Comments on: Buck the trend, pick up a book

By: Ellen

Ellen — Fri, 14 Sep 2007 09:07:14 +0000

I just finished “The Memory Keeper’s Daughter” and found it as well-written and magical as either “…Bees,” or The Kite Runner. I would highly recommend it to those who have read and enjoyed the other two. I do think it will remain as haunting as “The Kite Runner” was for me.

By: Janet.

Janet. — Tue, 11 Sep 2007 03:20:57 +0000

Jeni!

I don’t think you’ll be disappointed with The Other Mother by Gwendolen Gross (and it is available at Davis-Kidd). I gave it to my best friend (who just had a baby) and she liked it as well.

Very poetic.

~~J

By: Jeni

Jeni — Mon, 10 Sep 2007 19:58:03 +0000

Kell, I do hope you try “The Kite Runner” again. Part of what I liked about it was the wonderful descriptive writing. The “Wall of Ailing Corn,” reading under the pomegranate tree, watching Western movies at the theater, the way Amir feels when he again looks at the photo of his father standing between him and Hassan…

By: Jeni

Jeni — Mon, 10 Sep 2007 19:34:18 +0000

The Diva, I liked “Secret Life of Bees,” too, and much better than her next work, “The Mermaid Chair.” I’ve tried to read “Traveling Mercies” before but just couldn’t get into it. Maybe I wasn’t in the right mindframe. I might try it again this winter during my break between classes.

By: Jeni

Jeni — Mon, 10 Sep 2007 19:31:40 +0000

Janet, I’ve never read either of those authors. I just took a peak on the Web and vaguely remember some buzz about “Animal Husbandry.” The Gwendolyn Gross book looks interesting. I read an excerpt online. I might bring that up for a possible book club read. Thanks!

By: kell

kell — Mon, 10 Sep 2007 19:21:32 +0000

I tried to read The Kite Runner, and put it down because I wasn’t liking Amir, either. I just wasn’t interested. But there have been scores of times that I put down a book, uninterested, only to pick it up later and love it. With all of these people so fond of TKR, I’ll bet a second try will get me through it.

You know–I wonder if the reason kids aren’t reading as much has something to do with the emphasis on testing in schools. There seem to be so many drills that test comprehension and other reading skills, but little time to just sit back and explore books. There seems to be little time for children to explore anything, really. I understand why, but it seems sad.

I love Robertson Davies, but I don’t know many other people who do.

By: Jeni

Jeni — Mon, 10 Sep 2007 19:15:17 +0000

Tiffany, that is so interesting that you think Amir is not likable. You’re the second person I’ve heard say that.

I loved Amir, with all of his flaws. I kept cheering for him to do the right thing, but even when he didn’t, I still loved him. I wonder if it has something to do with his relationship with his father — how he always tried to win his father’s love. I felt that way when I was growing up.

My father was kind of detached from us figuratively, and then literally when my parents divorced. I remember always wanting to impress him or please him. Now that I’m an adult and my own person, I have no trouble connecting with him. I think he didn’t really know how to be a parent when I was growing up — his dad died when he was very young and he had a terrible relationship with the man his mother married.

In any case, I kind of identified with that part of Amir, how he would do anything to win his father’s love. But he changed, too, when he became an adult and his own person…

Anybody else want to weigh in? Was Amir likable or not?

By: Tiffany

Tiffany — Mon, 10 Sep 2007 18:34:26 +0000

Although I liked it, I don’t think I’d recommend The Kite Runner to someone who never or rarely reads books. It’s really a “hard read” and the main character is not very likable. That said, I would recommend Hosseini’s A Thousand Splendid Suns, especially for female readers. Both books made me very interested in Afghanistan. I followed up those with two memoirs: My Forbidden Face and West of Kabul, East of New York.

By: The Diva

The Diva — Mon, 10 Sep 2007 18:23:12 +0000

If you’re looking for enlightenment from someone whose life is even more of a mess than yours, pick up one of Anne Lamott’s luminous trilogy of memoirs, starting with “Traveling Mercies,” moving on to “Plan B,” and ending with “Grace, Eventually.” She’s so on point that I read her every other year or so, and cry every time.

And for fiction, “The Secret Life of Bees,” by Sue Monk Kidd, is still in my brain, even three years after I first read it.

By: Janet.

Janet. — Mon, 10 Sep 2007 16:16:20 +0000

I love to read…

anything by Laura Zigman (Animal Husbandry, Dating Big Bird, Her or Piece of Work) will keep you laughing and saying “That’s so me!” because her stuff is witty and relatable.

The last book I read was The Other Mother by Gwendolen Gross and it was definitely poetic and mysterious.

~~J