What I'm Reading

I seem to have finished more books than usual this month.

I like to read one book at a time, but I often seem to have two books going at once.

The first book I read this month was Cliffs of Despair:A Journey to The Edge by Tom Hunt. I saw a review of it and thought it would be interesting because it talks about a place I’ve visited. It’s about the cliffs in southern England called Beachy Head that are one of the top places in the world for suicides. When I went there I didn’t know this. I just wanted to see the white cliffs, and when I looked on a map, I knew we could go to Beachy Head. Now that I think about it, our driver guide probably thought we wanted to see it because of its reputation…She didn’t want to linger there, but we were fascinated and could have rambled over the grounds for longer than we did.

I’ll try to add one of my photos of Beachy Head (very similar to the one on the cover of the book).
At any rate, the history of the place and the author’s attempts to understand why people commit suicide is interesting. I’m sort of glad I didn’t know all this when I went there.

The next book I finished was The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion. Interestingly enough, Rory Gilmore was reading this book in an episode of “Gilmore Girls”, which I thought a strange choice. I’ve never read any of Ms. Didion’s work before, and I enjoyed her direct style. This is a very personal account of what it’s like to lose a family member suddenly, and how hard it is to go on alone.

For my book clubs we had an oldie and a new book.

The Last Tuesday Book Club (LTBC) will discuss Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert-I’d never read this book, and I’m glad we put it on our list. I will be interested to hear the opinions of the book club members on this book. I don’t think I would have gotten through it in high school, however.

Memories of My Melancholy Whores by Gabriel Garcia Marquez-This is my first Garcia Marquez book, although I started One Thousand Years of Solitude at some point. It is only 120 pages long, but it isn’t a fast read. Perhaps it’s the translation, or just the way the story goes from present to past and back again. Some of the similes and metaphors are amazing. I’m not sure if this is a very good book, although it seems that it is an interesting portrait of an old man trying to keep living. I’m not sure he ever deflowered the virgin he wanted on his 90^th birthday. Perhaps the book club discussion will enlighten me. Anyway, you could have a good time comparing this book to Marilynne Robinson’s Gilead for old men looking back on their lives.

On tap for next month are: A Million Little Pieces by James Frey (LTBC selection).

Wild Swans by Jung Chan (to feed my China obsession)

Lost in a Good Book by Jason Fforde (sequel to The Eyre Affair)-A Thursday Next novel. Michiko Kakutani called Thursday Next a cross between Bridget Jones, Nancy Drew and Dirty Harry. That’s about right. Actually, I’ve already started this one. Twice.