More books!

I can't believe it but I finished two books in the last four days. One clunker, Body Surfing, by Anita Shreve; and one that was fairly good, not great, but at least tightly written and compelling: The Reluctant Fundamentalist by Mohsin Haid.

I have loved a couple of Anita Shreve's books, particularly Fortune's Rock and even The Pilot's Wife. Given those books, this one just seemed kind of like a cop-out. I couldn't muster up any interest or sympathy for any of the characters. All in all, it was just a kind of blah book.

The Reluctant Fundamentalist was more interesting and quite beautifully written. It was about a Pakistani man who in 2001 graduated from Princeton as a scholarship student. He gets a highly paid job as an analyst for a vaulations firm where he is the most successful of all the new hires. Then comes 9/11. As a Middle Easterner, he increasingly feels like an outsider, and bitter towards America. It was told in the first person during a lunch meeting with an American. It was pretty short, actually, but I didn't get the impression that there were a lot of loose ends.

I started the Double Bind by Chris Bohjalian. Good so far...

Another book...

So I finished The Knitting Circle, by Ann Hood. I really wanted to like this book. In a nutshell, it's about a woman who finds knitting after her only child, a five-year old girl, dies after contracting bacterial meningitis. She joins a knitting circle at the urging of her mother after her daughter's death and is introduced to other women (and a man) who heal despite horrible personal tragedies through the power of knitting. Okay, I get it. Knitting is great that way. My problem with the book are that the dialogue between the characters was completely absurd. I need to find some examples - I should have marked them but I was too busy rolling my eyes. Another issue I had is that a parent losing a child is a relatively rare occurance, thankfully. But somehow everyone in the knitting circle had lost a child or was about to lose a child or was about to die of cancer leaving her four children motherless or whatever. Like I said, I really wanted to love this book because I completely believe in the transformative power of knitting. How restorative and therapeutic it is. And the fact that the author lost her own daughter. I dunno. I wanted to like this book but I just did not find it to be original or, or, or, something. Can't put my finger on it. It was like the plotline was kind of manipulative in some way. Not horrible, but I kind of wish that I had skipped it, especially since there are so many beautiful books stacked up waiting for my attention. Next up is The Reluctant Fundamentalist. We'll see...

Oh, and the new computer has shipped - hurray. Except that the monitor has been backordered. Bleck. And knitting? I've started the 2nd sleeve of Ariann and so of course I started a dishcloth. I just need something kind of mindless right now. What I really need is for the next two or three weeks to just pass me by then hopefully everything will be back on track. Ahem.

Recuperating

Blergh - got some weird stomach bug (and puked in my trashcan AT WORK) on Wednesday so I took Thursday off and slept and knitted a little bit of Ariann's sleeve. Crazy headache, too. I don't get sick like that very often, thankfully. I didn't get that much accomplished (knit-wise) because of the wicked headache. It was almost all I could do to just lie on the couch.

I read Christine Falls by Benjamin Black and was not too impressed. It was quick, though, which was good. And I started on Blackberry Wine by Joanne Harris (who wrote Gentlemen and Players, one of my all time favorite reads).

I've been getting tons and tons of books from Paperback Swap - yay. I've gotten about twenty five books. The vast majority are in almost perfect condition, too. I got two Pulitzers (Gilead, by Marilynne Robinson - one of the books whose condition was a little bit disappointing with all the writing and underlining in the margins; and The Known World by Edward Jones) to add to my Pulitzer collection. Right now i have them all stacked up on our desk so I can just admire them. I'm such a library fiend, but I am kind of tired of hauling hardback library books on the bus and the train. And I think it's kind of fun to read a book and then release it into the world again. Such nice connections to be made with people you don't even know all thanks to the internet and a passion for books.

AND, the biggest news is that I ordered us a new computer! Huzzah. I can't wait. This thing is just too small and too slow for us any more. I cannot wait to be able to download some wordy goodness from Audible.com. I have the new Al Gore book in my wishlist but I am also eyeing Master and Commander by Patrick O'Brian. And I need (yes, need) to listen to more This American Life. I am completely in love with the podcast. I need to remember to donate to Chicago Public Radio and stop being a freeloader.

On my walk today I re-listened to some of the Ishmael Beah book - I still cannot fully get my head around how that (the war in Sierra Leone and the recruitment of boys to be soldiers) could have happened. It is just so incredibly tragic. I keep wondering if it wouldn't be so heartwrenching for me if I didn't have a son the same age as Beah was when he was recruited (which is the most completely inaccurate word for what they did to those children). I just know that my son would behave in exactly the same way - I think it all kind of boils down to survivor's instinct, and although what he did as a "soldier" was horrific, it was the only way he could have possibly survived. He was just so incredibly charming on The Daily Show.

Speaking of my boy, he is an eighth grader now! Almost as tall as me and as glorious as anything I could ever imagine (so tall! so skinny! so blond and blue-eyed with perfect skin). He made the silver honor roll all three trimesters so he and his dad are out now getting him a little prezzy as an acknowledgement for his work.