Monday, January 7, 2008

Books Read - 2007

24. As you can tell, I'm not a fast reader. Here are the titles that stand out:

Housekeeping vs. The Dirt - Nick Hornby
The Namesake - Jhumpa Lahiri
On Beauty - Zadie Smith
On Chesil Beach - Ian McEwan

Here's why. As a reader it's fun to navel gaze with Nick Hornby and sometimes I even want to read what he's reading. I definitely want to describe the idiosyncrasies of reading the way he does in his first book of Believer columns, The Polysyllabic Spree. Jhumpa Lahiri's words weave a world. My slow-paced page turning nearly stopped altogether because I didn't want to leave. Zadie Smith's characters are real in a way that makes the word 'seem' seem false. For this reason I'm very much looking forward to the collection of stories that she's edited recently. The Book of Other People awaits. On Chesil Beach made me feel, really feel, happiness and heartbreak for its lead couple in a short space over a short span of time. What more can Ian McEwan deliver than genuine reader engagement and what more can I ask for?

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