I didn’t get a ton of reading time in this week, mostly due to having the best Portland trip ever. Totally worth it, plus I read Roxane Gay’s new book, so what more do you need?
I finished up The Vegetarian, and I was disappointed on two levels. This book is so polarizing, and when something’s polarizing, I want to take a side. But I didn’t love it or hate it. It started out very strong for me but I felt like it didn’t go in a very interesting direction, then just fizzled out. I’m not sure I get what the fuss is on either side here.
I also finished The Sun Is Also a Star, and I’m still not sure why I even started it. This is a YA romance, so I can’t really complain about it being so adolescent and sappy. I liked the writing, and the snippets here and there about the minor characters, but overall this is just not my thing. If it sounds like something you would like, don’t listen to me; it doesn’t sound like something I would like, and I didn’t like it. Go figure.
Next up was Difficult Women. I have such a lit-crush on Roxane Gay, to the point where it’s kind of embarrassing. There’s nothing about her I don’t love. Her novel was great, her book of essays was great, and these short stories are great. Like any collection, some are stronger than others, but it’s like, some are *just* great, and some are stellar. I want to hold on to this a little while to reread the really killer ones, but I also want the 500+ people waiting for it to get to have it asap. These are the dilemmas of library addicts.
Right now I’m bouncing back and forth between two. I started The Wicked City, which I am loving, just as I love everything Beatriz Williams does. Then I remembered that I like to revisit an old favorite once a month, and February is almost up, so I set that aside to pick up Eureka Street. I read this one 16 years ago and it was an instant favorite that I passed along to my best reader friends. I’m about halfway through it now, and I still like it a lot, but I’m a little surprised that it resonated with me so strongly back then. I know I always pictured the main character as the super hot guy from The Commitments, so mayyyyybe that was part of it. Who can really say?
