The Fault in Our Stars by John Green:
A YA book for adults. The Fault
in Our Stars is a quirky love story about teens with cancer in love. Hazel is terminal; her lungs have been
ravaged by her illness and will only last her a while more. She walks around with an oxygen tank. Hazel is depressed, for obvious reasons, and
her mother forces her to join a cancer support group for teens where she meets
and falls madly in love with Augustus, an amputee in remission. The smaltzy love story with the “Love Story”
ending is saved by its witty dialogue and original characters. The dry, sardonic humor captures its dark
undertones: this is a book about dying.
But it’s also really, really funny.
So long as you don’t dwell on the fact that you’ve never heard such quick,
intelligent, droll conversation coming out of the mouths of anyone under 18, it’s
a great read.
The Breakdown: I read 40 books. 30 by women, 10 by men.
This was a mind-candy year for reading. Many of the books aren’t worth mentioning,
and some I’m a little embarrassed I read.
(Something Borrowed by Emily Griffin, anyone?) And (I’m so ashamed) no classics... but for what it's worth, here's what I DID read (the good, the okay, and the ugly):
Snowleg by Nicholas Shakespeare: I bought this book solely based on its
cover, which is a perfectly acceptable reason for choosing a novel, and am glad
I stuck through the rather slow beginning.
Snowleg is a quiet mystery about Peter Hithersay, who learns his true
father is not the man he grew up calling Dad.
He makes a journey to East Germany to track down his birth father and meets a
girl and falls madly in love. Things end
badly, partly because she is a citizen of communist East Germany, and partly
because Peter makes a terrible choice.
Years later, the Berlin wall falls.
Peter only knows the girl’s nickname- Snowleg. As Snowleg’s identity slowly unravels, I
couldn’t wait to see if Peter and she would be reunited. A really lovely novel.
Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail byCheryl Strayed: I will admit that I did not realize there was a Pacific Crest Trail until I read this book. I knew of the Appalachian Trail, of course, duh, but a trail that runs from California up through Washington? Who would walk that? THERE’S NO WATER ON THAT TRAIL! But Cheryl Strayed walks almost all of it, and who knew walking could be so fascinating. Toenails fall off, strange characters are met, packages don’t arrive at their destinations: I was very nervous for her though obviously she made it out all right and wrote this bestselling memoir. Strayed’s long hike was preceded by her mother’s death and subsequent divorce from her husband. Strayed is terribly flawed, but I think she would be the first to admit that. The long hike was a cathartic experience, and you have to give anyone credit for sticking with it. Especially when they hiked alone. In the desert. With very very little funding. A fun read that will make you want to get outdoors.
(Because I was on a read-about-hiking-long-trails kick, I
also read the memoir
AWOL on the Appalachian Trail by David Miller. This was less introspective and more of a
straightforward story about hiking the AT.
I loved it. And it was
self-published!)
Amy Inspired by Bethany Pierce: I heard Ms. Pierce read an excerpt of her
novel, Amy Inspired, at the Calvin Festival of Faith and Writing. Then I bought her book. And when I got home I read it. And I really, really liked it. Christian fiction has always been more miss
than hit with me: if it’s not a saccharine love story it’s a gag-worthy morality tale. This was a novel with
real people. In fact, the most popular
review on Amazon is a 2-star that complains the story is too “edgy.” Because the bible was so tame, with all the
adultery and spilling of guts. Amy has
boyfriend troubles, is a struggling writer, and has a dying mother. I could very much relate to her, minus the
boyfriend troubles and the dying mother.
Seriously- she was a likable character, the novel pulled you right
along and the writing was quite lovely.
An enjoyable tale about a girl with faith.
State of Wonder by Ann Patchett: Marina’s colleague has gone to the Amazon to
check on the research of their pharmaceutical company’s researcher, and
Marina’s former mentor, Dr. Senger.
After receiving a rather alarming and terse report that the colleague
has died, Marina descends into the jungle to find out what happened to
him. Part fantasy and part suspense,
Patchett plops you in the middle of the sticky jungle for a while and you find
you can’t leave- at least not until Marina does.
Apparently medical personnel hate this book because it is highly
inaccurate. I found the plot
fantastical, almost magical surrealism.
It fit the setting and the plot and quite frankly I didn’t care that the
characters chose a c-section over an external version for a delivery. I understand that inaccuracies can drive
professionals crazy: the rest of us didn’t notice and certainly aren’t going to
look to the novel as a resource on obstetrics.
(Chill out, medical personnel!)
Worth Mentioning:
Little Bee by Christ Cleave:
An unsettling story about a Nigerian refugee and the English couple she
met on the beach. This book was given to
me by my favorite blogger friend,
Marsha of Life in A-Town. I thought , based solely on the title and the
fact that the cover of the novel is orange, that this would be a whimsical tale
of friendship. It is not. It’s a tale of friendship within a horror
story. Cleave is an incredible writer who shifts effortlessly
between the points of view of two very different women.
However, the plot felt forced in places where it didn’t need
to. For instance, in the impoverished
village from where Little Bee hails, there was a bible that’s pages were torn
off after the forty-sixth verse of the twenty-seventh chapter of Matthew, so
that the last words of their particular copy read : My God, my God, why have
you forsaken me?
A tad bit ham-fisted.
A Year of Biblical Womanhood by Rachel Held Evans: In the spirit of A.J. Jacobs’ hilarious
memoir, A Year of Biblical Living, Evans decides to attempt to achieve “biblical
womanhood” within the confines of a year.
To live as a woman biblically, Evans followed Proverbs 31 and some other
verses from the bible that instruct women on how to conduct their lives. Her point was to prove that “biblical
womanhood,” as it is touted among conservative Christians (and conservative
Jews), is an impossible feat. The book
has some amusing anecdotes, and Evans never comes across as condescending or
mean. However, overall, it was not as
funny as I’d hoped and was maybe even a little forgettable? (Rachel Held Evans has one of the most
popular Christian living blogs on the web, so my expectations were high. But what do I know? I’m small potatoes.)
Gillian Welch: I took
a turn toward the dark side of fiction and started reading Gillian Welch’s sinister
crime novels:
Gone Girl, which remains on the NY Times bestseller list, and
also
Sharp Objects and
Dark Places. Gone
Girl was black comedic fun: Sharp
Objects and Dark Places were brooding and disturbing. But addicting. Like carbohydrates. I tore through them in a day.
Big disappointments included
Anthropology of an American Girl by Hilary Thayer Hamann, which was almost unreadable, and the immensely popular
Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer, which was gimmicky and manipulative
and had a ridiculous plot. And he used a
kid to do it. A kid! Did you like this book? Did you like the movie? I refuse to watch the movie. I miss the days when Tom Hanks did movies
like The ‘Burbs. Did you see the film he
did with Julia Roberts? Uck. Uck, I tell you.
I’ve thought about it, and in 2013 I’m going to steal my Dad’s
idea and choose an “author of the year.”
The author? Wait for it…
C.S. Lewis!
I’m going to start reading the Narnia books to Ben and am personally going to
tackle: Mere Christianity, The Problem of
Pain, The Great Divorce, and either The Screwtape Letters or The Four
Loves.
I’m proud of my choice because: 1)
These books are mainly non-fiction and 2) C.S. Lewis is not a
female. I tend to read female
authors. I don’t know why.
Your favorite books read in 2012? Books you are looking forward to reading in
2013? You loved Incredible Close and
Extremely Dangerous or whatever it was called and feel like arguing with
me? Please. Let me know.