More Books

I have recently read several more books that I'd like to tell you about:

Into The Forest, by Jean Hegland. This book was written in the late 1990s, and it is not quite a bleak as some of the other end-of-the-world-as-we-know-it books I have read. It is about two young (teen-age) sisters faced with the collapse of civilization. It has an interesting twist on the issue and has a more upbeat ending than, say, The Road. (BTW, the movie The Road is due to be released sometime this fall.) Anyway, if you can stand another such book, this one has some merit.

South of Broad, by Pat Conroy. I really enjoy Pat Conroy's books and recommend them all. This one has the usual bizarre characters and situations. It covers gays, Catholicism, class struggle, mental illness, military school, child abuse -- the usual Conroy bill of fare. Don't want to say too much, but it's very entertaining.

The Gift of Rain, by Tan Twan Eng. It's difficult to know what to say about this book without telling the whole story. It is about a young man who becomes a student of a Japanese martial arts instructor in Malaya shortly before WWII and the Japanese invasion of Malaya (now called Malaysia). There are some difficult parts relating to violence and cruelty, but I was able to get past them. The book gives a lot to think about in terms of the choices people make and why they make them. I recommend this book.