Friday May 15, 2009 
Friday May 15, 2009 I’ve done more reading in the past four months that I’ve done in the past four years. This is thanks to a combination of factors, largely my part-time status and my Kindle, which makes reading a true pleasure and provides endless material without the burden of carrying heavy books around.
I’ve read about politics, world affairs, and science. I’ve consumed memoirs, novels, short story collections, works of nonfiction. The good books I relish and hate to finish; the poorly written ones are abandoned with little regret.
So as we in the northern hemisphere move into summer, I want to make a deal – I’ll share my best reads with you if you share your best reads with me! And I’ll tell you at the start that I’ve been having problems with links on this blog site so I apologize for not being able to link you directly to more information on the books. Suffice it to say you can find them all at amazon.com (or amazon.com/kindle if you want them electronically).
I just finished The Lost City of Z, A Tale of Deadly Obsession in the Amazon (David Grann). This well-written book traces explorers in South America, focusing on Colonel Fawcett’s adventures in the early 20th century. Like the very best writing does, it takes you to a different world. In fact, The Lost City of Z does more than that – it takes you to Victorian England to learn about the Royal Geographic Society, dedicating to filling in “blank spots on the map.” It takes you to Brazil, and brings the deepest forest to life. It takes you to different societies of Amazon aboriginal people. This is a wonderful read – I hated to see it end.
On to short story collections. High on my list is Unaccustomed Earth by Jhumpa Lahiri. What a great book. Eight short stories focusing on Bengali parents living in America. I found myself disappointed to reach the end of each of these stories because I was so absorbed in the characters’ lives and I wanted to know more. (BTW, these days I only read books available on my Kindle, so I’m hoping Amazon will make Lahiri’s other collections available electronically).
For fiction, the gentle, funny Breakfast with Buddha; A Novel (Roland Merullo) was another book I lingered over, regretting that each page turn moved me closer to the end. The story of an unlikely executive moving to self-discovery is not the kind of book that would ordinarily attract me, but the writing was superb and the story engaging. I’d reread this one, a rare compliment.
So there you go. Now it’s your turn – what are your favorite books? I’m always looking for recommendations!
Posted by terrymckenzie ( May 15 2009, 10:44:10 AM PDT ) Permalink Comments [1]
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I'm reading Our Story Begins (new and selected stories) by Tobias Wolff. His mastery of the craft is astonishing. The first story in the collection is the only one I haven't really cared for so far.
Posted by Alster on May 24, 2009 at 03:59 PM PDT #