Last Week's Books

Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov
This is a very odd book. At times it's mildly funny, but the subject matter made me feel guilty about thinking the funny parts were funny. Does that make sense? No? Sorry, that's the best way I can describe it. It was very disturbing, and I guess I'm glad I read it just so I could know what it was all about, but I didn't think it was particularly wonderful. Also, there was a ton of French in the book...that would have been fine if he had included footnotes translating the phrases into English, but he didn't. Blah!

I Feel Bad About My Neck by Nora Ephron
This is geared more toward middle-aged ladies, but it was a fast read and parts of it were pretty amusing. There's a section that is about how inconvenient it is to have to tote around a purse and I enjoyed that part quite a lot.

Vanishing Acts by Jodi Picoult
This was my second experience with Picoult's writing and I liked this much more than Picture Perfect. It's about a lady who was raised by her father after her mother "died"...imagine her surprise when a policeman knocks on the door and takes her father into custody...for kidnapping her as a child. Picoult is very good at making the reader see shades of gray in situations that are usually seen as black and white. I highly recommend this one. I could hardly put it down.

Burning Bright by Tracy Chevalier
I found this one on audio at the library. I love the way Chevalier takes real characters from history and makes the reader see those characters as more than just boring pieces of information from a text book. This book focuses on the neighbors of William Blake during the French Revolution. Interesting, but it still didn't make me like his poetry. :)