No One Belongs Here More Than You ...
'Gonna use my my my imagination.' - The Pretenders, Brass in Pocket
I read too little last year. I don't really know why but nothing held my attention for very long and whatever did had to be very good to make it through the crap filters.
In fact, only a few books made it through judging by the quantities of books with bookmarks stuck in them, floating around the house.
Some of the one's that didn't make it the first time:
The Ringmaster's Daughter, Jostein Gaarder. I love the idea of this book and I want to read it so badly but. Eh.
Lolita, Nabokov. Possibly too erudite for me. Another one that I really want to read, I want to feel all that simmering passion, but no. Nabokov is not delivering the goods for me.
Mothers & Sons by Colm Toibin. I can't even tell you why I stopped because the bookmark is only three pages in.
Eat Pray Love, Elizabeth Gilbert. I wanted to like this so much. Everyone had such good things to say. Meh.
The two that kicked ass?
Miranda July's, No One Belongs Here More Than You. I loved this so much. I think my favourite story in the book was 'Mon Plaisir'. My favourite bit:
'When my husband saw the new short hair, he gave me the look we give each other when one of us forgets who we are. We are not people who buy instant cocoa powder, we do not make small talk, we do not buy Hallmark cards or believe in Hallmark rituals such as Valentine's Day or weddings. In general we try to stay away from things that are MEANINGLESS, and we favour things that are MEANINGFUL. Our top three meaningful things are: Buddhism, eating right, and the internal landscape. Haircuts are in the same category as trimming the finger- and toenails, which is in the same category as mowing the lawn. We don't really believe in mowing the lawn; we do it only to avoid unnecessary engagement with the neighbours.'The other one was Zoe Heller's Notes on a Scandal. Look at this:
Sheba says I couldn't possibly understand what it feels like after twenty years of faithful marriage, to be kissed by someone other then your husband; to feel the pressure of a stranger's mouth on yours. "Things call asleep in a marriage," she told me once. "They have to. You have to lose that mad sexual alertness you had when you were out in the world on your own. All these years with Richard, I don't think I've ever consciously suppressed anything. I've always been so grateful to be married - so relieved that I would never have to be naked in front of a stranger again. But I'd forgotten how exhilarating it is to expose yourself ... to be a little scared. As soon as Steven kissed me, it all came back in an instant. The, you know, high of it. I was amazed at how I could have lived without that all those years."
Then there was Anna Quindlen's Rise and Shine. And Ray Kluun's Love Life, Joanna Trollope's Second Honeymoon and Marina Lewycka's A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian.
These were the ones that stuck with me. I guess that's not bad.
Six really good and really compelling books in one year?
What were your favourites?
De heiligwording van Berthe Ploos door Hannes Meinkema was voor mij echt boek van het jaar.. Prachtig prachtig..
Mijk, ik ga meteen langs de bibliotheek :) Ik ben altijd open voor een goed aanbevolen boek. Dank je!
I read 3 or 4 Bill Bryson books last year, and they're excellent.
My favourite? The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid
Considerably better (imho) than his travel books (which themselves make for pleasing reading).
Gary: Life & Times was laugh out loud. I read it a year ago. Of all his books I love the Australian one the best. There is a thing about a combined hairdresser/porn shop in some little town in Australia that I remember almost wetting my pants about, it was so funny.
Hello
from the wonderfully cool and cozy california desert.
I ended up here by blog hopping--(pressing any rand blog listed on the blog I am on) and landed here =)
Anyway, I just finished reading straight through(well 8 hrs of sleep inbetween), THE TENDER BAR, by J.R. Moehringer
I absolutely read it up!
Give it a whirl-though i also ate up EAT PRAY LOVE, and i see that it failed to pull you in---not that these two books are alike in anyway-but i found his writing to be unlike any i have read .
I am guessing you are a writer too??
I will be back to visit again!
mb: Thanks so much for the recommendation of The Tender Bar! I'll give it a try. I think Eat Pray Love may have been just a little too close to my own personal journey for me to give it enough room to just be a story. Maybe in a year or so I'll try it again. Thanks too for stopping by and taking the time to comment. I really appreciate it!