Embarrassingly, I’ve only read three and a half books so far this year. This is mostly because I’ve discovered the joy of watching TV on my laptop before going to sleep. I’ve also been using long distance commutes to watch movies. What I have read though, has been amazing.
My three books so far this year are:
I wrote about Shantaram here. I started it on January 1st and didn’t finish it till January 31st. It was certainly a hefty novel, at 946 pages long, but I loved every page. I think I probably could have finished it quicker if I’d just read the book and stopped youtubing. As I went along, I kept googling the author and I’d spend night after night reading about him online and watching interviews. Fascinating man!
Then there was The Boat, a collection of short stories by Nam Le. As with most short story collections, there’s always quite a few you love and then quite a few you don’t. Nam has a strong background in writing poetry and that was quite evident in his writing. He has a real way with words. And I really like ethnic literature. It’s important.
Next up was Life of Pi. I loved this book. I love beautiful quotes, as you know, and for me, this novel felt like one big, beautiful, philosophical quote. I loved Yann Martel’s perspective on religion and also on Zoos. I don’t necessarily agree with him, but he puts forward a few interesting arguments and gave me pause for thought. I also like how he calls churches God Houses. Tres cute! I’ve been mentally referring to them in the same way. I think I’ll probably do a whole post on this book at some stage.
I’m now about half way through A Million Little Pieces, a memoir by James Frey. It’s a tough book to read. Hearing about the way drug and alcohol addicts treat their bodies literally makes me feel weak at the knees. I think perhaps I’m reading this book to soon after Shantaram. It’s making me want to step back in time and give James’ liver some love!
But what about you? What have you been reading lately? Any good books? Mags? Cookbooks? Blogs? Websites? Share!
The random musings of Neen 
How strange. I am also reading “A Million Little Pieces”….and am also halfway through. I have not read the other books on your list, though. It looks like a solid amount of reading.
–JW
Thanks for your comment – you’ll have to let me know what you think of the book when you’re done!
The same to you!
–JW
Just read your review of Shantaram, not sure I’d like it, but I love the insights you got from it (into your own thinking!) I haven’t read Life of Pi but it’s one of those books I keep meaning to read. Perhaps now’s the time!
What have you been reading Deb? Still churning through books or are you rationing yourself?
Churning – but this week I only borrowed 3 books and discovered I’d read them all before (and recently!). I tend to find an author I love and read everything they’ve written. Because I read so many mystery/crime novels they all sound a bit the same and I – occasionally – don’t recognise the dust jacket, but as soon as I start reading, I realise….
I’ve read all these books – but along time ago so my memory is hazy. They are all pretty good. I met Yann Martel at Gleebooks – he came to talk to the book club that I used to go to there…GREAT bookclub!
Lucky you! I’d love to meet him. I love Gleebooks. Going to look into their book club :)
[…] favourite flowers Bonus list: Messy things I like Bonus list: Nice sauces and condiments 08: Great things I’ve read lately 09: Favourite words 10: Good things to have for breakfast 11: Things to make me feel cosy […]
There are so many books that would fit this challenge so I have decided to go for one that I haven’t mentioned on my blog yet. Even that was difficult but I have finally gone for The Job by Douglas Kennedy. I was first introduced to Kennedy by a friend years ago with an insistance that I read The Big Picture (just as unputdownable, by the way) and after that I went on a little Kennedy bings and devoured about 5 books in one go by him. The Job really struck a chord with me though as it is set in the corporate world (which I work in – yes, anoyingly enough I do have a day job which is rather inconvenient to my reading-life….).