The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger


My rating: 5 of 5 stars
After Mr. Salinger's death, it was an absolute must to reread this book. What amounts to maybe my tenth reading, I can firmly state that this book still resonates and is a masterpiece. You feel as if you are in the mind of a person, in the room with him as the tale unfolds. Your heart breaks as his does, and you take from it the simple fact that life is hard, and things happen, but there are small things that “kill” you with joy. I love this book, but still would never name my kid Holden, because good god.

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Black and Blue by Anna Quindlen

My review

rating: 1 of 5 stars
This is what happens when you wander into a subpar bookstore looking for anything to read because you just finished a book and the prospect of being on MUNI bookless is something that you would rather not attempt, because people smell and are sweaty and you need something to take your attention from that. So I got this book, Black and Blue, which was an Oprah Book Club nominee in 1999. Oprah, obviously your tastes are grown, because five pages in I was like - Holy Cow, I am reading a Lifetime movie. This is the story of a nurse wife who flees with her child from her abusive cop husband. Again, LIFETIME!!! I don’t know why I even bothered to finish it, but I blame the fact that sometimes you are pulled into chickdom with a current so strong that any attempt to fight it would result in drowning. So with the flow I went, and jeez, this book is such bad fluff. I don’t recommend it to anyone, and I advise all to enter a bookstore with a plan, or you will find yourself reading 1999 Oprah nominee Lifetime Movie Channel crap.


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The Shipping News

The Shipping News : A Novel by E. Annie Proulx

My review

rating: 3 of 5 stars
The Shipping News was good for one thing, I know a bunch about knots. Not sure if the entire knot thing at the beginning of each chapter threw me for a loop (hah!), but I would spent a few minutes following the course of the knot to figure it out. Which probably did not help the flow of this book. The Shipping News is beautifully written, and has a few lines that are just awesome, like "Quolye had the big man's love of a petite woman." But I never really got into the characters or the story, although I must say the last 40 pages did enthrall me, but was it worth the preceding 280 pages? I guess the answer is yes. Its an odd story of an island community, sorta reminded me of Northern Exposure a tad. Or my visits to Martha's Vineyard. Oh Islanders, you crazies.


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