Recent reads

Books I've read recently (this is to help me remember):

• Out of Breath, The Story of You and Something Might Happen by Julie Myerson
  [The first one was for my book group and then I got the others cause I liked her writing. And I needed some easy, addictive reads during my baby's first year. Very readable, not overly challenging, page turners, yet more unusual than that description sounds. My fave was Out of Breath - nice sharp dialogue and great kid characters, especially five-year-old Mouse.]


• Year of Fog by Michelle Richmond
  [So disappointing. The first two pages are full of energy and mystery - what happened to the rest of the novel? My book group spent the whole time talking about all the things we hated - cliche dialogue, characters who annoyed us, tedious plot, too many local references etc etc. Can't believe this was a NY Times bestseller. I guess people really do buy novels based on first two pages. Hey - I did!]
  


• Divisadero by Michael Ondatje
  [A great writer but not at his best here. It felt like he was trying something new, trying to break the rules about how you tell a story. Some great writing - soft and poetic without being showy or too lyrical to have impact. I stuck with it through the twists and turns, the changes of time, place and character. Could have been helped by better editing, though perhaps that's hard to get when you're famous.]
  


• Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer
  [A quirky 9/11 novel but fear not - it's good. All sorts of cleverness in his storytelling but he gets away with it. Brilliant child's voice for narrator. In the end, touching and sweet.]
  


• Abide with Me by Elizabeth Strout
  [Not as good as Strout's debut novel, Amy and Isabelle, which I loved but this one has many of the same traits. Stark New England setting. Simple, clear, sharp writing. Full, sympathetic characters. It's the story of a minister in rural Maine and his out-of-place Boston wife. Reminded me of my grandfather, a minister in rural Vermont and his out-of-place Boston wife. Of those tiny communities and what my grandfather used to say of those towns: "Everyone knows your business better than you do."]
  


• The Emperor's Children by Claire Messud
  [Don't remember it very well, except for the feeling I didn't like it. A 9/11 novel. Lots of self-obsessed, whiny, sleazy New Yorker characters who annoyed me. Too bad - I read one of Messud's early short stories in Granta and looooved it. That's why I got the novel.]