Keep track of all the books I read in 2009

I like his fiction better than his real life.

Graphic novel…oddly enough, about being an alcoholic. Engaging enough to read in a sitting. I gave it three stars on Good Reads.

How wonderful to read a best selling novel that is actually about something that matters. I’ve never read anything that delved into the relationships between black domestic workers and their white employers like this. I’m sure it’s just my ignorance showing. I’d like to find some oral histories on the subject.

I’ll forgive the book’s shortcomings (for instance, I never really felt that the League women were the central character’s friends) because look at what the rest of the New York Time’s best seller list is…

1. THE LOST SYMBOL, by Dan Brown
2. U IS FOR UNDERTOW, by Sue Grafton
3. I, ALEX CROSS, by James Patterson
4. UNDER THE DOME, by Stephen King
5. THE HELP, by Kathryn Stockett

Whatever it’s issues, The Help is good strong storytelling. There’s a lot of tension and I was very emotionally involved with the characters.

23. Matilda by Roald Dahl
24. Cicada Summer by Kate Constable
25. Mama’s Song by Ben Beaton
26. Creative Flowdreaming by Summer McStravick
27. A Year in Provence by Peter Mayle
28. Julie & Julia by Julie Powell
29. My Gardening Year by Shirley Stackhouse
30. The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
31. Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins
32. The Time Travelers Wife by Audrey Niffeneger
33.Spineless by Bronwen Scott

An independent bookstore in Melbourne recently called on readers to help them catch up with books they needed to review. They sent you out the book and you had to submit a short review within two weeks. Even though I don’t think I’m great at writing reviews the lure of a free book was too great. I volunteered and got sent Mama’s Song by Ben Beaton. This is the review I wrote:

Georgina, a heavily pregnant teenager, has run away from home. Estranged from her parents she flees to her grandmother’s, only to find that she has passed away. Told in ultra-short chapters, the story that follows takes place mostly in a small country hospital, where Georgina now finds herself afraid and alone. The narrative alternates between present and past as we learn how Georgina came to be in her current predicament. Ben Beaton, a male secondary school teacher, writes with unflinching honesty and is not afraid to delve into challenging territory. Indeed he handles his subjects – teenage sex, childbirth, and pregnancy – with aplomb. There is a lyricism and immediacy to the writing that is very engaging. But also refreshing is the lack of any moralising. Georgina has made mistakes but is never judged for them, and you can’t help but respect the way she confronts the choices she has made head-on. Although Mama’s Song is short it certainly doesn’t lack emotional punch. YA for mature readers, but with some crossover appeal.

Everything you ever wanted to know about sex when you were in junior high, with a really horrifying Freudian bent. I read it because Betty Draper was reading it on Mad Men. It was interesting to see what the writers may have used as part of their reference to the era. Eek.

If this memoir weren’t so well written it would be really depressing. As it is, this was my second run at the book. I stopped after a while when I first tried reading it…just so much neglect in this child’s life.

It was good to read right at this point in my writing life, as Wall’s writing style is wonderful and reminded me how scenes can be written without a lot of connective tissue in between and we’ll get it. I like that a lot about this book.

I think this was my second run at this book, and I’m glad I read it all the way through this time.

I like the setting (1930s New York). Good enough read.

I liked this book a lot. It was a fun read. But I’m not giving it all five stars because Ms. Child doesn’t really reveal much about herself in it. I’m not asking for all the gory details, but by the end it began to seem quite odd that she recalls with great detail all manner of meals from years past, but doesn’t even mention the death of her Paul, who was clearly her soul mate.

Don’t get me wrong, a very good book. But not really a memoir in the sense of a book that reveals much of…more I liked this book a lot. It was a fun read. But I’m not giving it all five stars because Ms. Child doesn’t really reveal much about herself in it. I’m not asking for all the gory details, but by the end it began to seem quite odd that she recalls with great detail all manner of meals from years past, but doesn’t even mention the death of her Paul, who was clearly her soul mate.

Don’t get me wrong, a very good book. But not really a memoir in the sense of a book that reveals much of the inner workings, fears and emotions of its author.

Great idea, but sadly very slow moving. I skimmed the last half.

The best thing about this book was asking for it by title at Barnes & Noble and realizing that the young bookseller wrote the author’s name down for me because he was afraid to say it out loud.

I liked it enough to finish it, but it amused and ticked me off a bit by turns. I waited tables, mostly lunches and happy hours, in mid-range non-chain restaurants for ten years and some of Dublanica’s generalizations really irked me.

Maybe his miserable experience is partly due to the amount of money involved. For me, it was a good way to make a decent living and work 20-30 hours a week, not a 40-hour-a-week job, so that probably makes a difference too. I was always doing that othe…more I liked it enough to finish it, but it amused and ticked me off a bit by turns. I waited tables, mostly lunches and happy hours, in mid-range non-chain restaurants for ten years and some of Dublanica’s generalizations really irked me.

Maybe his miserable experience is partly due to the amount of money involved. For me, it was a good way to make a decent living and work 20-30 hours a week, not a 40-hour-a-week job, so that probably makes a difference too. I was always doing that other thing he talks about having let slip in his own life.

It kind of makes me sad that his voice is the one talking from the other side of the table, he’s so negative. There were bad days/weeks/months for me, but mostly I had a good time waiting tables.

Think anyone would be interested in my book about waiting tables at a sports bar near ABC, etc. in Century City? Elizabeth Taylor came in once. I waited on Sugar Ray Leonard and Ronald Regan’s Secret Service agents…