Reading List

I've been back on a real reading kick lately, I love my nook. This is unfortunately expensive because e-books are a big, fat rip-off and the pricing ticks me off but I do love the portability, convenience and wide selection. I think I'm going to have to go back to real books with the occasional e-book because e-book publishers can't figure out that I would buy 5 $5 books a month but will only buy one $13 book a month. I also object to the way library licensing and e-book lending is handled.

Whatever though, this wasn't intended to be a rant about the publishing industry (but screw you, stupid publishing industry!). Here are my extremely summarized book reviews:

Room: I really liked this book--until I got to the third quarter of it. It's a short novel and I think that contributed to its pacing problems. It was a fantastic book, until it fell a little flat. Worth reading though.

Sarah's Key: I don't know why everyone liked this book so much. Great idea for a story, shoddy one-dimensional characters. It was good, I didn't regret reading it but I don't know why it was so celebrated.

Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet: This was enjoyable. I liked reading it, but could easily put it down. It was fine; very sweet.

Same Kind of Different as Me: I would have never read this book if I fully understood what it was going to be about. I dislike spiritual books, I dislike anything about cancer, I dislike emotional memoirs, I dislike anything that leaves me open to feeling emotionally manipulated. But this book really moved me; I thought this was a phenomenal book...and then I got to the end and figured out it had all been a true story? (This isn't a secret, just something I hadn't noticed.) Totally profound, well-written, thought-provoking, touching and full of wisdom. I am so glad I read this book.

Tiger, Tiger: A Memoir: This is a memoir about a girl who had a 15 year relationship with a pedophile, starting when she was 8. It is incredibly disturbing, especially since it's true, but she is a fantastic writer with a unique perspective. Totally bizarre life and again, disturbing (obviously!) but she has an amazing way with words. I hope she goes on to write fiction, she is brilliantly talented.

American Psycho: This is the worst book ever. In the history of writing. There is not one good thing about this book: it is not well-written, it is not clever, it is not interesting or fun to read, its gratuitous violence isn't entertaining in any way--if you like gory crime books, you probably still won't like this book because it was stupid and it sucked. It was annoying, it lacked a plot and it was a total waste of time. I HATED this book. I can't emphasize that enough. Don't even bother picking it up to see why I hated it. (You're welcome.)

Right now I'm reading The Alchemist and I really like it; it's very inspirational and motivating. Next, I think I'll probably read Nefertiti because I'm in the mood for some historical fiction and I like Egyptians (and I'll probably buy it full price from Barnes and Noble like a sucker.)

Have you read anything good lately?