A Quick Catalog of Recent Reads: The Book List

As life has continued to stay busy, I have continued reading. I’m making it a point to stop surfing so much and make some time to read, but of course what am I doing right now as I wait for another flight out to another undisclosed destination? I have three and a half hours before my flight, so I could be reading The Aeneid at the moment, but of course, I’m not. I’m listening to “The Easter Song” and trying not to giggle in a hotel lobby while I surf and write.

Yeah, I’m being really productive here.

However, since I left you last, I’ve read six books. Not shabby! A quick rundown follows, with abbreviated, terse reviews. Sorry for the lack of detail and analysis (do I ever analyze, anyway?):

1) The Kite Runner: Loved this book, so much so that I have A Thousand Splendid Suns waiting to be read on the plane ride home. Made me bawl like a baby.
2) Beach Music: My favorite book as a teenager, I felt like picking it up once more. It didn’t make me bawl like a baby and I noticed some weaknesses that I didn’t note 10 years ago, but it still made me laugh.
3) The Underdogs or, in Spanish, Los de abajo. This one deserves a bit more exposition—a novel of the Mexican Revolution, my father is one of its biggest fans and had encouraged me to pick it up for years. I finally did, though I stuck to the translation rather than the original in Spanish. A mistake, I would say—I will attempt to read it in Spanish as soon as I can get my hands on it. I don’t feel that the translator did an adequate job, and it will be nice to read about areas in Zacatecas that I’ve been to in the original Spanish.
4) Housekeeping: I decided to read this a few weekends ago, borrowing it from IP. I did enjoy the novel and was a bit surprised to realize that its movie adaptation was billed as a comedy. Not something I’d peg as a comedy at all.
5) The Memory House: Lucia Graves’ first novel, I suppose I should read this in Spanish, also. I was less than impressed with this novel, especially since the reader was asked to take for granted that the heroine and her first love were definitely meant to be together—even though we saw them together few times, and were never properly introduced to the initial meetings that flamed their love story. The subject matter—the expulsion of the Jewish people from Spain—was fascinating, but the story could’ve been so much more. Exactly why were these two meant to be again, I kept asking myself, and why should I be thinking that it’s a shame that they’re apart, and why should I be thrilled that she boinks him one last time in her new home with her children by her husband (who is conveniently away and whom she claims to love) upstairs, asleep?
6) The Witch’s Trinity: Um . . . meh. I read this in the course of a few hours and wasn’t impressed at all. It did come in handy, though, since it was short and filled sleepless hours quite nicely.

As I mentioned, now I’m reading The Aeneid—Fagles’ translation is finally out and I’m thrilled. So far, so good, and the intro by Bernard Knox was excellent. Perhaps I should stop writing and start reading?

Onto the book list.

Finished:

1) Love Is a Mix Tape by Rob Sheffield
2) Galileo’s Daughter: A Historical Memoir of Science, Faith and Love by Dava Sobel
3) Helen of Troy by Margaret George
4) Writing Ann Arbor: A Literary Anthology Edited by Laurence Goldstein
5) You Suck: A Love Story by Christopher Moore
6) Bloodsucking Fiends: A Love Story by Christopher Moore
7) The Stupidest Angel: A Heartwarming Tale of Christmas Terror, Version 2.0 by Christopher Moore
8) Radio On: A Listener’s Diary by Sarah Vowell
9) Evolving God: A Provocative View on the Origins of Religion by Barbara J. King
10) The Secret History by Donna Tartt
11) Behind the Scenes at the Museum by Kate Atkinson
12) One Perfect Day: The Selling of the American Wedding by Rebecca Mead
13) College Girls: Bluestockings, Sex Kittens, and Co-Eds, Then and Now by Lynn Peril
14) Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting by in America by Barbara Ehrenreich
15) Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J.K. Rowling
16) House of the Spirits by Isabel Allende (Translated by Magda Bogin)
17) A Woman Unknown: Voices from a Spanish Life by Lucia Graves
18) Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke
19) The Uncommon Reader by Alan Bennett
20 The Ladies of Grace Adieu by Susanna Clarke
21) I, Claudius by Robert Graves
22) The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
23) The Underdogs (Los de abajo) by Mariano Azeula (Translation by E. Munguia)
24) Housekeeping by Marilynne Robinson
25) The Memory House by Lucia Graves
26) The Witch’s Trinity by Erika Mailman

Re-read:

1) Vertical Run by Joseph R. Garber
2) Beach Music by Pat Conroy

Currently Reading:

1) The Aeneid by Virgil (Translation by Robert Fagles)

Waiting To Be Read (Already Purchased, Got as Gifts, Borrowed from My Boyfriend, or Otherwise Accessible without the Use of Funds, But Not an Assurance That I Will Read These Before I Buy More Books):

1) Great Society Subway: A History of the Washington Metro by Zachary M. Schrag
2) A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini