currently cracked

…or, What I’m reading now.

updated 12/14/09

I’ve always had the habit of multiple books underway at any given time, the better to have something to match my mood of the moment. And I’ve always done a majority of my reading at night, in bed. Back when I was single, I stored my current picks handily under the pillows on the other side of the bed; however, these days my husband tends to complain about that practice since he feels entitled to, well, sleep on those pillows. Without the benefit of added height or firmness. In any case, I still keep my current stash of options within reach, generally on the bedside table.

Here’s what’s close to hand:

• The Help (Kathryn Stockett)
• A World Lost (Wendell Berry)
• How Reading Changed My Life (Anna Quindlen)
• Family Man (Calvin Trillin)

Remember, I’m always in the market for recommendations, so yours are welcome. Really!

What was on that list, and now moves here since it’s no longer there:

Any comments are my very own and should, if necessary, be mentally prefaced with an In My Opinion, dear Reader.  For quick reference, titles I might particularly recommend are in bold.

• Better (Gawande) – Though I thought Complications, below, was more entertaining, in this work Gawande probes deeper, and provokes  thought, looking hard at some big questions in the medical field.
• All Over But The Shoutin’ (Rick Bragg) – a memoir of growing up dirt cotton-pickin poor in the South, by a Pulitzer-winning reporter, this book really pulled me in.
• Methland (Reding) – “An unflinching look at a drug’s rampage through the heartland.” Prepare to be distressed and depressed, as I was.
• Complications (Gawande) – subtitled “A surgeon’s notes on an imperfect science,” this is an absolutely fascinating look at a wide spread of topics, from nausea to hernia surgery (even if “fascinating” isn’t an adjective you would normally attribute to either, I guarantee you’ll concur). The writing is stellar, and the essays fascinating.
• Her Last Death (Susanna Sonnenburg) – A memoir of life with a seriously dysfunctional mother. People survive this stuff, and live to write about it.
• Amy and Isabelle (Elizabeth Strout) – An earlier novel by the author of Olive Kitteredge, which I read previously.  Like the Pulitzer folks, I preferred Olive, but this one had some definite moments and some of the characters were rich.  (I’m not re-wording that.  You know I don’t mean they were wealthy!)
• Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf (Albee) – Whew.  And whew.  The essence of dysfunctional.  I guess I can see why it’s been making waves for 45 years or so.
• August: Osage County (Tracy Letts) – one of two plays (see above) assigned for book club.  I’d love to see it on stage.  Dysfunctional families — an enduringly ripe topic for drama.
• Saturday (Ian McEwan) – Not my favorite McEwan.  I kept reading and reading, waiting for it to end up somewhere.  Eventually it did, but not in spectacular fashion.
• Small Wonder (Kingsolver) – collected essays from the esteemed Ms. Kingsolver.  I enjoy her fiction works (some more than others), but her nonfiction plain sends me into raptures.  At times this collection feels a bit dated — given that much of it was written shortly post-9/11 — but is still entirely readable, and well worth the time.

• Herzog (Bellow) – A whole lot of wandering around in one fellow’s head.  Way too much for me, despite what I’m sure is brilliance at hand.
• Elegance of the Hedgehog (Barbery) – parts of this book were absolute mastery.  And parts were not.  Overall, I’d give it a middlin’ rating, but there were passages, portions, that I just couldn’t help but read two or three times.  An odd mix.
• Olive Kitteredge (Stoudt) – recommended by a friend who should know good writing when she sees it, this was one of my favorites of the last few months. The concept is interesting: 11 stories in which the title character makes some sort of appearance — from central figure to passing restaurant patron.
• The Brain That Changes Itself (Doidge) – A very readable book about brain plasticity. Nothing short of fascinating.
• Sugar (McFadden) – my book group pick, and one I can’t recommend, I’m afraid. It had all the subtlety of a sledgehammer, and not a lick of nuance to be found. Disappointing at best, given its praise by notable black female authors.
• Truck: A Love Story (Perry) – this showed up on my doorstep as a result of a recent post, and I was enchanted by it. The boy can turn a phrase. Recommended.
• Grapes of Wrath (Oh, you know who) – loved it as a teen, loved it again 30 years later.
• Sand County Almanac (Aldo Leopold) – It took me many months to finish this, but that does not diminish its brilliance. An astonishing work, both of content and style, and one of the enduring classics of the environmental movement.
• Transformed By the Light (Melvin Morse, M.D.) – heard this guy on an NPR program and was fascinated. He’s studied near-death experiences for decades. I’d thought, and hoped, this book would be heavy on the research/data. It wasn’t particularly, but I found it highly thought-provoking nonetheless.
• A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius (Dave Eggers) – I considered this neither, in truth. And if I seem to be reading a lot of things that are being read by others these days, well, it’s a downfall of trying to keep up with multiple book clubs.
• A Mercy (Toni Morrison) – I haven’t read Morrison in years, but this took me back. Familiar themes, and voices. A quick read.
• Under the Duvet (Marian Keyes) – A collection of short essays, mostly humorous, by this Irish writer. Feels a bit like reading a blog, but an entertaining one at least. Another beach-cottage bookshelf find.
• West With the Night (Beryl Markham) – first woman to complete a westward Atlantic crossing solo flight. I was somewhat disappointed to learn that there’s some evidence to suggest that someone else in her life wrote, or at least extensively edited, this purportedly autobiographical work — but how much does authorship matter? It’s a remarkable literary work.
• Diary of a Bad Year (J.M. Coetzee) – a book-group pick. Interesting and different, but not terribly remarkable.
• Ralph’s Party (Lisa Jewell) – it was on the shelf at the beach cottage, what can I say? And it belonged there – a fun, light read.
• The Road (Cormac McCarthy) – gifted to me. Disturbing and certainly compelling, though I felt like it tried a little too hard at times. A quick read.
• Midnight’s Children (Salman Rushdie) – I love a book that comes with its own ribbon bookmark attached. I needed it, because I found this a very, very slow read. And ultimately made the call not to finish it — which I do only once in a very great while. It’s fine and clever writing (probably far more clever than I know since I’m quite sure I miss much of the satire)… but after 200-odd pages, I found I just didn’t care enough to wade through the next 300. Rushdie 2, Amy 0.
• Hannah Coulter (Wendell Berry) – told by a different voice and at a different time, set in the same place as Jayber Crow (below). Liked it, didn’t love love love it.
• the way we talk now (Geoffrey Nunberg) – I loved this. Short snippets, commentaries, originally aired for the most part on Fresh Air, I can highly recommend this for anyone who enjoys words and language, and is intrigued by the evolution thereof.
• The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao (Junot Diaz) – While I can’t quite get my head around a Pulitzer for this, it’s certainly worth a read.
• Run (Ann Patchett) – I did not love this book. I wanted to at least like it a lot, but the plot contrivances kept feeling oh so contrived, the twists were annoyingly predictable, and everything fell flat. Too many details, too little substance.
• Two Old Women (Velma Wallis) – a book group pick, it’s subtitled “An Alaska Legend of Betrayal, Courage and Survival,” which about says it all. Very short read.
• Jayber Crow (Wendell Berry) I loved this book on a number of levels. I know now that Berry has written a half-dozen or so about the same place, and its “membership.” I’ll definitely read at least one more (though as I’ve commented before, I tend to feel that a book tied, as in sequel, to another book I loved is tricky).
• Eventide (Kent Haruf) – The sequel to Plainsong (see below). I didn’t love it, but I didn’t hate it with the fire of a thousand suns. Somewhere in between. I’ll try another of his before making final judgment on whether he stays on my Worthwhile Author list.
• Three Cups of Tea – a truly, truly remarkable story (though I was at times underwhelmed with the literary skills employed by the writer). It’s amazing to see what one person’s determination and influence can accomplish, and how much more needs to be done.
• Plainsong (Kent Haruf) – One of my favorite books recently. Spare, vaguely Faulknerian but not in a bad way.
• On Chesil Beach (Ian McEwan) – I read this on our cabin getaway. McEwan tends to leave me a bit short of breath, a mental “whew”!
• Something Borrowed – pure beach lit. But fun.
• Omnivore’s Dilemma (Michael Pollan) – it took me months to read the last 20 pages. But the 400 or so up to that point went fast. An important, very readable, work.