The author tried to prevent this from being classified as a bodice ripper by setting it in the middle of a land dispute, but there was enough bodice ripping to warrant the category. The characters were stereotypes of contemporary literature, the physically strong and morally virtuous Native Americans and the greedy, drunken, morally vacant European settlers. The romantic leads are exactly what female readers of romances want in their men and in themselves, not necessarily the behaviors and attitudes valued in the 18th century. The sinister figures are thoroughly sinister and the virtuous characters have no significant flaws. The adventures played well on the page, but were implausible in reality. At nearly 900 pages, it was three times longer than necessary.
The Queen of Katwe by Tim Crothers/review/show...
Powerful, heart-breaking, inspiring, troubling, I don’t know exactly how to describe this story of a young girl growing up in one of the worse slums in Uganda who becomes one of the best chess players on the continent. If this were not non-fiction, I would criticize it for its implausibility. Although Phiona Mutesi is the chess champion to which the title refers, this is about an entire group of slum children who find hope, support, intellectual stimulation, self-esteem and direction in a church-run program that has brought this game of the elite to the poorest of the poor. These children, lacking decent education, adequate food, basic shelter and stable families, are excelling at a game that most find challenging. Sadly, there is no money to allow Phiona or the other children to attend international tournaments, to meet the requirements of becoming a Grand Master, of pursuing their dreams of an education or finding any way to realize their amazing potential as human beings. Life is so unfair. Although I found the story to be so powerful, I thought the writing was a bit average. Maybe that was a good thing because it did allow these young people to draw all the attention. I give it 3.5 stars.
Finished
by Eowyn Ivey-- 3 Stars.Loved the layout, didn't love how sluggish it felt...
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Looking Back by Joyce Maynard/review/show...
In 1971, then a young college student with no professional writing experience, Maynard asked the prestigious New York Times to let her write for them. Amazingly, they agreed. Her assignment was to reflect on her generation, to describe what it meant to come of age in the 1960s. Looking Back is the result; it launched her career. Maynard grew up in a quaint New England college town, small enough that she could ride her bike anywhere, insular enough that high school bake sales were a regular occurrence and the protests that rocked the nation were only as close as the TV screen. This is not a researched study, but a personal memoir. So it feels a bit ironic to have this author characterize her social group as world-weary, oppressed by the anxieties of too many pressures and too much stress, dependent on technology and rather jaded. I suspect most readers will see a simpler, more idealized time in these memories. Considering that she wrote this just a couple of years out of high school, I am surprised by the distance she creates from the events she narrates and impressed by the polish of her prose.
The Old Devils by Kingsley Amis/review/show...
I often struggle to catch the humor of written satire. I seem to need the tone of voice to clue me in that what is coming is intended humorously. That was true with this book. I think I would have caught far more of the humor had I seen it performed as a play which it could easily be adapted to. We spend this novel in the company of several Welsh couples who have been socially linked for decades. Their predictable retirement routine is shaken up when a couple from their past moves back to the area. He has enjoyed some literary success as a poet who aspires to be another Dylan Thomas. Excessive drinking, adolescent posturing, massaging old memories and complaining about the physical indignities of the aging body seem to dominate the lives of these figures. Much of the old age, the drinking, the snarky observations about others in the social group made me chuckle, but I too often could only catch them in the rearview mirror. But there were also a great deal of satire around Wales and the celebration of Welsh culture which I did not understand. The fleeting moments in which Amis suspends the humor to reveal a character with reverence and vulnerability gave a layer of shocking depth to this novel.
101 Books to Read Before You Die
Books mentioned in this topic
Persuasion (other topics)It (other topics)
The Immortalists (other topics)
The Hate U Give (other topics)
Timekeeper (other topics)
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Authors mentioned in this topic
Jane Austen (other topics)Madeline Miller (other topics)
Sarah Henning (other topics)
Sarah McCoy (other topics)
Sarah Pekkanen (other topics)
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The story of Mother Antonia deserves 6 stars. The writing that told it deserves 2.5 stars. This is the story of a Beverly Hills socialite, twice divorced mother of five who left everything behind to serve the despised criminals in deplorable conditions in a Tijuana prison. Her compassion for every person, infectious joy, tireless service, ability to reconcile enemies and passionate concern for the abused and neglected is quite an inspiration. This woman is certainly a saint.