Book Binge!

Happy summer--I think I've been reading a book and a half per week since school ended and have been a regular visitor to my local library!

I loved The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller.  Beautifully written, I think she did a wonderful job of bringing old Greek myths to life and exploring the special relationship between Achilles and Patroclus. Who would think that reading a novel based upon The Iliad would be so enjoyable?

At first I thought The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern was quite original, but then I realized it had elements of magic with good and evil like the Harry Potter series and a romance succeeding against all odds like the Twilight series.  Some books just read as if they are written with a movie deal in mind and this was one of them.  Didn't love it after all...but I'd go see the movie!

Proceed with caution--told from the heavenly viewpoint of a 14-year-old girl who was brutally raped and murdered, The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold is a disturbing book.  When it was first published, a book group member read it and told the rest of us we did not need to read it. I followed her advice until a respected coworker said the book is more spiritual than gory and recommended it highly. While I love the idea of a heaven complete with dogs, I hate the idea that people can and do get away with murder.  I've even had nightmares since reading this book. It's powerful--make your own decision.

Anne Enright is a master of the written word, and The Forgotten Waltz shows her skill.  The pacing is perfect and the characterizations are so complete and honest, I feel like I know these people--don't necessarily like them, but I really know them. Not a cheery book (the subject is marital infidelity) but written so beautifully!

With its narrator being a middle school girl, The Age of Miracles by Karen Thompson Walker almost reads like a Young Adult novel.  The subject is dark:  the Earth's rotation slows and our resulting days and nights get longer and longer, causing all sorts of societal and individual problems.  This book is like Blindness lite...but I definitely would read anything else this author writes.

I'm also reading The House of Mirth by Edith Wharton, which is our book group selection for this month.

Do you have any interesting book recommendations for me?