The Story of a Goat by Perumal Murugan

 Sunday, Aug. 27, 2020--San Antonio

The Story of a Goat by Perumal Murugan is an unusual book.  Written for adults, it is an allegory centering on the life and thoughts of a female goat while showing that the life of the people of the village in India where it is set is just as difficult based on government rules and regulations, expectations of friends and neighbors, and harsh weather circumstances as that of the animals on a farm.  The female goat experiences love, ecstasy, rape, starvation, loss of loved ones, etc., as the story progresses.  The book is easy to read and the story keeps one's attention due to moving quickly along.  It was long listed for the National Book Award for translated literature.  I have it 3 stars out of 5.

The Friend by Sigrid Nunez

 Monday, Sept. 21, 2020--San Antonio

The Friend by Sigrid Nunez is not your usual type of novel.  It has a unique format that is more like a memoir (especially since the character telling the story is a female novelist like the writer), but not even that in a traditional sense.  It's as if she is writing down her thoughts as memories as they come to her--even in as little as 3 lines at a time.  But as the reader gets deeper into the book, you realize that the pieces are all fitting together to tell a story based on her best friend (and probably the love of her life), his dog, death, grief, and life as an artist.  BUT, there is a surprise twist just before the end of the story.  The novel won the National Book Award for 2018.  It is short (just over 200 pages), and intriguing.  I gave it 4 out of 5 stars.  

Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn

Monday, Sept. 14, 2020--San Antonio

I just finished reading Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn.  The book is from 2014 and a film based on it came out a few years later.  The book was named a top ten book of the decade by both TIME and EW, but I have just make the effort to read it.  (I usually find reading a book to be more entertaining than seeing the film.)  It is definitely a book that keeps one's attention.  At the same time, there are such tense moments that I found I had to put it down for a bit before continuing several times throughout the process of reading it.  It's a psychological thriller that will probably leave any reader glad that it was not him or her in the relationship that is described.  I gave the book a rating of 4 out of 5 stars.

Love in a Cold Climate by Nancy Mitford

Wednesday, Sept. 2, 2020--San Antonio

Love in a Cold Climate by Nancy Mitford is a book written in 1949.  Set 25-30 years earlier than that, it would be called a costume drama if made as a series for television (which it apparently was during the 1980sl  It was in a list of books suggested for reading during the coronavirus pandemic, and it was available for download to my Kindle from the library, so I decided to try it.  It took me a while to get involved in the story.  But by the end of the book, I was enjoying it even though it wasn't as well written as most novels that I typically read.  I have the book 3 stars out of 5.