Tag: reading challenge
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I don’t typically post quotes from the books I read on the blog, but this book is filled with these simple and profound statements (never mind that they are undercut by doubt and different logic most of the time), so I thought I’d share some: “That was a dream, of course, but many of the…
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This historical fiction was highly enjoyable, filled with interesting characters and not a little intrigue. As Tasha Alexander comments at the back of the book, Lady Emily enjoys an interesting place in society. As a widow, she’s as free from outside influence as she could possibly be. Since she hardly knew her husband, she doesn’t…
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Published in 1963, Mary McCarthy’s novel follows eight young women following their college graduation (Vassar class of ’33). These women are educated and intelligent yet they are not immune from either the economic pressures of the Depression nor of societal pressures to be meek and fall in line. Without giving too much detail about any…
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In 8th grade when the other group of kids (in the other English class) was reading this book, we read The Outsiders, which is a fine book, but it doesn’t really hold a candle to Maya Angelou. I always felt that by not getting to read this book I was missing out, so I had to…
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I listened to this book on a road trip with my grandparents. Nana and Papa came to visit us in Boise and then I drove back with them to spend more time with family and a girlfriend who flew in from out of town. The book was everything you could want from a trip read–it…
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I find that it always takes me a while to get through Donna Tartt’s books, but that the effort is always worthwhile. Her writing is so intelligent, so tightly controlled, and you get drawn into this parallel universe where insane things can happen and seem quite rational. Her characters are flawed, interesting, and dynamic. She…
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My mom has wanted to read this series for ages, so when Hanukkah rolled around, we knew exactly what to get her. She’s since read the next one in the series and purchased (and watched) the first season of the Starz series. She loaned me this book, quite certain I’d be hooked, and, as usual,…
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(Sorry I don’t have a picture of the book–it was just one of the things I forgot to do before leaving on vacation. Picture ocean waves and the title on the cover, and you’ll get the idea.) Generally (and I mean very generally, I can think of loads of exceptions), books about middle-aged white male…
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I’ve read a lot of books with a similar premise to Alice McDermott’s (like Cynthia Ozick’s The Puttermesser Papers and Mary Costello’s Academy Street). The focus on a single life gives an author room to show how each of our lives are significant, and how they are interesting in all of their distinct particulars. What…
Allison Burris 