First up, I read "The Inheritance of Loss" by Kiran Desai, Man Booker Prize winner of 2006, which took me a total of 16 days to read. The scope of the novel is massive, an intersecting web of lives from a small Indian village through a lens of immigration, emigration and colonization, from the 1920's to 1986, when the majority of the story takes place. The historic details are interesting - for instance, I'd never heard about Gorkaland and it's turbulent history - and the individual character stories are heart-wrenching. Everyone can relate to a story about migration and the conflicts involved in 'claiming' land, so in that regard it was a fascinating study, and a really well written novel.
I did not enjoy it.
This is definitely a case of, 'It's not you, it's me' because the story was really well-written, in it's style. It's just not a style I like. I'm not a fan of 'theme' driven stories, I much prefer a solid plot line, so it was a real struggle for me to get into it. In fact, I was more than half way through the novel before I even recognized the theme because I kept waiting for the plot to 'click', which of course it never does. I found it meandering, obsessive in it's descriptions of minutia, and disappointing in it's conclusion - but these are all issues that have more to do with Me as the reader, than the Novel itself. I understand why it won the MBP, and I'm sure 'literature' folks will just gobble it up - but it just doesn't do a thing for me!
In the midst of my struggle to read that novel, I picked up and absolutely devoured another one. It wasn't intentional! We had a couple of really quiet weeks at work, mainly due to the aforementioned flooding and heat wave. Now, I hate reading at work - I know I work in a book store, but I think it's rude to be engrossed in a novel when there are customers around, and besides, I'm not being paid to read!! (Also, it's really hard to concentrate when people keep talking to you! I mean, geez, can't you see I'm reading a book?!) However, I really had nothing else to do!
So... long story slightly shorter, I picked up a copy of Megan Hart's "Stranger" and was intrigued by the idea of the heroine, a funeral home director who hires 'escorts' for sexual companionship in order to avoid the mess of emotional attachments. Talk about your kick-ass powerful gender-reversal! I flipped open to the first chapter, and I was hooked! Yes, it's erotica (oh my! oh my! is it ever!!) but it's so much more than that! It's a really great romance, an interesting look at life as a funeral director, and just a great story! Maybe I'm a bit morbid, but I've always thought being a funeral director would be an interesting career (I still don't think I'm wrong!) so that was great, and I love a female character who is in command of her own sexuality. Romance novels and erotica are full of supposedly strong, independent women who are sexual victims - it's nauseating, and it's totally uncool. There is none of that here, and that alone would be enough to make me recommend this novel, but it really is great! I blew through it in 4 days, and I'm definitely going to read Megan Hart again!
So, that's caught us up all the way to July 5th, when I decided to give a book I tried to listen to back in December another shot. Firstly, I love the idea of audio books (knitting and reading at the same time!!) but I've discovered that narrator's are really hit or miss for me. I was spoiled early in life (and as recently as the Harry Potter novels) by having my father read to us. He is a brilliant narrator, and all others suffer in comparison. Except maybe Morgan Freeman... and Tom Selleck.
Anyway, my point was, I listened to the first 9 chapters of the first novel in Caitlin Kittredge's Black London series back in December, but gave up on it because I found the narrator's choices in voicing Pete and Jack too annoying. I could tell the story had really solid bones, but I couldn't get past how whiny Pete sounded. I was really disappointed, too, because I'd been looking forward to the series since I discovered it back near the beginning of my Booker odyssey. I knew when I finished the Iron Codex earlier this year that I had to revisit this series - Aoife was such a strong character, and Kittredge is just too good a storyteller! So I picked myself up a physical copy of "Street Magic", and
Oh.
My.
Goodness.
So fucking good, you guys!! By now you know I love me some Urban Fantasy, and this novel is top-notch! Pete is truly kick-ass, and Jack is...well, he's my new fictional crush. Dark and damaged and punk rock and, um, excuse me while I drool. Seriously, though, it's a high-stakes story with lots of magic, and characters I was really rooting for. I described it to my mother as Dresden Files from Murphy's point of view, only Pete is way cooler and Jack is way more damaged. I literally had to force myself not to binge read this series the same as the last! It has, however, been added to my list of "Palette Cleansers" - books to read after a really bad book to remind me that I love reading!
For now, I'm forcing myself back to the Booker list - I figure if I let myself read two genre novels for every Booker title I finish, I'll be able to get through them much faster! I'm reading J.M. Coetzee's "Disgrace" right now, and I am trying my best to reserve judgement.... but I suspect I'm going to be reading one of those Palette Cleansers next!!
Happy Reading!
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