I had a prolific reading season. I joined the neighborhood book club. We order lunch at the clubhouse, so I am all in on that front. We traveled to San Francisco, home of my youngest brother Casey, who is also an avid reader. He took me to some very cool bookstores and gifted me with a few from his own library; big shout out to my husband Spencer for carrying nine books for me across city and country.
My mother in law loads me up with a stack of books every time we visit. I have also re-joined the Book of the Month Club. We have been flying a lot, so I take advantage of the Read & Return program offered at many airport bookstores. My sweetheart will often show up with a book or two for me; he recently stated, "It makes me happy to buy you books." So, there is reason number 576 that I love him a little bit more every day. Needless to say, my TBR pile is endless. And glorious. Here are my favorites from the past season. (Also, when you see 'Spring Books' does your brain turn it into 'Springbok' and now you are picturing an African antelope? Just me? Ok.)
The Executioner's Song by Norman Mailer
I made a good dent in my Pulitzer goal, reading 3 more winners for fiction over the last few months. This one clocked in at just over 1100 pages, and it was gripping the whole time. It is a true-crime novel about a murderer in the 1970s. This is the story of Gary Gilmore. Norman Mailer expertly relays his life of crime, prison society, debates on capital punishment, and the wreckage one man wreaked. Disturbing, yes, but I couldn't put it down.
The Tattooist of Auschwitz by Heather Morris
This is a love story set in the worst possible setting. Lale and Gita will break your heart. I also appreciated that this author did not delve into the super-gruesome aspects of concentration camps; I can't handle specific details of the horror that people lived through. While certain things were alluded to, so you got the picture, she didn't dwell in the details. The ending was about a five Kleenex ordeal for me.
The Shining Girls by Lauren Beukes
Casey told me about this book years ago, I am so glad I finally got my wee reader hands on it. Also, it scared the crap out of me. Harper Curtis is living in Depression-era Chicago. Through a course of mystical events, he is able to time travel. The price for said travel? He murders girls that 'Shine'. A time traveling serial killer? Yikes, indeed.
The Iceman Cometh by Eugene O'Neill
I had no idea what this play was about. My MIL went to NYC to see it on Broadway (with Denzel Washington, no less) and couldn't stop talking about it. It took a moment to get into the cadence (that always happens when I am reading a play) but the story is solid. A bunch of drunks meet up at Harry Hope's bar in 1912; they pound booze while waiting for a man named Hickey to show up for Harry's birthday party. There is big talk amongst the wasted, yet not much action. The tale is a commentary on pipe dreams; it ends in a violent and shocking way. (Random takeaway: the prostitutes, when speaking with their New York accents, replaced all er sounds with oi; I now call out 'Poil', one of the prostitute's names, if I see the word in my travels.)
I am just realizing these are all fairly dark picks! I am looking forward to a summer filled with beach reads and romance. What is on your summer reading list!?
Other Books Read, Spring 2019
The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides
On the Road by Jack Kerouac
Maid by Stephanie Land
American Pastoral by Philip Roth
The Last Romantics by Tara Conklin
One Perfect Lie by Lisa Scottoline
IM by Isaac Mizrahi
The Lost Girls of Paris by Pam Jenoff
The French Girl by Lexie Elliott
Run Away by Harlan Coben
Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides
Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens
Milkman by Anna Burns
No Exit by Taylor Adams
Ladies Who Punch by Ramin Setoodeh
Disgrace by J.M. Coetzee
Necessary People by Anna Pitoniak
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