Saturday, June 24, 2006

What I'm Reading

I recently finished The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini. Before that it was Caramba! by Nina Marie Martinez (not to my liking at all - it felt completely contrived, and the author did a terrible job of incorporating magic realism into the plat. The characters were very flat, and when she tried to get them to do something out-of-character, it felt unreal. Total pop culture overload - gay/transvestite hairdressers, the macho Mexican mujeriego, two best friends - one with a phobia, prom-like dances, evangelical mariachi bands, prisoners on parole for drug dealing...just too much squeezed into an already poorly written novel). I really enjoyed Kite Runner, though. I like that kind of story, especially the ones that make me cry or feel complete despair (I know, it’s masochistic). I can’t imagine what it would be like coming back to your home country after so many years and finding it reduced to rubble.

Another recent read is The Dogs of Babel by Carolyn Parkhurst. Andrés picked this one up for me while he was in Tampa, and I loved it so much I read it in one sitting (really really late at night of course). It is the story of a man who loses his young wife and, while trying to deal with the loss, makes some discoveries of his own. The best part was the whole talking dogs angle - horrifying. (It sounds strange - I know, talking dogs? Not usually what I read. But it was so believable and well written that I cried at the end for Lorelei) A very poignant story, written in beautiful, flowing prose. One of my favorite all-time reads.

Oh, and I’ve also recently read Around the World in 80 Dates by Jennifer Cox, an ebook I bought for Andrés’ palm. I never thought I’d like an ebook, but it was nice to always have it around. I could pull it out while in line at the supermarket, or on break at work, or sitting in the parking lot of the department store with two sleeping kids. The book itself wasn’t so great - pure chick lit and a really light read. I was expecting more of a travelogue, but mostly she just talks about the dating scene (something I am not familiar with and not really interested in). Anyway, perfect ebook material. I’ve also got Bill Bryson’s A Short History on Nearly Everything on ebook. A lot of interesting facts and figures that can be instantly bookmarked with the touch of the stylus.

Currently I am reading Mosaic by Soheir Khashoggi. 5 don’t think it’s got a U.S. printing yet, and my version is actually in Spanish. I’m halfway through it and at a point where the author just seems to be saying the same things over and over again. It’s about a woman whose husband, from Jordan, kidnaps their two youngest children and brings them to Jordan to protect them from Western culture. I thought it would be more about the arguments behind the kidnapping (homosexuality, cultural decadence) and also more of a travelogue, but so far it’s just about the main character sitting at home waiting for her husband to call with news of their children. I’m stuck where she has hired someone to help her kidnap them back.

We’ve got the CEC-EPN library up and running, so I’ve decided to check out my allotted books. I chose The Chamber by John Grisham (an easy read, something to pass the time) and Angela’s Ashes by Frank McCourt, which I hope will be more riveting.
As you can see, after nine months of not having the concentration needed to read, I’m trying to catch up.

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