What I'm reading over Chrismas Break

Well, it's almost the end of another reading year. I just completed my last day of work for the year, and I'm taking two weeks off to enjoy the holidays. I won't be posting a weekly update next week or the week after, but I will be posting some of my yearend lists. So, this will be the last weekly update of the year. I wish all my blog readers a Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!

Last week I finished:

I read my first Anne Tyler novel this year when I listened to Back When We Were Grownups (reviewed here). I enjoyed it, and I was eager to try her newest novel, Clock Dance, which came out this summer. I was expecting a lighter novel than I got. This is the story of Willa, a re-married Arizonian who was widowed relatively young and whose sons are grown and rather distant from her. One day she receives a call from her son's ex-girlfriend's neighbor (got that?) saying she needed Willa to come to Baltimore to take care of the ex-girlfriend's daughter while the ex-girlfriend recovers from a gunshot wound. Though she doesn't know any of these people, she decides she has nothing more pressing to do at home, so she and her overbearing lawyer husband set out for Baltimore. It's the story of community and belonging to each other and seeking fulfillment in life. Much of it is rather uncomfortable, but there are some light moments and some moments of enlightenment for a couple of the characters. While I didn't love it, I didn't dislike it, either. I enjoyed the writing and many of the characters, but I wasn't blown away, and I was disappointed at the somber tone. My rating: 3 stars.

Apparently, I have a love for dire winter adventures. A colleague at work is working on a Winter Survival book display, and I was able to offer five titles* to her, thanks to my recent read, Endurance. This classic (from 1959) is about British explorer Ernest Shackleton's 1914 attempt to reach the South Pole. I won't go into the details of the voyage, but rest assured there's plenty of adventure, crushing ice floes, near starvation, dwindling supplies, and bad luck. If you read and loved Hampton Sides' In the Kingdom of Ice, you'll love this one.  My rating: 4 stars. *Those titles: In the Kingdom of Ice, The Snow Child, To the Bright Edge of the World, and Into Thin Air.

I read Larry Watson's Montana 1948 in college, and I even had an autographed copy of the book...which I donated, because I hated the book. The title came up again recently when Modern Mrs. Darcy recommended it for those looking for short reads to meet their reading numbers goal for the year. Well, I was looking for a short audiobook, and I decided to re-read it to see just why I disliked it so much. And this time around, I loved it. This one deals with some themes I just wasn't ready for when I was in college. The book is narrated by a grown David Hayden about the events of his twelfth summer that changed his family forever. David's father is the sheriff in his small Montana town; his grandfather was the sheriff before that; and his uncle Frank is the town doctor and war hero. Uncle Frank is accused of sexually molesting his Indian patients, suspected of murdering one of them, and Sheriff Hayden is forced to choose between family loyalty and what's right in the eyes of the law. It's a very well done book. It's short, but it packs a punch. There's nothing superfluous, nor anything sentimental or too hardhearted. But there is right and wrong, and there are choices and dire consequences. This really is a wonderful book, and I'll be sure to read some of Watson's other work. This one reminded me a lot of Wolf Hollow, though that is for middle grade readers and not quite as intense. Still, very similar. I highly recommend the audio. The narrator is Beau Bridges, and he nails it. My rating: 4.5 stars.

I've long enjoyed Tony Hoagland's poetry, but I'm not sure I've read many books by him until this year. A few weeks ago, I read Priest Turned Therapist Treats Fear of God, which I enjoyed, so I picked up What Narcissism Means to Me this month. (What great titles, huh?) I enjoyed this one quite a bit. I forgot to write down the titles I enjoyed most to link to, but there were a couple of outstanding poems. Hoagland's poems are at a good intermediary level--not too easy, not too hard, but they are probably best if you have a bit of poetry under your belt. My rating: 3.5 stars.

This week I'm finishing:

I've enjoyed reading this difficult memoir.

This week I'm starting:

I purposely saved this one for my vacation time. I'm looking forward to it.

As well as:

I've stalled on the first two in order to concentrate on finishing the second two. I'm enjoying them all, though.

I don't currently have an audiobook going, but I have a number of holds at the library, including The Big Fella, a new biography of Babe Ruth.