Recent Reads

37. The Body
There was a time when I gobbled up everything King wrote. Then I took a break. Right around the time I gave up on IT. Decades went by without me curling up with a King story. I got slowly back into his stuff with Duma Key several years ago. Different, but still good. Then realized that the man has all these short stories I have yet to read. We've been slowly reading this one aloud in our home. A coming of age story that is deceptively simple, but it gets under your skin in a way only King can. I've ordered up the movie to watch again. And just like that I'm back on a Stephen King ride. Rating: 5 stars.

38. Where'd You Go, Bernadette
I have mixed feelings about this book. On the one hand, I really liked the writing device used in the first three or four parts of the story, where we learn about events and people by reading emails, faxes, letters, etc. The events we learn about are often hilarious - I just knew how that bramble clearing was going to end, and the skewering of the Seattle one-percenters had its moments. On the whole though, I thought the story was rather sad. A workaholic, distant husband/father, a genius wife/mother who is clearly in need of therapy or medication, or both, and a smart eight grade daughter who lives with them. Yes, the various spats are amusing, but honestly, I could not get past the notion that both adults were raising a child, and living in a house that was falling apart, moldy, and really should have been deemed unfit for human habitation. They needed the gardener to weedwack inside the house. And they lived there for two decades! Rating: 3 stars.

39. The Amulet of Samarkand
It is interesting how so many books also have a graphic novel version these days. I loved this story in novel form, and have had fun discussing the series with my 9 year old nephew, but was not as thrilled with the graphic novel adaptation. It was a little like watching a movie, when the book is so much better. Rating: 2 stars.

40. Paris Was Ours
My book club selection this month was a collection of essays about Paris. Like most collections, this was a mixed bag. There were some (the final 3 or so) that I really liked, but overall, I was not thrilled to be reading it, and was relieved when it was over. Rating: 2 stars.