The Death of Sweet Mister by Daniel Woodrell

My rating: 4.2 

How to capture my feelings about this book. Yowza. Uncomfortable. Dysfunctional. Awkward. Disturbing. Those things are true but, that also makes me realize that this is an amazing bit of writing. I felt for the characters and got pulled into their lives. Wow. To make me squirm and feel so uncomfortable takes a very talented author. I can't recommend such an uncomfortable book so, you will have to decide if this is right for you.

 

Incantation by Alice Hoffman

My Rating:  3.8

Incantation is the story of Spanish Jews having to lead double lives as Catholics during the Spanish Inquisition. When Estrella discovers that her family, whom she thought was Catholic, are truly Jews she confronts a world she never imagined. This is a beautiful poetic telling of a horrific story.

Three Day Road by Joseph Boyden

My Rating:  4.8

This book is about a Cree boy who is raised by his Auntie in the wilderness and taught to live off the land.  He develops a close friendship with another Cree boy.  When they are of age, the two of them enlist and become snipers in the killing fields of Ypres in WWI.  This is a brutal yet beautifully well told story.  This captures so much - the brutality of war, the beauty of the wilderness, the Native American life and so much more that I am not eloquent enough to capture.  AMAZING writing and this will be in my 'best of' for this year.

When & Where Do You Read?

I rarely sit down for long periods of time to read.  A 'long time' for me would be 30 minutes.  I typically sit down for 10 minutes and then get up and do dishes or some other task, then sit and read again for a few more minutes before I am off doing something else.  This may come from the fact that, as a child, most of my reading was done while I walked home from school - I would take a few steps, stop and read, take a few more steps.  My mother always wondered why it took me so long to walk home those couple of blocks!

At night, I do enjoy curling up with my book in bed and reading for 10 or 20 minutes before I fall asleep.  I also get in a lot of reading on planes.  Recently, a girlfriend shared that she used to read ALL day from when she got up until she went to bed.  How decadent!  It is rare that I sit and read for much more than 10 or 15 minutes at one time.  How about you?  Comment below and let me know where you like to read and for how long.

The Silver Lining Playbook by Matthew Quick

My Rating:  4.0

After a lengthy stay in a mental institution (the bad place), Pat People's returns home ready to resume his life.  This is a quirky, funny (in a black humor) and yet it is also touching and sad.  This is a light easy read that really touched me.  I will never look at Kenny G the same way again.