book report

[vernacular_life]

airports and being in a house that's not my own for about a week made me a productive reader. As you can tell, my fav. books are ones where I can learn a little bit -- a mysterious Reniassance text, beekeeping, the pre-war years of a Geisha, pre-Christian history

The Rule of Four by Ian Caldwell and Dustin Thomason : A wanna-be Davinci Code, but set in Princeton. A fast read, but not as rewarding as I'd hoped it to be. Interesting to learn about the mysterious Hypnerotomachia

The Secret Life of Bees, by Sue Monk Kidd Enjoyed this -- a little forced on the analogy of girl-as-bee, but really fell in love with the characters. Won't be surprised at all if this turns into a movie in the next year or so.

Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden This has been on my to-read list for ages, and really enjoyed it. I was apprehensive at first that something so intimately female was written by a male, as there was no way to really KNOW what it felt like to apply the makeup, do the hair, wear the heavy kimonos, etc. This was a loong book, and the very end felt a bit rushed, but very enjoyable overall.

The Red Tent by Anita Diamant. I'm about 1/2 way through this now, and has a mystical quality about it -- almost like someone's describing a scene from the wrong end of a telescope. I'm not that familiar with the Old Testement people that are secondary characters in the book, but I could imagine that it would be interesting to put them into perspective. Makes me long for the times/cultures where women retreated to a private, women-only area once a month for their cycle. I think the Hawaiians did this, too.....

Comments

[jenniferlourdes.livejournal.com]

Those are three of my favorite books. I thought a lot of the symbolism was a bit forced in The Secret Life of Bees, like you mentioned, but I also totally fell in love with the characters. Arthur Golden's ability to tell such a vivid and realistic story from a female perspective was just phenomenal! Loved reading that story. And I enjoyed reading The Red Tent for the same reason - it seemed like looking into the wrong end of the telescope you know? And I was pretty familiar with the characters from the Old Testament (or at least, I knew who they were) so it was such a unique perspective to hear the stories told from their point of view. :)

Man, I feel like I haven't had time to read a book in forever! I'm just so busy these days! That's great that you were able to get through these four.

[vernacular-life.livejournal.com]

I was determined to check out 'good' books for this trip/holiday and forgo the ChickLit. I'm plowing through Anna Karina, but it isn't quite an airplane kind of book! I'm pretty pleased with all of these, now lets hope that my next burst of reading proves just as fruitful!

[vernacular-life.livejournal.com]

Maybe its because it was set in the south, or maybe its because of the group of strong women, but Secret Life of Bees reminded me a bit of Steel Magnolias and/or YaYa Sisterhood....in a good way, of course.

The copy of the book that I had included an interview with the author, and she admitted that she missed the characters and wanted to know where they were, too! (Not so much so that a sequel was in the works, though!)

[tray85.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the tips. I've completely slowed down my reading. Still working through White Oleander (which is great) and a non-fiction book by Sarah Vowell (she tours w/ David Sedaris). She isn't as funny or sarcastic as David Sedaris, but her stories are pretty cool (lots of Chicago history for anyone who's interested in that kind of stuff).

[vernacular-life.livejournal.com]

I read Dress your Family in Denim and Courdroy a few months back, and while I enjoyed it, it didn't have the laugh-out-loudness that Bill Bryson has for me.

[tray85.livejournal.com]

That's actually one of his less funny books IMO. I LOVED Me Talk Pretty One Day. I actually listened to it on CD on a road trip and laughed for about three hours straight. I'll have to check out Bill Bryson. Is he an NPR guy too?

[onelargecat.livejournal.com]

I just read White Oleander over Xmas....I loved it. I had seen the movie a couple years ago and liked it. Thought the book was fantastically written.

And Memoirs of a Giesha is one of my favorites--I LOVED that book. I am adding the REd Tent to my list of things to read--it sounds interesting.

(Btw, hope you don't mind that I popped into your journal briefly! :)

[vernacular-life.livejournal.com]

(Btw, hope you don't mind that I popped into your journal briefly! :)

don't mind at all, and as a matter of fact, I'll one up ya and friend ya!

[onelargecat.livejournal.com]

cool--I added you back. :)