blue_lotus13 | What I've been reading lately

1. Brown girl in the Ring by Nalo Hopkinson- One of the Canada Reads selections. I LOVED this book. It's a post-apocalyptic, magically realistic novel set in Toronto. THe main character is a Caribbean woman, and the whole plot has to do with voodoo and saving people from zombies. This is an absolutely fantastic book, great characters, wonderful use of language, etc.

2. Persepolis 2 by Marjane Satrapi- Great follow up, really helped round out the Persepolis story and included stuff that wasn't in the movie.

3. Everything I learned about being a girl I learned from Judy Blume- edited by Jennifer O'Connell- This was a fun collection of essays about the importance of YA literature, and the things people learned from the works of Judy Blume. It made me want to go back and re-read my Blume books. It was funny and touching, and poignant. My only complaint was that a lot of the women writers included are obviously chick lit writers, and it showed a little bit. Still, I highly recommend this book if you love YA or Judy Blume.

4. Forgive me by Amanda Eyre Ward- What a mess. This novel focussed around the story of Nadine, an international journalist who covers conflicts. She becomes really engrossed in a story in South Africa, which is tied back to her home in Cape Cod. While I could relate to Nadine's need to move and her obsessive need to report, there were other themes in the book that just watered things down and made it really messy. There's still some good details about South Africa, but I wouldn't recommend this book.

5. In defense of food by Michael Pollan- Iread this damn book and I can't stop thinking about food and how it is processed. This book traces the rise of food packaging and the development of nutritionism. Were you scared by "The Omnivore's dilemma"? Did you want to know what you can do to avoid worthless food and stay healthy? This short book embraces that. Highly recommended.

6. The brief wondrous life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz- I'm very mixed about this book. I really liked the Oscar character, even though he made me feel very sad because I could relate to him. I also liked the historical and cultural information about the Dominican republic. This book failed for me in terms of narration- it tried to embrace too much and the narrator was unfocussed. I would have liked it better if the camera lens had been tightened, so to speak.