Margarettown by Gabrielle Zevin

This is the story of N. and he meets Margaret while they are both in school. He goes and meets her family who all have variations of the name Margaret - but is this real? We essentially meet Margaret in all stages of her life.

This is a very unusual book. It's a girl-meet-boy story, but fable like too. I wasn't really sure what was real and what was imaginary. It's the story of a life and a story of a marriage.

I would mildly recommend this, but it was kinda confusing too, so I had to hold it pretty loosely in my mind.

Diary of a Wimpy Kid by Jeff Kinney

I was so excited to read this book because I happened to watch the first five minutes of the movie and it was SO funny!!

I was disappointed though.

This wimpy kid is really just an annoying young fella.

I won't be reading the rest in this series.

The Road by Cormac McCarthy

I don’t like books that don’t use quotation marks. It makes me feel a little crazy, like there are no boundaries marking what is what.

I mentioned this in a previous post. A friend from college responded and asked, “Does this mean that you don’t read Cormac McCarthy?”

I try to be open-minded and so I agreed to read at least 50 pages of whichever Cormac McCarthy book my friend recommended. He directed me to The Road, and so I checked it out from the library.

I noticed resistance in reading it, but whenever I did pick it up, I would get hooked and read much more than I was intending to.

This is a bleak book with glimmers of hope. I can’t say that I loved it, but I can appreciate the work.

I might even be open to reading more by the same author.

The Hole We're In by Gabrielle Zevin

Last Friday, I was desperate for fiction. After work I knew that I only had enough energy to either go to the library or to the grocery store for food.

I chose the library.

Nothing really caught my eye so I randomly picked up some books from the New Fiction section and this book was one of them.

I read it in about two days. It's about the average (?) American family in all of its dysfunctional, debt-filled glory.

I liked this book so much - I am sitting at the library as I write this, having just found the other three books that the author has written.

Oh, and for dinner last Friday, since I chose books over fresh food, I ate frozen pizza. Loads of fiction and pizza is really not a bad combination for a Friday night.

Hotel Iris by Yoko Ogawa

This is quite possibly the most disturbing book I have ever read. And you know me, loyal readers, I do not exaggerate.

Please do not read this book.

Cooking for Mr. Latte by Amanda Hesser

This is written by a New York Times food reviewer. It’s the story of how she met her now-husband and their courtship. The chapters are short and witty and very well written. She includes recipes at the end of every chapter, but they were too advanced for this tuna-casserole reader. I did like the story, though, and enjoyed the writing.

Little Stranger by Sarah Waters

This is a weird, slow book about a haunted house. I enjoyed it enough but mostly because it was the only book I brought on a trip that consisted of many hours of layovers in the Salt Lake City airport.

The writing was impeccable but the book was about 150 pages too long.