August + September + October.

Okay, so I fell way off the wagon as far as posting about books goes. I am also still reading at a relatively slow pace. But I will chalk that up to working long hours and weird shifts, moving back to Cranbrook, and having things like weddings and dinners and retreats to go to. I am currently sitting at a total of 45 books. I have decided that a goal of 52 books by the end of the year is reasonable, so I am aiming for that.


Here is what I read over the last three months:

• Everything I Never Told You     (Celeste Ng)     - This one was a bit of a emotional kick to the face. But it was good. It is about a Chinese-American family in the 1970's. Their eldest daughter is found drowned in a lake and her family, who never really talks about their feelings, is sent into a tailspin as they try to make sense of what happened. It will make you feel. I would recommend it. 

• The Remains of the Day    (Kazuo Ishiguro)     - I thought this book sounded like the most boring book in the history of the world. It is about a butler who drives across the British countryside. My best friend, a librarian and an avid reader, recommended it to me. I was confused, but started reading because she rarely steers me wrong. The first few chapters were exactly what I feared; just a butler talking about driving across the countryside. It was painful. But then about three chapters in a super weird thing happened. I got super invested in the story and literally couldn't put it down. Well, not literally. But I was engaged and finished it quite quickly. I don't know what to say. It is just a story about a butler driving across the country and looking back over his life. If you get more than 4-5 chapters in and you are still bored, you should probably just give up. But if the same thing that happened to me and my friend happens to you, you will get weirdly invested in this mildly frustrating butler around chapter 3 and will happily devour the rest. 

• The Brief History of the Dead     (Kevin Brockmeier)     - If you haven't read any Kevin Brockmeier yet, get on it! This one was even better than The Illumination. This book is about a city. It is just called "The City." It is inhabited by the those who have died, they live there only as long as they remain in the memories of the living. If that doesn't intrigue you, I don't know what will. It was that premise alone that got me interested. Basically the story is split between the residents of the city and a lady who is trapped by extreme weather conditions in an Antarctic research station. Just read it. It is amazing. Kevin Brockmeier is amazing. 

• The Lion in the Room Next Door     (Merilyn Simonds)    - One time I found this website that recommended books to you. It had a whole bunch of categories and sliding bars and you could set them. Example: do you want your book to be scary or not scary - there would be scary on one side and not scary on the other with a sliding bar and you could set the amount of scariness you wanted. Hopefully that makes sense. Anyways, there were a bunch of categories and you could set a certain number of them and then it would search for books that fit that criteria. I filled it out and this book popped out. It is a bunch of short stories that seem to tell one woman's story from different times and places in her life. I believe they were all written to be stand alone stories, but were later put together in this book. So they are separate, but they all also kind of tie together. 

• As I Lay Dying    (William Faulkner)     - This was my second attempt at this book and I managed to make it all the way through. I was emailing a friend who is a reader at the time I was reading this one. We usually like to talk about what we are reading. I will include some of my half of the conversation, I think I summed my feelings up quite well: 

  Have you read 'As I Lay Dying?' I just finished it.I think I hated it. 

  It is one of those books where the narrator changes every chapter. And it is about a uneducated farm family. So depending on who is narrating the chapter you have varying chances on actually understanding what is going on.  

  
  

  An excerpt for you:  

  
  

  But my mother is a fish. Vernon seen it. He was there. 

  "Jewel's mother is a horse," Darl said. 

  "Then mine can be a fish, can't it Darl?" I said.  

  Jewel is my brother.  

  "Then mine will have to be a horse, too," I said.  

  "Why?" Darl said. "If pa is your pa, why does your ma have to be a horse just because Jewel's is?" 

  "Why does it?" I said. "Why does it, Darl?" 

  Darl is my brother.  

  Then what is your ma, Darl?" I said.  

  I haven't got ere one," Darl said. "Because if I had one, it is was. And if it is was, it can't be is. Can it?" 

  "No," I said.  

  "Then I am not," Darl said. "Am I?" 

  "No," I said.  

  I am. Darl is my brother.  

  But you are, Darl," I said.  

  I know it," Darl said. "That's why I am not is. Are is too many for one woman to foal." 

  You might think there are some typos in that. I promise there are not. I think this is the point I realized this book was the worst. 

  
  It would be a hard task to convince me to read another Faulkner. It could probably be done, but it would need to be a hell of a recommendation. This friend I was emailing happens to be a University english professor and if I may quote her, these are her thoughts on Faulkner, "I haven't read much Faulkner, but the very little I have looked at creates the impression that the man was trying deliberately and sadistically to make his writing painful to read." I tend to agree.