(no subject)

[blue_lotus13]

1. Eve Green by Susan Fletcher- A book my mother gave me about a woman in Wales who remembers her childhood and thinks about impending birth of her baby. Big fat meh, even though it won the Orange Prize.

2. Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad- Read on the plane. I thought it was okay, but since I've heard so much about it, I finished it and said, "That's it?" Still, I'm glad I read it. Still not sure how I managed to avoid studying it in high school.

3. Riding the Iron Rooster by Paul Theroux- LOVED this book. Paul Theroux is a fantastic travel writer, and this book is considered a classic. In this adventure, Theroux takes the train from London, to China, Mongolia and Russia. I loved his observations, but I sometimes felt he was a overly critical of China. Since this book is fairly old, I was also amused by how much Mongolia has changed in the past 10 or so years since Theroux went there.

4. Stranger in a strange land by Robert Heinlein- My first Heinlein. One co-worker would always recommend this book to customers, and I know it's a classic, so I picked it up. The version I read was the uncut version, and I wish I'd read the one with the edits because I found it bloated and in need of a good edit. I can't say I ENJOYED the book, but I did find it to be rather interesting and I'm glad I read it. I can see why it's a classic and how influential Heinlein has been on modern day sci-fi writers. This book is about a man from Mars who comes to Earth, and the effects he has on the people around him. They eventually become involved in some sort of cult/worship thing. Very weird.

5. Certainty- Madeleine Thien- A multi-generational immigrant story. There's some beautiful writing in this, and I really enjoyed the descriptions of Indonesia and the Indonesian language.

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While reading "Certainty", I realized that I really don't care if I ever go back to Indonesia. Mongolia, yes. Indonesia, not so much. I think that's fairly telling.