Wednesday, May 27, 2015

A Family Affair, by Rex Stout

  • Title:  A Family Affair
  • Author: Rex Stout
  • Borrowed from DC Public (AudioBook)
  • Started: 5/21/2015
  • Finished:  5/27/2015 
 
The final Nero Wolfe book (at least the final one by Stout), not the best but not the worst either.  Comfortable to the very end.

Wednesday, May 20, 2015

To Kill A Mockingbird, by Harper Lee

  • Title:  To Kill a Mockingbird
  • Author:  Harper Lee
  • Borrowed from DC Public (Audiobook)
  • Started:  5/12/2015
  • Finished: 5/20/2015 
 
My great hidden shame has finally been exercised.  The college literature major, from the south, who had never read Lee's classic is gone forever.  Despite knowing the characters names, and catching pieces of the famous film here and there, I had never read the book or seen the movie from start to finish.
 
With the recent news of the (unauthorized?) prequel that has been released, I thought I should finally get my act together and read what many consider to be one of the greatest books ever written.
 
Hard to argue with those who believe so.  I wish I had read it as a high school student, seems like it could have led to good classroom discussions.  None the less I was often mesmerized, finished the book this morning on a hour long run in DC, and found myself choking up several times.
 

Tuesday, May 12, 2015

The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle, by Haruki Murakami

Title:  The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle
Author:  Haruki Murakami
Borrowed from DC Public Library (AudioBook)
Started: 4/21/2015
Finished: 5/11/2015
 
It took me three full weeks to get through this one, which is something like 23 or 24 hours long.  I had no idea it was such a huge book, and such a long read, but I didn't mind -- I loved it. 
 
I'm not sure what was going on, really, or more to the point I'm not sure what the ultimate message was supposed to be.  But this was just such an enjoyable experience, and was expertly read by Rupert Degas.  I would never have been able to have read the character of May Kasahara in my head, the way Degas reads her, and the novel would have been much less enjoyable without his inflections.  I think I looked forward to May's interactions with the main character Toru more than any other part of the book (outside of the WW2 stories, maybe).
 
Anyway, an excellent long read, that I finished just a few hours shy of the mandatory return date by my public library.

Monday, May 11, 2015

Arms of Nemesis, by Steven Saylor

  • Title:  Arms of Nemesis
  • Author: Steven Saylor
  • Borrowed from DC Public (Kindle Book)
  • Started: 4/20/2015
  • Finished: 5/7/2015 
 
Despite not liking the first Roma Sub Roma book all that much, I read the second (published order second) because I couldn't find anything else to start.  Liked this one even less, I think I'm finished with this series.