Sunday, March 23, 2014

My Week in Books: 3/23/14

It's spring break! I'm home in Minnesota now. I don't know why every time I have a week long break I think I'll get a lot of work done. I will undoubtedly sleep for 12+ hours, wake up to pet a cat and stuff my face with oreos, then go right back to bed. No regrets.

I totally tried to schedule a review of Jagannath by Karin Tidbeck to be posted on Thursday, but clearly that didn't work out. So I'll post that tomorrow, so it looks like I space things out and plan things well. For now, here's this.


Books I Just Finished:

Tampa by Alissa Nutting:
I get that this was meant to be satirical and I get that the characters were sort of meant to be stereotypical, but they were all just so flat to me that it made it hard to care. I really just was not that into this book. And it wasn't as shocking as I expected/wanted it to be, I think. I don't know, too much hype.
Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides:
This book paid off for me. It took a long time for me to get to the main character's story, but it was super interesting when it did. And the way Eugenides connects everything from the past with the present is exciting to read. I liked this book the more I read it and I don't think I was quite ready to part with Cal when it was all over.

 When Women Were Birds by Terry Tempest Williams:

This book was so beautiful. I finished it in one sitting while I was on the Megabus to Minnesota. It's nonfiction essays by Terry Tempest Williams about when her mother died. Right before she died, she told her daughter that she was leaving her journals to her, but that she wasn't to read them until she died. When Terry Tempest Williams finally opened them, they were all empty. This book is her trying to figure out what her mother was trying to say or do. It's about the power of voice and of not using yours, being a woman, being a writer, being a mother, and being a daughter. It's so beautiful and really powerful.



Books I'm Reading:

The Troop by Nick Cutter: 
I'm back to not reading 54354098 books at once and I'm still on this one. I really like it now that I'm a third in. I feel like I know the characters all a lot better, and I like the dilemma they're being faced with. Hopefully I'll finish it this break. When I'm not petting cats.









Books I Want to Read Next:

Sleep Disorder by Karen Russell:
Ok, for some reason I didn't know about this novella until two days ago. Everything Karen Russell is perfect and I need this in my life right now. It's not out until the 25th, though, so I'm dying over here. It's about an insomnia epidemic in the future and it sounds so bizarre with people donating sleep and a black market for the sleep deprived and who knows what else. Excuse me while I go preorder the ebook right this second. 





What are you reading this week?