The Best Man by Richard Peck

Tuesday, Aug. 29, 2017--Villa de Leyva, Colombia

I finished reading The Best Man by Richard Peck.  It is actually categorized as adolescent literature, but so much young adult fiction is now popular even with adults.  I read a good review of it somewhere--probably in TIME or Entertainment Weekly where I read book reviews regularly and added it to my list of books to download from the library.  It's been on a wait list for months, but it was available recently.  I enjoyed the story which is told from the point of view of a young boy from the time he is 6 until he is about 14.  I laughed a number of times.  One of the first stories where he is dressed in too-tight blue velvet pants to be the ring-bearer for a wedding, splits the rear open trying to go down the first step and eventually has to go down the steps backwards with his rear showing through the tear is hilarious.  Anyway, it is a quick read and seems pretty true to what life is like in elementary and middle schools today.  I gave it 4 stars out of 5.

The Good Lord Bird by James McBride

Sunday, Aug. 27, 2017--San Gil, Colombia

I finished The Good Lord Bird by James McBride late last week.  I really enjoyed the book which won the 2013 National Book Award for Fiction.  It is about John Brown of Harper's Ferry fame back in the mid-1800s just before the official beginning of the Civil War.  It tells the story of his private efforts to free the slaves in the Missouri/Kansas border area through the observations of a slave he took with him when the father was accidentally killed and concludes with Harper's Ferry 5 years later.  Although I enjoyed the story, I gave the book a rating of 4 out of 5 because the writing could have been a bit better.

An Unnecessary Woman by Rabin Alameddine

I returned home and finished reading my current book while drinking the beer.  The book is An Unnecessary Woman by Rabin Alameddine.  It was nominated for several major prises and is really an interesting story of a woman in Beirut whose life has had lots of disappointments.  Over the years, she has created a life of please in books and music and does not think she needs human companionship.  She uses lots of quotes from well-known books by famous philosophers and novelists.  (I often get the impression that authors are constantly saving up favorite lines from books they have read and are looking for ways to insert them in their own works.)  The quality of the writing as well as the unique, interesting aspects of the character's life caused me to give the book a rating of 4 1/2 out of 5.

Redeployment by Phil Klay

Thursday, June 8, 2017--Granada, Spain

I finished reading Redeployment by Phil Klay today.  It is a collection of short stories about deployment in the military to Iraq, and it won the National Book Award in 2014.  It is a very well written book with stories that seem quite realistic in terms of how people think, act, react, etc.  Some stories are more memorable than others, and the best ones were truly outstanding.  I gave the book 4 1/2 stars out of 5.

A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara

Wednesday, May 24, 2017--Caceres, Spain

I finished reading A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara.  It was a finalist for the 2015 National Book Award, and after reading all but one of the finalists including the winner, I would say this is the book that SHOULD have won the award.  Reading it is like being on a roller coaster of life as sections veer from happiness to depression, from descriptions of horrible experiences to joyous occasions, from disappointment to success, etc.  There are lots of negative things that happen in this book, but as this review in the New Yorker explains, they come in small doses and the awful truths are very slowly revealed to make it palatable.  Also, it is one of the most realistic novels I have ever read in that it accepts what is happening with explanations of WHY it is happening rather than condemnation for what is happening.  I felt I could truly understand why things people sometimes do are actually done by them.  Anyway, it is really well written and a very good, if difficult, subject.  I gave it 5 stars out of 5.

The Turner Hosue by Angela Flournoy

Saturday, May 6, 2017--Pamplona, Spain

I finished reading the last few pages of the novel The Turner House by Angela Flournoy today.  It was on the short list for the National Book Award in 2015.  It is the story of a Black family that moved to Detroit from Arkansas to try to have a better life.  It follows the family to about 2008 as inner-city Detroit goes through riots, white flight, neighborhoods burning, etc., and as the family has 13 children who grow up to have children and grandchildren of their own.  I stretched it a bit to give the book 4 stars out of 5; I see that the average rating is about 3.6 out of 5 which may be about right.

Refund: Stories by Karen E. Binder

Monday, May 1, 2017--Barcelona

While waiting in the station in Barcelona for admission to the boarding platform, I finished reading my current book Refund: Stories by Karen E. Binder.  It is another collection of short stories and was short-listed for the National Book Award in 2015.  I found the stories to be well written, but all were essentially depressing.  They were about people facing problems in life.  I appreciated them even though I didn't ever feel good after finishing them.  I gave the book 4 stars out of 5.