Horrors. I've gone so long between logging sessions that I've misplaced all the books I read. This entry will be woefully incomplete. This is the first time this has happened to me in the years I've been keeping this book log, and I'm furious with myself. But this summer I was working frantically to finish a draft of my novel (I did it, and now I'm rewriting, which is fun but hard), and now I've got pilots due (2), and a musical hanging over my head like a Guillotine. Here goes nothing: State of Wonder by Ann Patchett This is a lovely novel, and there are so many marvelous things about it. But...SPOILER COMING. SERIOUSLY. STOP READING IF YOU DON'T WANT THE ENDING SPOILED...there was a deep logical flaw with the premise. There is no woman on earth who would voluntarily consume a substance that would keep her pumping out a baby every year from the time she was a teenager until she was an octogenarian. After kid 5, 10, or 15 she would just STOP eating the damn tree bark. I just don't accept an entire civilization of Michelle Duggars.
I Married for Happiness by Lily Tuck I appreciate spare, but so much of this was so good I really wished for more.
Blackout by Connie Willis I found the writing uninteresting by and large, and the book endless, but the research was amazing.
An Unsuitable Attachment by Barbara Pym I love Barbara Pym so much. Almost as much as I love Jane Gardam, who reminds me a bit of her.
Bird In Hand by Christina Baker Kline Great summer reading.
Maine by Courtney Sullivan I was desperately afraid this book would be like Red Hook Road. But no...the only share the setting.
Children and Fire by Ursula Hegi I loved Stones from the River. This one not so much.
Operation Shylock by Philip Roth Still one of his best.
The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot Awesome. Seriously. AWESOME.
The Cat's Table by Michael Ondaatje Nah nah, nah nah nah, I got to read this incredibly wonderful book before you did!
The Flight of Gemma Hardy by Margot Livesey Jane Eyre! By one of my favorite novelists! I read this ALL NIGHT LONG. I was up until dawn. LOVE. There are so many more! But I have no idea what they are. I'm such a complete ASS.