2016 Books

I read 33 books in 2016.

My favorite was probably Eat, Pray, Love – I don’t know why I hadn’t read that before now, but it turns out – I LOVE Elizabeth Gilbert’s writing. I got two more of her books for Christmas: Committed (the sequel to Eat, Pray Love) and Big Magic (about living a creative life!)

Six of the books that I read this year, I’d read before. I love re-reading books. It’s like reuniting with a friend… you can ease right into the story because you already know the characters… and you’re bound to notice something new on each subsequent read.

I love Judy Blume, and I loved her fictional story set in the confines of real (stranger than fiction) events.

I read a book about O.J (he’s guilty) and Steven Avery (he’s innocent).

Sarah’s Key… I carried this book around for a long time before I actually read it. I always grabbed it as my “next book” when we left town (there were scraps of paper from all over the country tucked in there to be used as bookmarks). I just never felt like reading it. Finally, this year, I made myself “try” it. I like the cover…. and I assumed based on how popular it was that I would like it. I expected something heavy – and profound. But, I was sorely disappointed. The writing was ‘meh’ at best – and for me – the ‘meh’ writing distracted me from the story. Every page was littered with double adjectives like, “powerful, harsh coffee”. There were vague statements like, “They seemed concerned.” and clichéd phrases like, “I racked my brains.” – Let she who is without sin cast the first stone, right?

I’ve finished one book so far this year, and now I’m stuck (again) in A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius. This is my second attempt at that book…. and so far (114 pages in) it’s (still) laborious…