Books a plenty

Lately I've been reading books I might not otherwise pick up. Not because I'm trying to branch out, but more because I haven't found any recommendations that seem like the kind of books I would pick up.

But, I've read some good ones. First, I read Lucky, which is Alice Sebold's autobiography. Or memoir...I'm not sure what the difference is. It was not particularly easy to read. The first few pages detail her being raped during college. And you keep thinking that the book will get past the rape eventually, but never does. Which I suppose is the point--you don't just get past rape. So I'd probably recommend the book if you want to read a memoir about rape, instead of just a memoir about Alice Sebold. It does explain a lot about The Lovely Bones though I think.

I also read The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. I will not be reading another book in the series. Probably ever. But not because it sucked. In fact, the characters were interesting, but the random violence and suspense got to me. I don't like horror movies or thrillers, and this book was some of each. I actually had nightmares from it, which almost never happens to me. So, despite being interesting, I'm not subjecting myself to that again. If you're not bothered by it, go for it. You'll also learn a lot about the Swedish social welfare system and the author's views on economics, which was kind of interesting. Also amusing were the precise descriptions of each and every electronic device used. It wasn't just a laptop, it was an Apple Powerbook 450GHz computer.

The last book I finished recently was The Glass Castle, another memoir, this time by Jeannette Walls. The writing in the book wasn't really very impressive, and I didn't like the ending, but the story of Walls' life growing up with a drunk father and somewhat crazy mother was super interesting. And surprisingly, she doesn't demonize either of her parents, though she easily could. They do some awful, selfish things, but Walls still recognizes their humanity. The one complaint I would have is that I felt like Walls describes a lot of events in her life, especially the latter part, without really going into depth. I would have like to know more about how she moved from being poor and homeless to being so successful. Her childhood and descripts are colorful enough though that I would still recommend reading it.

I just started reading The Help, and I think I'm really going to like it.