I was lucky enough to spend some days in the mountains with nothing to do but hike and read. I arrived with a whole bag of books but here is what I read.
I finished reading Confederates in the Attic by Tony Horwitz. Loved it. See my previous blog.
I also read Half Broke Horses by Jeannette Walls. She published a memoir a few years ago entitled The Glass Castle, and it is about her growing up with her parents . . . who today still choose to be homeless in New York City. I chose to read Half Broke Horses first because it is about Jeannette’s grandmother and gives a lot of insight as to why Jeannette’s mom chose such an odd lifestyle. I highly recommend Half Broke Horses and look forward to reading The Glass Castle in the next week or so. See Norma’s review of Half Broke Horses and The Glass Castle.
Out of all the books I read on vacation, I have to say that Love in the Time of Cholera is the dearest to my heart. I had tried a couple of years ago to read One Hundred Years of Solitude but never made it past 40 pages after three attempts. I cannot wait to give it another try now. Marquez is rewarding to say the least. It seems to me that Love in the Time of Cholera might be a good place to start if you have trouble with One Hundred Years. There is also a new bio of Marquez by Gerald Martin. But I think I am going to put Living to Tell the Tale first on my list as it is Marquez’s life in his own words.
And finally, I have to add that I enjoyed hearing about The Age of American Unreason by Susan Jacoby. (My man read it and parts to me.) Unreason is an engaging, hard look at what she calls a “storm of anti-rationalism” in the United States. Jacoby’s work is striking in that she gives equal treatment to those on the left and the right.
Happy Reading!
Comments are closed.