Winter Reading

While we were on our trip to warmer climes, I read a number of books. Here’s the list:

1. Beneath A Marble Sky, by John Shors. This is a novel about what could have happened with some of the people involved in the building of the Taj Mahal. Parts of the book are very violent, but a lot of it is really good, with interesting insights into the lives of women in 1600’s India.

2. All He Ever Wanted, by Anita Shreve. A sad novel about a man in the 1920’s who is so obsessed with his wife that he stalks her as she tries to pull away from him.

3. A Tree Grows In Brooklyn, by Betty Smith. This is a very good book, a novel, about a poor girl growing up in Brooklyn early in the 20th century. I believe it was written in the 1940’s but is still enjoyable today. A classic.

4. Remembering Blue, by Connie May Fowler. A sweet story about a young woman living in Florida who finds the love of her life.

5. Olive Kitteridge, by Elizabeth Strout. A novel told as a series of short stories. The stories revolve around the character Olive Kitteridge, a not-very-likable woman, and the impact she has on the lives of other people, including her husband and son. Well done.

6. A Map of the World, by Jane Hamilton. This is a novel about a woman who is falsely accused of a crime, and how it affects her and her family. Interesting.

7. Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, by John Berendt. A “docudrama” about people from Savannah, GA. It’s a bit gossipy, but mostly I enjoyed it.

8. Off Season, by Anne Rivers Siddons. This is a novel about a woman working through her grief over the death of her husband and also the death in her childhood of her first love. It’s okay.

9. Nineteen Minutes, by Jodi Picoult. A novel about a boy who, after being seriously bullied throughout his life, shoots his tormentors and others in a school massacre. I liked it pretty well until the surprise ending, which I just didn’t think was realistic.