Books: September 2006 Archives

While sailing I had the luxury of finishing up a few books I've been working on.

My favorite book of this batch was "The Poisonwood Bible" by Barbara Kingsolver The narrative style, which switches between points of view, was jarring at first, but I adapted and even looked forward to the different voices. I loved the way that the book told big stories about culture & religion, colonialism & nationalism, white & black, wealth & poverty all in the context of a dysfunctional family. I liked the authors writing style, the description of the mother's grief has stuck in my mind.

The book made me think a lot -- I am just really glad I don't own a parrot. Thanks for lending me the book, Brooke.

Next book was "That Old Ace in the Hole" by Annie Proulx. I liked the descriptions of people and places in the book, but found the story a little weak. I liked "The Shipping News" much better, although both books had a fantastic sense of the characters that inhabit a place. There were a few passages in the book, usually droll descriptions of characters that made me laugh out loud. In the end I liked the tiny stories that the characters told - more than the actual story told by the author. I'll read other books by Proulx -- this isn't my favorite.