Five Books

In May, I came upon a list of "the nine books you must read in 2023". As I write this post, I've read five of the nine books and reviewed two - The Talented Mr. Ripley by Patricia Highsmith and I’m Glad My Mom Died by Jennette McCurdy .

I suppose I should say something about the other three - Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie - The Midnight Library by Matt Haig - and Death at La Fenice, by Donna Leon.

Half of a Yellow Sun tells the story of the Biafran War (6 July 1967 – 15 January 1970). I was a teenager at the time and have some memories of the war from news reports, but I was more preoccupied with the Vietnam War. Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie was not yet born at the time of the war and obviously her information regarding the war is second hand. The book is no less powerful for that.

The Midnight Library tells of a woman who is able to experience alternate versions of her life. It's all explained by "Quantum mechanics".

Death at La Fenice, is the first in Donna Leon's Commissario Brunetti mystery series. I don't know why I've never heard of Ms.Leon before now. I've begun reading the 2nd book in the series -I've downloaded all 32. I'm not sure how many I'll read in the series before returning to the "nine books" list.

I can recommend each of the five books I've read so far.

The Reading list for May, 2023

Well, today is the last day of May and I'm not likely to finish another book before the month is out, so I'll go with the five I've managed to finish this month.

I was able to post a review of sorts for four of the five:
The Talented Mr. Ripley  by Patricia Highsmith
The Lost World  by Arthur Conan Doyle
A Game for the Living  by Patricia Highsmith
and  I’m Glad My Mom Died  by Jennette McCurdy

The only one that I didn't review was another Patricia Highsmith novel, The Blunderer.

I've already started on the first two books that will be on the list for June. I found one of the books - Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie on the list of  The 9 Books you Must Read in 2023. The other is a book by Gabriel García Márquez, One Hundred Years of Solitude. I'd already read two books by García Márquez and liked what I'd read. I've come upon several lists where One Hundred Years of Solitude is named as one of the greatest novels of all time. Of course, I had to put it into the queue. I give the book high marks, although I would hardly classify it has the best thing I've ever read. It's good, but overrated in my opinion.

I’m Glad My Mom Died by Jennette McCurdy

As I mentioned in an earlier blog post [Nine Books] I recently happened upon a list of The 9 Books You Must Read In 2023. Being ever on the lookout for books to read, I made note of the list and downloaded the six books which I had not previously downloaded to my PC. As a matter of fact, one book on the list, The Talented Mr. Ripley by Patricia Highsmith was already in the queue to be read this month.

Once I had read nearly all the books I had planned for May, I began to read from the "9 books" list. I've gotten into the habit of having one book in progress on my Kindle with another on the e-book reader installed on my phone. I'll switch back and forth.

For the 2nd book on the list, I decided to go with I’m Glad My Mom Died by Jennette McCurdy. When my son was younger, he was a fan of the Nickelodeon TV series iCarly so I was familiar with Ms McCurdy. After seeing it on the list, I read a little about her book and I was interested in learning of her experiences as a child actor.

As one might suspect from the title, I’m Glad My Mom Died isn't a pleasant read. McCurdy writes of her abusive mother who manipulated her into an acting career as a young child. From an early age, she was sexually abused by her mother which would aggravate her OCD, and lead to her alcoholism as well as a number of eating disorders (anorexia and bulimia).

For the sake of her own mental health, McCurdy has retired from acting. After years of therapy, she is on the mend, so there is a somewhat positive ending.

Of course, I can't say that the book was an enjoyable read, but it is one that I'm glad to have read.

Nine Books

 

When I opened the Chrome browser on my phone recently, I was greeted with a link to the following article - The 9 Books you Must Read in 2023. Being ever on the lookout for interesting books to read, I clicked on the link. Here's the list, according to the article:

Sea of Tranquility       by Emily St. John Mandel
The Midnight Library   by Matt Haig
The Talented Mr. Ripley    by Patricia Highsmith
I’m Glad My Mom Died   by Jennette McCurdy
Carrion Comfort         by Dan Simmons
Death at La Fenice     by Donna Leon
Half of a Yellow Sun   by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
Dune                          by Frank Herbert
Harlem Shuffle          by Colson Whitehead

Of the nine, three were already in my e-book library; as a matter of fact, The Talented Mr. Ripley was already in my queue of books to read this month.

Of course, I had to download the remaining six.

I'm currently alternating between a book on my Kindle and a book on my phone. Following those two, I have two additional books in the queue, so I'm not at all certain when I'll begin on the above list (other than the Highsmith novel) and I'm not certain in what order I'll read the books. I suppose reading each in the order they fall on the list would work.