December 2, 2007
Great Books of 2007
I'm going to follow GFF's lead and tell you about the best books I read this year.
Reading is what I look forward to at the end of a long day. After Olivia and James are snoozing away beside me, I quietly grab my current read-- the book on top of the huge stack next to my bed-- and snap on my book light. Then, I'm taken to another place.
These are the best books I read this past year:
The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri
This is the fascinating story of a Bengali family living in America. The son, Gogol Ganguli, hates his names and wants to change it, until he finds out how meaningful the name really is. This was a great read, and I'd recommend it to anyone. I am seriously DYING to see this movie. It's on my Netflix list, and my Christmas list too!
The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger
At first, this book seemed odd to me and somewhat hard to follow, but the more I read, the more drawn in I was. I literally couldn't put this book down. It's the story of Henry, who I found myself having a crush on, who uncontrollably travels through time constantly, meeting his love at different stages in her life until they finally meet in the present. I became very emotionally involved and found myself crying when it was over, which I rarely do.
The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls
Wow. This book broke my heart and fascinated me at the same time. It's the autobiographical story of the author, who grew up in extreme poverty, yet her family was loving and valued education. Her parents made crazy choices like choosing to be homeless while their kids wanted normal lives. It's amazing anyone lives like this, yet strangely, in some ways, her family wasn't so dysfunctional.
The Mermaid Chair by Sue Monk Kidd
This was a lighter read-- a great beach book I think, especially since it's vivid descriptions of the island and sea found me wishing I was laying in the sun while reading. In the story, a middle-aged mother and wife goes home to help her crazy mother and falls in love with a monk living at the monestary on the island. She goes through a string of emotions about what to do about her husband and how to handle her intense feelings for the monk.
Eat, Pray, Love: One Woman's Search for Everything across Italy, India and Indonesia by Elizabeth Gilbert
I'm still reading this book, and already I'm totally into it. Anything cultural fascinates me, so the fact this woman felt drawn to leave her life and explore these three places is just completely fascinating to me. I didn't used to be a big biography reader, but I'm finding more and more that I love having insight into an author's soul, and this author holds nothing back.