books #87-89

87. The Blindman's Hat by Bernard Cohen ***1/2. This was a delightful book memed about by Galaxy. It was kind of bizarre and random, but very entertaining. I loved Muffy, the very wise, little, fluffy dog. I could also empathise with the main character as a fellow Commonwealth expat in the US. Unfortunately, it doesn't seem to be very widely available in the US (I had to link to the Australian publisher, since Powell's had never heard of it).

88. The Boy Detective Fails by Joe Meno *****. This one was a recommendation from Shrinky and it was wonderful. The blurb on the back of the book says "TBDF will break your heart, and then pick up the pieces and put you back together again" and that's pretty much how I felt about it, too. It deals with growing up and learning to live with uncertainty and medication and fear of failure and loneliness and all the things that I worry about. The book is kind of surreal, but even the Boy Detective's nemeses with cartoonish names are believably human. There's a nice interview with the author here.

89. What I Loved by Siri Hustvedt ****. Another book from Galaxy's meme and another one I liked a lot. Galaxy listed it as a book that made her cry. I cried too while reading it (unfortunately, I got to one unexpected sad part while on a crowded bus, but I couldn't stop reading so I had to blink furiously and stare out the window in between paragraphs). It's not entirely a sad story, but it covers 25 years in the lives of two families, which is plenty of time for multiple conflicts and tragedies, and their consequences to play out.

I haven't been reading so much the last couple of weeks. I tried for a few days to read papers for work on my commute, but that pretty quickly degenerated into me just staring out the window and thinking. Staring and thinking can be enjoyable, too, but I think I'll go back to reading, especially since I just picked up an excellent haul of books from the library, including St Lucy's Home for Girls Raised by Wolves and new Kate Atkinson!