books #101-111 (2007)

I'm starting again at 101, because I haven't read much further in Mysteries of Udolpho and, as I've been told, life is too short to persevere with boring books. I was thinking I wouldn't read as many books this year as last, but I'm not far off already.

101. Super Crunchers by Ian Ayres ***1/2. I think there were parts of this book that I wanted to comment on, but I've already returned it to the library... I did find it very interesting, anyway.

102. Austenland by Shannon Hale *. I foolishly took a 5 hour bus trip with only this to read. As soon as the main character mentioned that she hadn't drawn or painted in years, since graphic design was a much more sensible job, I realised my mistake. I used to be able to enjoy chick lit, but I guess I shouldn't try anymore. I'm wondering if this should put me off the Jane Austen choose-your-own-adventure book I saw recently, too.

103. Flesh and Blood by Michael Cunningham ****1/2. I don't often buy books at the moment, but I needed something for the return bus trip, since I'd finished Austenland well before the first one finished. I'm glad I got this one. If I described it, it wouldn't sound that good (it follows several generations of a family, where the father worked his way up from a non-English speaking labourer to rich developer), but it was great.

104. The Bestiary by Nicholas Christopher ***1/2. I enjoyed this book about the search for an ancient book depicting the animals that didn't make it onto the ark. The search benefited from several (possibly too many) lucky breaks (of course, there wouldn't have been a story otherwise), but the relationships between the main character and his family and friends made for interesting reading, too.

105. Best American Science Writing 2000 edited by Jesse Cohen ***1/2. I read a blog post about the latest edition of this series, which is what I thought I put on hold, but apparently not. This was interesting, anyway.

106. La Perdida by Jessica Abel ****. I liked that the main character in this graphic novel didn't have some big epiphany and find herself by living in Mexico for a year, although in some ways she was annoyingly naive.

107. Tell Me Everything by Sarah Salway ***1/2. Neil Gaiman mentioned reading this a while ago, so I read her first book (did I somehow not list it? I can't find it now). I've started questioning his judgement, given a couple of books written by friends of his that I didn't like at all, but this was good. The main character starts out homeless and alone and tries to sort out her life. Again, I liked that she changed without it being overly dramatic, and again she was annoyingly naive.

108. The Best Place to Be by Lesley Dormen ****. I wasn't sure I was going to relate to this much, since the main character is a baby boomer, but I liked it. It's a novel of linked stories from different stages in her life, as she figures out family and other relationships.

109. Goodbye Lemon by Adam Davies ***. The painful family relationships were interesting in this book, about a man who returns home after his father, who he blames for his brother's death years before, has a stroke. The resolution was way too neat, though.

110. The Devil, The Lovers and Me by Kimberlee Auerbach ***1/2. I read this because I enjoyed the author's edition of book notes at Largehearted Boy. It was better than I was expecting, still.

111. How to Be Good by Nick Hornby ****1/2. This might be my favourite Nick Hornby book, although it's not as funny as some of his others (although it still is funny in places). I recommended this to someone recently and realised I wanted to reread it, so I got it today, when I was stuck without a book for the gym. It's about a woman whose husband starts trying to put into practice all his (and her) liberal beliefs about helping the homeless and so on, rather than just talking about the problems and occasionally donating money. He becomes impossible to live with, but how can you complain about someone who is just trying to do good and help people, without seeming selfish? I like that it grapples with what it means to be a good person, without offering any easy answers.