Vacation Reading

I'm on vacating this week and headed to the beach, so I should have plenty of time for reading. I set aside The World Without Us in favor of books that sounded like more fun: First up is David Benioff's City of Thieves, which I started on the plane. So far it's pretty good--personal and suspenseful. The book starts off with a 34 year-old narrator who travels to Florida to visit his grandparents. He wants to write the life story of his grandfather, who, as a young man, lived in Poland during World War II. When the narrator reviews his notes and finds holes, his grandfather's reply is "you're a writer; make it up!" The book then shifts to the grandfather's perspective as a 17 year-old in Poland...

David Wroblewski

The day after I finished The Story of Edgar Sawtelle, I saw the author speak at Politics & Prose and got my book signed. He was very nice, and you could tell how much he loved the novel and what it represented. He grew up in Wisconsin, but not the same area where the book was set, and was proud to have created a novel that speaks for the state. He did extensive research on the town of Mellen, which is near where the Sawtelle farm in located. He told me that the "hot mix duck massacre" depicted in the book, where a flock of ducks died when they dove onto a newly paved road they mistook for water, is based on a real incident he came across during this research. He spent a lot of time with each participant afterwards and signed the books generously (the last author I saw at P&P zipped through the line as fast as possible).

David described the book as "a boy and his dog story for grownups," drawing inspiration from sources like Call of the Wild. A key theme in the book is the interplay between the wild and the domestic and how these ideas aren't as distinct as we imagine. This plays out with the dogs explicitly, but also the environment, which, being quite rural, feels like the "edge" of human settlement.

The Story of Edgar Sawtelle

I finished reading The Story of Edgar Sawtelle this week. I loved the book--one of the best I've read this year. The novel was thoroughly engrossing, and despite its length--562 pages--I got through it in under 2 weeks. The world depicted in the book, rural 1970s Wisconsin, was fully realized, with vivid imagery and detail. I felt "immersed" in the story, even more so in certain scenes, like where Trudy, Edgar's mother, is training him to train the dogs. Other standout passages include tornadoes coming off of Lake Superior, a burning barn, and Edgar's friendship with a man he encounters while on the run. Edgar himself is a wonderful character--intelligent, willful, observant, and very communicative, despite being mute.

Here's a big confession: I'm not a dog person, but after reading this book, I feel like I understand dogs a little better, and therefore might be a little more interested in them. No promises.

The Story of Edgar Sawtelle

With Inheritance of Loss aside, I felt free to pick up this book, which I just got this week. Reviews for this have been glowing--among the best reviewed books of the year so far. I'm 50 pages in, and I really like it. I think it has the potential to be a genre-crossing book, like The Kite Runner was. While it's mostly a family drama, I think there's some thriller potential. The prologue, which so far is completely disconnected from the main narrative, involved a shady character obcuring a very lethal poison in Pusan, Korea. The story itself is about the Sawtelle family, so far just setting up Edgar, his parents, his grandfather, and his dog.

Inheritance of Loss

Last week I did something I rarely do: I put a book down. After 120 pages--a pretty fair shot I think--I just wasn't into this book. I thought it was interesting: I liked reading about life in rural India--but I wasn't feeling much connection with the characters, especially the younger ones. I may pick it up again, but there are other books I'm more interested in at the moment.

Love Is a Mix Tape

I finished Love Is a Mix Tape. I really enjoyed it. I thought the author effectively used the music he and his wife liked to help enhance the story. I wish the book had been a little longer. I felt like we didn't get to know Renee very well--perhaps he felt that way too.

Love Is a Mix Tape

I'm almost done with Love Is a Mix Tape. I've been enjoying it. I felt compelled to buy and listen to Nirvana's In Utero yesterday after Rob described it has better than Nevermind because it reminded him of what he was going through as a husband. And then I got to the section where his wife dies unexpectedly, which is heartbreaking. I think he captured well the pure shock of what happened.