1)Childhood’s End by Arthur C. Clarke – I bought this book several years ago after seeing it on an online list of the most important sci-fi books of the 20th century. I put it on the shelf and forgot about it however until recently seeing the film District 9. The film’s unique take on the alien encounter genre reminded me of Childhood’s End. So I read it and immediately found I couldn’t put it down. Easily the most unique telling of the alien invasion story I have ever encountered. Do I recommend this book? Even for people who don’t like sci-fi or alien books, this is a fascinating exploration of human nature, evolution, and psychology with a wholly unexpected twist ending.
2)Jingo by Terry Pratchett – I’ve said it many times before that I love Terry Pratchett but this book reminded me of why. I don’t think I’ve enjoyed one of his books this much since I first discovered him two years ago. Do I recommend this book? If you’re looking for a fun read that makes you laugh and think, yes.
3)The Unbearable Lightness of Being by Milan Kundera – Of course, I already discussed this book at some length in an earlier post so I won’t go into again here. I’ll just say I was extremely pleasantly surprised by this book and look forward to reading it again and again in the future. Do I recommend this book? Duh.
4)The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan – I’m honestly not sure why I picked up this book. It was an incredibly easy read that flashed me back to fifth grade when I’d read 30 of these books a month. Even after reading it I’m not positive that I actually enjoyed it. I liked the use of Greek mythology, of course, and found some of its modern applications very charming. But there were parts (particularly the narration) which were so juvenile and uninteresting that I wasn’t sure why I continued. And yet I am so intrigued as to whether or not I actually liked this book that I am forced to continue with the series. Do I recommend this book? I honestly don’t know yet. Ask me again next month.
5)Down and Out in Paris and London by George Orwell – Oh, George Orwell. I so desperately want to be you. I came into this book with such high hopes because I’ve loved every story, book, and essay that I’ve read by George Orwell. Unfortunately, something about this book could not capture my attention. It was a fascinating narrative of being poor in the cities of Paris and London but it read much more like an extended report than a novel and I think this is why I didn’t like it. It felt like there wasn’t actually a story, it was just this guy doing stuff for no particular reason. It wasn’t even interesting stuff! Just washing dishes and sweeping the floor. Do I recommend this book? Sadly, no. Read anything else by George Orwell though, please.
6)Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer – I have to thank my friend Emmy for recommending me this book. Emmy, I absolutely adored it. Powerful, addictive, passionate, and wildly unique. Until I started reading this book I had no idea what it was about, I didn’t even read the back cover, I so wanted to be surprised by it. For anyone else who might read it I’ll leave them the same option. All I’ll say about it is it a story of loss without redemption, it is a story of coming to terms with something that can never ever be understood told from the perspective of one of the most brilliant narrators I’ve ever read. Do I recommend this book? Emmy does and so do I.
7)The World According to Garp by John Irving – One of my friends in Rome recommended this book to me back in 2006 and, like so many other books, I bought it, put it on my shelf and immediately forgot it existed. So I returned to it this month not remembering what he said it was about and so not knowing what to expect. I’ll say this about it, it was a very intriguing book. It was by no means happy but its sadness was all that could possibly have resulted from the lives of its tragically unhappy characters. Nonetheless, it was brilliantly written and I’m glad I finally read it. Do I recommend this book? Yes. More importantly I recommend Irving’s other book, A Prayer for Owen Meany which I read some time ago and found to be even better than this one.
8)A Long Way Gone by Ishmael Beah – I’ve read lots of books about African civil war and child soldiers but this book provides something unique and refreshing from that genre of memoir. Beah actually spends very little space (maybe a quarter of the book) discussing his experience as a soldier. The more important part of his narrative is the tale of his rehabilitation into normal, peaceful society. That part alone is well worth reading this book. Do I recommend this book? If you want to understand some of the problems of child soldiers in war-torn Africa, this is perhaps the best book I’ve encountered about it.
9)The Remarkable Millard Fillmore by George Pendle – I discovered this book in a newspaper clipping pinned on one of my Georgetown history professor’s door. It’s a comic telling of President Millard Fillmore’s life; in the vein of Forest Gump, it portrays Fillmore as a bumbling oaf who stumbled unknowingly across some of the most important events of the 19th century. Unfortunately for Pendle, the book fails to be either historically intriguing or particularly funny. Do I recommend this book? I’m pretty sure this is the only book I haven’t recommended thus far. Oh well.
10)Only Revolutions by Mark Z Danielewski – I’ll admit up front that I didn’t finish this book. I hate not finishing a book but, honestly, I just couldn’t get through it. The book, apparently, tells the story of two eternal teens on a two hundred year road trip causing trouble. I say apparently because I never got that out of it. I never discovered a plot of any kind. The book is written in the wildly imaginative way of having each character write from their perspective, on the same page, upside down from each other. Thus you can read the book from either end and get a different story. While that seems awesome, the book is written in a kind of slang poetry monologue and, a hundred pages into it, I simply couldn’t figure out what the hell was going on. Do I recommend this book? Read Danielewski’s first book, House of Leaves. It’s equally interesting in its layout but it’s also readable.
That’s it for this month. Please recommend me any interesting books you come across and I’ll do my best to add them to the pile.
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