Book Frustration! Friends Can Help

In anticipation of a pre-Thanksgiving house move, I packed all 800+ books on my TBR shelves and took them to the new house. Now our move is delayed until January because renovations are taking longer than planned (which we should have planned), so I do not have access to the books I want to read. I am not entirely without TBR books, because I have all those that have come to the house since I packed the shelves. I've been to a couple of library book sales, received a few review copies from publishers and LibraryThing, and even gathered a handful of books by author friends. So I have books to read. But I usually like books to mellow on the shelves for a while, waiting to read one until it percolates up to the top of my consciousness for one reason or other. I feel trapped and rushed having to read the books available from this relatively small pool. I think I will concentrate on Books by Friends. That is a short list and I can finish them by the end of the year: Creating a Class: College Admissions and the Education of Elites by Mitchell Stevens: Mitch is a sociology professor at NYU (at least until January when he moves to Stanford) who has written a insider's guide to elite college admissions. I am about halfway through this book and find it fascinating. The Top Ten Myths of American Health Care: A Citizen's Guide by Sally Pipes: Sally is the President of Pacific Research Institute, a free-market think tank in San Francisco, and author of Miracle Cure: How to Solve America's Health-Care Crisis and Why Canada Isn't the Answer. Water the Bamboo by Greg Bell: Greg is a former lawyer, now a "speaker, trainer and facilitator" who works with companies and organizations to improve relationships and communication. His book is subtitled "21 Strategies for Extraordinary Results in Your Profession or Team."

Review: Wide Sargasso Sea

I am perfectly ambivalent about Wide Sargasso Sea. Every reaction I had to the book is balanced by its opposite reaction:

• The moody, languid prose captured the tropical setting: I longed for a more direct narrative. 
• The switches in perspective deepened the relationships among the characters: it was frustratingly difficult to track who was saying what and when they were saying it. 
• The themes of madness, alcoholism, cruelty, and love were fascinating: the characters were all horrible and it was awful to watch them destroy themselves and each other. 
• The connection between the heroine and the insane wife in Jane Eyre is an inspired literary device; the tie-in with Jane Eyre is a manipulative gimmick. 

See what I mean? Everything I like about the book, I dislike about the book. Equipoise. But it made it to both the Modern Library and Radcliffe lists of best novels of the 20th century, so the half of me that disliked the book is at least pleased to have accomplished two tasks.

OTHER REVIEWS

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