It’s that time of the month again!
Hmm… perhaps different wording is in order?
Regardless, here are the books I read in December:
Warm Bodies by Isaac Marion
I started this book last month and fell head over heels in love. The story of zombies, never mind a zombie “filled with love” is not my usual reading material, but I couldn’t put this book down. I found myself underlining passages in every chapter and staring in awe at the author’s mad writing skills. HOWEVER. Because I need something to complain about (and I do have one complaint), the first half of the book was significantly better than the second. The first half was witty and moving without being cheesy and overly sentimental. The story was super tight and obviously well-crafted. The second half, however, was slightly over the top and I lost the plot at a few points. I’d still recommend Warm Bodies though as it was a complete treat to read.
Watermelon by Marian Keyes
I was obsessed with Marian Keyes as a teenager and after reading something quite heavy, I like to mix it up with chic lit or a YA novel. While the number of times I’ve read Watermelon is already in the double digits, I didn’t love this story any less this time around.
I followed up Watermelon with another chic lit book by a new author. But this particular book was so bad, so poorly written, with characters so utterly and completely disgusting, I refuse to tell you the name of it as I hope this book dies a slow and painful death. Let’s just say I thought the story of a Connecticut girl moving to London would be JUST UP MY ALLEY SEEING AS IT’S ACTUALLY MY LIFE, but instead it was filled with gratuitous shopping, loud Americans an anonymous sex. Because, you know, that’s exactly what all 20-something American girls do.
Blue Nights by Joan Didion
I recently joined an Auckland book club and this was our first book. I ended up missing the meeting due to torrential rain and a lack of car and I’m still bummed I didn’t get a chance to hear what everyone else thought about Blue Nights. I’d never read Joan Didion before so wasn’t sure what to expect.
I couldn’t finish it. Holysweetjesus does this woman name drop. And explain in flowery prose what could be said in two words. The book was supposed to be about the death of her daughter but not only do you get no indication of how her daughter dies, but it’s impossible to understand who she was. Didion spent more time talking about some hot shot she wrote a script with than the kind of person her daughter was. Every time she talks about some life event in her family she say something like, “In a few [pictures] she is wearing a cashmere turtleneck sweater I brought her from London when we went that May to do promotion for the European release of The Panic in Needle Park.”
This line is everything that’s wrong with Blue Nights. She talks more about her daughter’s clothes than her personality. She talks more about her own successes than stories about her daughter. And, finally, this sentence has to be the shortest in the book. Stay as far away from Blue Nights as you possibly can.
Little Bee by Chris Cleave
Loved this book. I had no idea what to expect when going in as Amazon was sort of ambiguous on the details, but it’s essentially the story between a Nigerian refugee and a well-to-do(ish) British woman. The book revolves around the tragedy which prompts their meeting and how this refugee, Little Bee, gets her ass over to the UK and survives two years in a detention center. And, wait for it, the detention center where she was held? Loosely based on Yarl’s Wood. Yeah, that would be the center where I was held back in 2010. Since I was only there for two days I experienced none of Little Bee’s story, but something about her description of the facility and the author’s notes at the end got me all choked up.
I loved Little Bee’s character. I loved all the characters, actually. Including a 6 year old who refuses to dress up in anything other than a Batman costume. That said, the author was “flowery” and I freaking hate flowery writing. I mean, I appreciate beautiful prose. Good writing. But telling me, “She was whispering into it in some language that sounded like butterflies drowning in honey” is not actually helpful. Have you ever heard a butterfly drowning in honey? Didn’t think so. But still, Cleave came up with more brilliant lines than ridiculous ones, my favorite being, “When you are a refugee you learn to pay attention to doors. When they are open; when they are closed; the particular sound they make…”
This month I also tried reading The Tiger’s Wife as there’s been a huge amount of talk around it, but I just couldn’t get into it. Every few pages I’d think, “What did I just read?” and have to go back and have another look. So I stopped after a few chapters and have picked up The Art of Fielding which I’m really enjoying so far.
My book club choice for this month is The Night Circus. Anyone read it? What did you read last month? Any recommendations?
