I've decided I am going to update one post all year round with books that I have conquered rather than nestling small reviews in random posts throughout the year, this will be nice for me to look back to and for you to say, gosh what was that one book he read that sounded cool. I promise to keep the reviews brief and succinct so that by the end of the year it doesn't become unbearable.
Even though I started it it '09 I'm going to Mention:
War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy
The Road by Cormick McCarthy
This book was a stellar quick read about a father and son traveling across a post-apocalyptic America. Extremely touching, especially if you have a loved one you can relate it to. It made me want to brush up on my survival skills and invest in canned food as well.
Catch-22 by Joseph Heller
After reading War and Peace I was thought I needed something lighthearted and fun to read, so I picked up Catch-22 seeing the back cover reviews claiming hilarity and so on. Turns out it was another book about war, but this was a bizarre book full of weird characters and silly dialogue during a war. Remarkably it was still able to make some good anti-war statements while remaining, quite silly. I would recommend this for someone looking for a weird but good book.
"Alice's Adventures in Wonderland" & "Through The Looking Glass"
I've read Alice in Wonderland before but in honor of the recent movie (which totally kicks ass) I decided to re-read it and actually get through, Through the Looking Glass. The stories are fantastical, weird, silly and bizarre, pretty much right up my alley. If you can believe it, the Disney animated version stayed extremely true to the original story, where Tim Burton's should have been called Alice's Return to Wonderland.
The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown
Robert Langdon's third adventure through the world of symbology. This one takes place in like 12 hours and is located in Washington DC. As usual with a Dan Brown book ending a chapter leaves you yearning to read the next. If you were a fan of the first two in the series I would recommend this one as well. There was a big shocker at the ending, but the next 20 or so pages were a bit preachy, almost like he had a message to pass along to the rest of the world. After such a fast paced book the finale was a bit too calm. But still, an excellent story.
The Miracle Life of Edgar Mint by Brady Udall
Where to start with this story... its heartfelt, genuine, and insanely funny. This is about a boy who gets his head run over by a mailman and little Edgar's highs and lows of his life following this accident. I'm having a hard time describing it beyond that. The story is fun and interesting to read. I would recommend it to anyone who has emotions.
Wicked by Gregory Maguire
Anyone who is a remote fan of reading, and the Wizard of Oz movie should give Wicked a try. It is a delightful spin from the movie told from an unlikely set of eyes, the Wicked Witch of the West Elphaba. The story zipped right along through her early life all the way up to her demise at the hands of Dorothy. The author definitely tries to sneak in a few moral lessons and opinions of the ways of the world, which got dry and long at times, but when he was actually telling the story it was fantastic. If you've seen the play you'll notice very quickly that it was only inspired by this book.
The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
It seems lately I've been finding books that have been written in non-traditional styles. The book thief is written in a way where Zusak throws you off every few pages with a phrase you can feel in your teeth, every now and then I would stop reading and think wow, that is a perfect and unexpected way to describe that. The story is about a young girl in Nazi Germany who is taken in by foster parents. And, She steals books. It is narrated by Death, who is remarkably fitting for a story in those times. From the beginning to the end I was engaged and constantly thinking about the difficulties of the times. I really loved this story, from the thoughtful way it was written to the interesting child perspective of the war. The Book Thief is not a depressing book but it has its moments, Death as you might imagine is a downer but really he is just like anyone else and is worked too hard, but still has time to appreciate the finer parts of human life. I don't say this too often, this is one of my favorite books I've ever read. Give it a try, you won't be disappointed.
The Archbishop in Andalusia by Andrew Greeley
This book was handed to me by my Dad with the intention to learning a bit more about Spain. In that sense it was great, there were lots of cultural and historical notes all throughout this book that made it fascinating and wonderful to apply to my honeymoon there. The book itself taking that out of account was meh, it seemed like Greeley tries to make the reader feel like a moron by touting his firm grasp of the English language. It is a mystery but at no point did I wonder or care about how it was to be resolved.
Brain Droppings by George Carlin
Brain Droppings is hilarious. There are so many laugh out loud funny moments it can get a bit awkward to read because I felt like giggling or laughing so often. But this is not a good book to read from cover to cover. Its full of one liners brief thoughts and ramblings from George Carlin's brain. There are giant curse words and many opinions expressed that one could get embarrassed to have visible in public. Its so funny though and if someone were to be offended I'm sure ol George would be cursing them out in his grave. I would highly recommend this book as a bathroom reader or one for the nightstand, anywhere you don't have a lot of time to read but feel like doing something.
Under the Dome by Stephen King
It's been awhile since I've read a King book, when I saw this one on the shelf at Target and read the back it intrigued me quickly. The book has a giant cast, with all sorts of different characters trapped under the...you guessed it, dome. Since its a King book it takes place in a small town in Maine where one day a dome suddenly appears around a small town cutting them off from civilization almost entirely. A politician with a dirty side an Iraq vet and many more typical townsfolk try to wrestle back a normal life. People are killed, tormented, and lives are ruined because of their new predicament. The book was amazingly engaging, little mysteries popped up every few pages and were solved slowly as the book went on, and that was exciting because I didn't find myself wondering how it was going to end but what was going to come next. This was an excellent fast paced book that I would highly recommend to anyone who enjoys a big good book.
The Broker by John Grisham
I've always thought of Grisham to be a boring author writing all sorts of books on Law and courtroom drama, none of which interest me, so when Laura picked this one out for our drive to Georgia I was admittedly not enthusiastic. This book proved me wrong though. Its an exciting adventure about a powerful lobbyist who gets involved with the wrong people and suddenly is an assassination target. He is shipped to Italy to hide undercover and has many different adventures. The book made me want to travel to Italy, or become a spy. It was definitely interesting and was surprised at a lack of Dull spots. I would recommend this book, its interesting, fast paced, and full of turns that you expect and don't.
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