Reading roundup

Catching up on about six months' worth of non-law reading. I don't remember everything I read, so this is based on my library records.

Loved it:

A Spot of Bother by Mark Haddon. Same guy who wrote The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, this time writing a domestic comedy about a guy who's convinced he has cancer.

I Cannot Tell a Lie, Exactly, and other stories, by Mary Ladd Gavell. DGM recommended Gavell's "The Swing" a while back, and the other stories are similar, closely observed stories, mainly about families.

Adventures of Feluda by Satyajit Ray. Totally fun detective stories, and oh-so-Bengali. Perfect light reading.

Liked it:

Siddhartha by Herman Hesse. I thought this would be about the Buddha, but it's not, although Buddha is in the story. Pretty ambitious for a novelist to write a book that reads more like a religious text, but it works.

Prep and The Man of My Dreams by Curtis Sittenfeld. Enjoyed both of them, but the protagonists are awfully similar. Both are self-conscious, socially awkward teens, and she spends lots of time in both books detailing how they duck into corners to avoid talking to people.

Run by Ann Patchett. Takes place in Boston, so it was fun being able to picture the exact street corner where events took place.

Wicked by Gregory Maguire. Fun book, well-written, and who doesn't like the Wizard of Oz?

Then We Came to the End by Joshua Ferris. Impressive that he pulls off the first-person plural narration.

Prisoner of Trebekistan: a decade in Jeopardy! by Bob Harris. Really well-done book that combines Jeopardy tips with the story of his love life.

Mr. Sebastian and the Negro Magician by Daniel Wallace. Reminded me of Big Fish (the movie, I haven't read the book, and okay, I fell asleep during the movie but was awake for enough to get the gist) in its meandering storytelling and ambiguity about the truth. Maybe I'll go read Big Fish.

Dreams from My Father by Barack Obama. Extended meditation on race clothed as a memoir, including an account of his community organizer days. I read it out of obligation, but it works surprisingly well as a story. I'd recommend it even if he weren't president.

Just OK:

The genius factory: the curious history of the Nobel Prize sperm bank by David Plotz. His Seed series in Slate intrigued me enough to read the book, but I didn't think the book worked as well. He couldn't seem to keep an anti-sperm bank bias out of it. It reminded me of Peter Sagal's Book of Vice in that both of them felt the need to hold themselves above the subjects of their books, even as they both participated in the name of research (Plotz donated sperm).

A Live Coal in the Sea by Madeleine L'Engle. Her second adult fiction book that I've read, and it kept me reading but wasn't all that memorable. I'll stick to her kids' books.

Liked the writing, didn't enjoy the book:

The Almost Moon by Alice Sebold. Daughter kills her elderly mother, reflects on a life of mental illness in the family. The whole book takes place in a 24-hour period.

Veronica by Mary Gaitskill. Former model ages poorly, looks back on life.

To a lesser extent, The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao. Amazing book, great writing, full of attitude, deserves all the praise it's received, but gets more and more depressing as it goes on.

Good books to read if you have an hour to kill while waiting for the car to be ready:

The Shepherd, the Angel, and Walter the Christmas Miracle Dog by Dave Barry.
Tales of Beedle the Bard by J.K. Rowling.