What I am Reading - March

 Currently Reading

Kin - Tayari Jones.  Oprah Club selection.  One chapter in, and enjoying immensely. Already like the characters.  Jones' first book, American Marriage, was a skim for me.  Hopefully this one will be different.

We Need to Talk About Kevin - Lionel Shriver.  This is quite an old one - published in 2000.  Shriver recently published another book, and I heard her (yes, "her") interviewed, and was intrigued.  I am going to watch the movie when I am finished. So far, the narrator is very long winded.  I wonder if this was more common in books circa 2000.  

Moby Dick, Herman Melville.  Truckin' along.  Probably on chapter 22.  Extremely good observations. 

What Keeps Us: a novel in stories. Jeanine Boulay.  This is written by more former co-worker, and a friend.  The stories take place in NYC, and all touch upon Greenwood Cemetery, in Brooklyn, which center all the stories.  The book spans 150 years.  Boulay writes historical details proficiently, and I have learned many new facts about NYC history.  

Completed in March

Enjoyed

It's a Love Story, Annabel Monaghan, 4* Monaghan seems to complete a new romance for middle-age women every year.  This is her best since Nora Goes off Script.  But, I can't remember what it is about.

The Color of Water, James MacBride, 5*. Read this (re-read, but from 25 years ago) to help a friend select books for her students.  I remembered why it is a classic, and it is how MacBride made his name as a "major author".   

Meh

The Infamous Gilberts, Angela Tomaski, 3.5*.  Once I settled into the second person POV, I ended up enjoying this.  It would be hard to recommend to a non-Anglophile.  It was compared in many reviews to The Royal Tennenbaums.  The only similarity seems to be the quirkiness of the sibling groups, otherwise, everyone is completely difference.  

Isola, Allegra Goodman, 3*. This was an interesting story told in a very long winded fashion.  Having just completed a book about a solitary life (The Autobiography of Sven ....), I know that plot can be mored along, even in a sparse setting.  This did not achieve that.