I've been doing this with books lately. For starters, I checked out too many literary looking books at the library near the end of the summer. What was I thinking, with a household move and going back to work, that I really needed to read about Russian literature and artists colonies? For my main course lately, I've been reading lots of young adult and middle grade fiction so I can ahead of or at least keep up with my students. And then I go and pilfer more books from my mom's shelf, just so no one else in the family gets them before me. And as tired as my kids (both biological kids and school kids) are making me, my reading eyes are definitely bigger than my reading hours right now.
Still, I've gotten through a few books I can share with you.
The Versions of Us
This one took me too long. I think that's probably an indication that it's not one of my favorites, maybe not even a book I'd recommend. That was pretty disappointing, because it seemed like my perfect kind of book. I love stories told from multiple points of view, and this one is actually told from multiple versions of reality. A young man and woman meet in college in England in the late 1950's and either fall in love and get married, fall in love and don't get married, or don't fall in love. One couple, three stories. The author deeply develops the characters and deftly weaves together the three stories. It's very well written. However, I was always confused about which version of them I was reading. I also found all three stories of their relationship quite cynical. I think if I was, ahem, older, I may have found more to relate to in the time periods they live through and the ups and downs of the marriages. But it was too much down and not enough up for me, in all three versions. Someone needs a happy ending.
Middle Grade Fiction by Dan Gemeinhart
Even though the middle grade stuff is the main course in my books are food analogy...it's really the dessert. This sweet, easy, one day read made me feel good like a warm chocolate chip cookie. The author is local, a school librarian turned author, and in that, my hero. The story is an adolescent orphan in turn of the century, Wild West style Wenatchee, searching over mountain and up river for his stolen horse. His unrelenting friendship to all and bravery in dangerous circumstances and conviction of moral courage is heartening. It's a better break from the election news than a kitten picture on facebook. I loved sharing this with my students and I hope you can read it with a kid you know and better yet, buy it for a kid you know. Support local authors. I may be one someday.
The Summer Guest
I continue to dive into the literary pursuits of my over eager summer library splurge. The patient librarians continue to renew these books for me. And I continue to ask myself why these books just aren't as great as they promise to be? This one is again, all my favorite things: takes place mostly in another time and culture (Russia 1880's), told from multiple viewpoints (1880's Russian woman and two contemporary women), about literature and publishing...it should have been perfect. This particular story is about a blind woman's diary the summer her family hosted Anton Chekhov, the famous writer and playwright, and whether or not he wrote a mysterious, missing novel. Sounds lovely. There's one fatal flaw, though. It's about Russian literature. I forgot I don't like Russian literature. They have too many names, for one thing. For another, there's a certain starkness or stoicism to the culture that I don't understand. I should probably force myself to get through more of it and would grasp it better, but I'm not a college literature student anymore, so I don't have to. I think I will try ONE MORE of the scary literary books from the library before going back for more book candy, though. To keep myself in shape.
