Books of the Month - June thru August

June Book of the Month
The Other Hand by Chris Cleave
I was lured in by the vague, air of mystery blurb on the back of the book from the publisher, about not telling us what it is about. It may seem like a pretty silly tactic but to be honest I probably wouldn't have bought it if it had said "this is a story about a middle-class English woman's friendship a Nigerian refugee". That is what it is about, but if I had ignored it on that summary, I would have missed out on a wonderfully written book, that was beautiful and moving. I may have also been put off by a story told from the perspective of two women that was written by one man, but again this was done brilliantly. It has some very bittersweet bits of humour in here.


July Book of the Month
Willard and His Bowling Trophies by Richard Brautigan
A short, surreal story from Brautigan who most famous works (In Watermelon Sugar and Trout Fishing in America) I wasn't so impressed with. But I loved this one. It is about two couples living in the same apartment block, and three brothers who are looking for their stolen bowling trophies. The Willard of the title is a papier-mache bird - its that kind of book!


August Book of the Month
Riven Rock by T C Boyle
My new favourite Boyle book. This one is loosely based on the true story of Stanley McCormick who spends most of his adult life locked away from society due to his mental illness. The book charters his treatment by various doctors, which at times descends into farce, but other parts of the book were genuinely moving. I was reduced to tears by the end.

Books of the Months - March thru May

I forgot entirely about this. (I pretty much forgot about the whole blog). So to catch up:

March Book of the Month
The Road by Cormac McCarthy - absolutely amazing. A deceptively simple narrative about a man and his son, making their way through a post-apocalyptic world. Sparse text, with minimal punctation, but genuinely moving and disturbing. I had to stop reading it on the train because I was going to cry - recommendations don't come higher than that!


April Book of the Month
Talk Talk by T C Boyle - A woman, who is deaf, is the victim of identity theft and takes the law into her own hands to seek revenge on the criminal. This is a book about identity and communication, thought-provoking and with great characters.


May Book of the Month
The Last Shot: City Streets, Basketball Dream by Darcy Frey - my surprise hit! Borrowed (under duress) from the OH, I wasn't particularly interested in the plight of basketball playing kids from Coney Island before reading this, but was so engrossed in it. Basketball obviously does feature, but it as much about the poverty trap and the ridiculous college sport system. This one made me angry and sad at the same time. I'm not sure if I set myself any rules about the book of the month being fiction, but this one is a non-fiction book.

Book of the Month: February 2009

Rather late but I've been deliberating.

After much thought, February's Book of the Month is "Tropical Fish: Tales from Entebbe" by Doreen Baingana.

The book consists of eight connected short stories about Christine and her two sisters, coming of age in Uganda. A full review can be found here, but in brief, I read it in the space of a few hours and felt the deepest empathy for the characters.

Book of the Month: January 2009

Each month I'm going to pick my Book of the Month. Strictly one book, no matter how hard a decision that might be.

This month's choice is Brave New World by Aldous Huxley

A classic book that I can't believe it took me so long to get around to reading. It was thought-provoking as all good dystopian literature should be, but it was still a relatively easy read, and I was surprised by how humorous it was.