Blue Nights by Joan Didion

My rating:  1.0

I wanted to like this book but have to agree with the other readers that the name dropping is nauseating, the book is written in a convoluted meandering style and so much of it is insecure neurosis that it is uncomfortable to read.  Besides all of that, we all know how difficult grief is.  After I went through dealing with a death and dealing with my grief, I wrote it all down.  Granted I am not a writer but, I quickly realized that what may have been a catharsis for myself was definitely not anything I should subject anyone else to.  Writer or not, if only Joan Didion had the same realization.

Out Stealing Horses by Per Pettersen

My rating:  2.8

As a boy Trond spent his summers in the country, where he became friends with the adventurous Jon. Now older, and with his days of adventure well behind him, Trond relives one particular summer, a summer that forever shaped his life and Jon's.

This is a quiet book, which I enjoyed.  I like quiet books.  I enjoyed hearing about Trond's days in the cold with his dog.  Still, this plot just felt thin and some of the content later in the book felt like filler.  Maybe the book should have been shorter?

The Memory of Running by Ron McLarty

My Rating:  4.3

Smithy Ide is a simple 43 year old Vietnam vet who eats and drinks most of his day.  A week after his parent's die in a car accident, overweight Smithy Ide goes for a bike ride.....and keeps on going.  On this wonderful grief stricken journey, we learn so much about Smithy, his long lost sister Bethany, his neighbor Norma and so much else.

This is a cross between Flowers for Algenon and Forrest Gump - you just have to go with it.  I thoroughly enjoyed this sweet book.  The only criticism I would have is that the author went into excruciating detail of EVERY thing - from the backgroun of every person that Smithy met on his journey to the book that Smithy read every evening.  If you can overlook that, then this book will warm your heart.

Lost In Shangri-La by Mitchell Zuckoff

My rating:  3.0

The story of the soldiers and WACS that crashed on the island in New Guinea and what happens with the three survivors.

While I found the story of Shangri-La very interesting but there seemed to be lots of filler and fluff.  Not sure that I would recomm.end this

The Borrower by Rebecca Makkai

My rating: 4.6

Lucy Hull, a young children's librarian in Hannibal, Missouri, finds herself both a kidnapper and kidnapped when her favorite patron, ten- year-old Ian Drake, runs away from home.
 This was a wonderful, quirky, funny and a little far-fetched novel that I thoroughly enjoyed. I loved both the characters but especially Ian! Lucy made me want to be a children's librarian. You just have to go with this story line, not object with too much logic, and enjoy the ride.