Summer Reading

I have read some really awesome books so far this summer.  Somewhat unintentionally, I'm on a great streak of reading female authors.  No, not Charlaine Harris, Stephanie Meyer, or even JK Rowling (although those names rolled pretty easily off my mind).  I'm talking about inspiring, artistic, intelligent authors.

The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. LeGuin finished 6/19/11
This is a scifi classic; it was included in the display on fiction at the SciFi at EMP in Seattle.  I'm not ashamed to admit that I went to that-it was really cool (to a nerd).  It's about a genderless world.  An ambassador lands there to try to get them to join some sort of trade federation, and is forced to realign his ideas about humanity.  I almost feel like I need another reading of this.  It was told from the points of view of two different characters, alternating.  But I wasn't really hip to that at first because LeGuin used a lot of madeup lingo that was difficult to assimilate.  I really liked it in the end though.

Alias Grace by Margaret Atwood finished 6/24
Another awesome book!  I really liked "The Handmaid's Tale" and "The Blind Assassin", so I was definitely eager for this one.  "Alias Grace" tells the story of a girl who's imprisoned for murder at age 16 in the 1840's.  It's sort of a pastiche of her recollections, news clippings from the trial, and letters and recollections of a physician 15 years later who's trying to determine if she was innocent.  This is a thinking woman's mystery.  Atwood's prose is clear and concise, and very pointed.  She's a great storyteller.

The Lacuna by Barbara Kingsolver finished 6/30
I have loved some works by Kingsolver, and others I really couldn't get into.  I was glad with this one that she put the level of research and dedication in that seemed to be present in "The Poisonwood Bible".  This was a really interesting story about a writer in the household of Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo.  I love it when an author can wrap you up in a story but also teach you about a place or time period.

Special Topics in Calamity Physics by Marisha Pessl finished 7/9
Okay, I admit it.  I've read this book at least twice before, maybe three times.  But revisting a favorite book is one of the joys of reading.  This is written in the style of a meticulously annotated textbook, but it's a whodunit.  It tells the story of Blue VanMeer, a senior in high school, who finds her teacher murdered in the woods.  I'm not giving anything away, you learn that in the first chapter, although it happens towards the end of the story.  The whole things is dark and precocious and carefully crafted.

Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen finished 7/13
Okay, I had sort of vowed to read no more Austen after Emma, Pride and Prejudice, and Persuasion because they're all basically the same story.  However this was practically free at the library sale, so what the fuck?  I actually really enjoyed it.  Don't get me wrong, I'm not going to rush to reread it (ever), but I found it pretty funny.  Jane Austen basically made fun of her main character-Catherine!-the entire time.  She is sort of a nut, who reads too many novels and gets caught up in silly fantasies about her life (that doesn't sound like anyone else I know).  The ending did wrap up a bit too neatly for my taste though.  I felt like Austen got tired of the story, and decided to sum up the end instead of telling it.

At this point I decided I could read what I wanted, and besides I only had one more choice by a female author on my To Read shelf, so I picked up this crappy Stephen King novel (also from the library sale) called The Dark Half (cue ominous music).  But I read a chapter or two and just felt meh about it.  So I'm going back to the ladies (oh yeah!).  Which brings me to the final book I have to talk about:

The Lover by Marguerite Duras present
I originally read this book in French, and really liked it.  I got the English version(at the library sale!) and couldn't turn it down, especially since I no longer have that French copy.  I'm digging it so far.  But I think I need to slow down and taste it more, I found myself rushing a bit.  It makes me want to find it in French again.  And it also makes me want to go get some Anais Nin or something sexy like that...