Book Update

It's been a month since I posted about the Book Challenge, so here's what I've been up to for the last few weeks. Bear in mind it's been Christmastime, so I haven't gotten a ton of reading done.

4. The Lovely Bones, by Alice Sebold (audiobook)
I listened to this when I drove to Michigan & back for Thanksgiving. It was a good audiobook for driving; Alice Sebold narrated the audiobook and I liked her voice. She read very well, in a way that only an author can read her own work properly. The story itself was good, too. I became interested in the character, a 14-year-old girl who had been raped/murdered and was watching her family and friends from heaven. It was an interesting premise, and although I don't buy into the whole "heaven" thing, it was presented in a way that made me accept it. It's more girly/romantic than my usual fare, but in a way those qualities made it refreshing.

5. The Almost Moon, by Alice Sebold (audiobook)
Same author, different reader for the audiobook. I started listening to this on my way back to Boston after Thanksgiving, but didn't finish it... and honestly didn't care to, until my drive back to Michigan a few weeks later. It's not that it wasn't well written or well read, because it was... it was just of a subject matter that I was not interested in, whatever. It's about a woman who kills her sick old mother in a moment of frustration. The story takes place over the next 24 hours or so, maybe longer. I think that's actually what I didn't like about it. It spent so many pages talking about such a short amount of time. It really dove into the way the woman was feeling and reacting to what she'd done, and it did so beautifully, but not in a way that really pulled me in. I don't like the tv show "24"... I guess I would rather have story than excessive detail. That having been said, this book was strongly recommended to me by a friend, and I've heard great things about it... it is good... just not really for me.

6. Oryx & Crake, by Margaret Atwood
This may very well end up being my favorite book of the year. I LOVE dystopian societies, or stories about the future. 1984, Brave New World, The Giver... all on my top ten favorite books. I don't know what it is about them that pulls me in, but I LOVE IT! Anyway, Oryx and Crake deals with what happens when humans start to play God, purposefully mutating animals to do certain jobs or fulfill certain tasks, to the point where Crake ends up creating an entire new species of humanity... I won't give the whole story away, but it was right up my alley. I loved every second of it. This one I will read over and over again. Five stars. Fo sho!

7. The Book Thief, by Markus Zusak
So very beautifully written. Amazing. My first time through I read primarily for the story, but I have a feeling I'll read it again next year simply for the poetry. What a change from most YA fiction books! I hope English teachers everywhere are making their students read this. It's a little long, but there is So Much in it! I can definitely see why it won the Printz. Roughly, it's about a little girl in Nazi Germany who loves to read. I won't say anything else... I wouldn't want to ruin a single element of the book. Zusak's characters felt so real. It was incredible, and I hope I never forget the way he talked about the sky.

Currently reading:
The Year of Living Biblically, by AJ Jacobs (pg 29)
Obama's Challenge, by Robert Kuttner (pg 20)


By my calculations, I'm two books behind. O_o Uh oh! I better start reading!


In other news, life has been pretty good... not very eventful. I've been chatting more with Hank lately and a lot more with Alan and Liz. It's nice to make some new friends.

I still need to sign up for classes for this term. I can't apply for jobs until I know my schedule, and I also need to finally (dum dum DUM!!....) tell Greg I left Brandeis. I'm positively -dreading- this conversation. But I need him as a reference, so it's gonna have to happen.
Eek.

We'll see what happens. That's kinda been my mantra these days. I don't know what's going on in any aspect of my life, which is more than a little disconcerting. I'm writing a song for the ukulele though, which is going surprisingly well. I've got everything written, I just need to up my skillz so I can play it for YouTube. So far I haven't been able to get through it. It'll be at least a week before I can, probably.... but that's not bad seeing as I only started playing a week ago. :-)

xoxo
Monica