September 2005

Hateship, Friendship, Courtship, Loveship, Marriage, by Alice Munro
A set of nine beautiful, perfect stories. I think the last, "The Bear Came Over the Mountain," might be my favorite -- an older woman with Alzheimer's husband makes a heartbreaking choice, an incredible sacrifice. Munro's writing is piercingly beautiful and personal sometimes to the point of being almost uncomfortable.

From "Comfort," about a woman's infidelity:

Her memory of Ed Shore's kiss outside the kitchen door did, however, become a treasure. When Ed sang the tenor solos in the Choral Society's performance of the Messiah every Christmas, that moment would return to her. 'Comfort Ye My People' pierced her throat with starry needles. As if everything about her was recognized then, and honored and set alight.

From "Bear":

Because if she let go of her grief even for a minute it would only hit her harder when she bumped into it again. And sometimes he thought she closed her eyes to hide a look of informed despair that it would not be good for him to see.

The Burn Journals, by Brent Runyon
WOW. This was the first of many trade paperbacks from the publishing friend I met with in New York (they are SO beautiful sitting on the shelf, it is so crazy to have 8 new beautiful new books like this) and it was amazing. The autobiography of a 14-year-old who set himself on fire with gasoline, and the year of recovery that came afterward. He wrote it down 10 years later. I read it in two days; couldn't get it into my brain fast enough. A powerful story, powerfully written. Grade: A+.

Kissing in Technicolor, by Jane Mendle
Written by one of J.'s friends -- sweet.

Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen.
OK, look here, Austen. After the Azar Nafisi couldn't stop raving about you -- and after a friend actually bought me a copy herself because this is her favorite book and she couldn't believe I'd never read it -- I was totally prepared to love this, to see the depth and the cultural commentary, to be sucked in by the characters and charmed by the secretly feminist messages, to be captivated. I didn't, and I wasn't. It just seemed like page after page of silly blathering. And that is really shallow of me, I am sure, and I am missing everything about this book, but GOD, if I had to read one more page of flighty gossip about characters I barely knew, I was going to shoot myself. I got through it, but only barely, and I kind of feel like a failure. Grade: whatever.

Book for review, another book for review. Both well worth it.