The Love-Artist, by Jane Alison
I thought this book was pretty good. Not great, but solidly middle-of-the-road and definitely interesting. It takes place in ancient Rome and tells the story of the poet, Ovid, and his muse. The author tends towards a poetic turn of phrase, which is nice, but can also be a bit confusing. In addition to Ovid and his muse, the story also includes some of the infighting and political intrigue Rome was famous for, but that part is still a bit murky to me due to the author's writing style. If you like historical fiction and flowery language, this may be the book for you.
The Spinning Man, by George Harrar
What? I don't know. No, really, I think that I have no idea what happened in this book. It's about a philosophy professor who is struggling with the fact that no one wants to take philosophy anymore and the fact that he's suspected of murdering a local cheerleader. Did he? I don't know. There are a lot of philosophical questions posed and some of them are answered, but apparently "who done it?" isn't a highbrow of enough question for the author to answer because he just totally leaves the reader hanging. I'd skip this one, unless, of course, you like being confused.
Child 44, by Tom Rob Smith
NPR called this book "one of the top 100 thrillers of all time." And, you know what? Yeah, I accept that. I mean, I'm no expert on thrillers, but this book really is awfully good, folks. It takes place in Stalinist Russia in the 50s and it's fantastic. It's about the investigation of a serial killer, but it's really about a KGB officer losing his religion and his religion is his belief in the Soviet State. Even if you don't love thrillers, I think this is a book worth reading.
Let's Explore Diabetes With Owls, by David Sedaris
I'm usually a David Sedaris fan, but I didn't love this book. I did laugh aloud in a couple places, but mostly I wondered if I'd outgrown Sedaris and his brand of snark. I do recommend reading Sedaris though, but maybe not necessarily this one.
Orphan Train, by Christina Baker Kline
I had this book on my list forever and when I went home to visit my family, I stole it from my sister and finally had time to read it. And I'm glad I did. It was very interesting to me as I was unaware that we ever shipped orphan kids from the East Coast to the Midwest to be taken in by strangers. The only thing I didn't like was the fact that the author goes back and forth between modern times with the girl interviewing a woman who was on an orphan train, and the time of the train. The modern stuff wasn't half as interesting to me as what the orphans went through, but all in all, it was a good book and one I'd recommend.
Transmission, by Hari Kunzru
I started this book probably three times. It starts basically in the middle of the story and that was confusing to me, but once I got going I couldn't put it down. And I absolutely loved the end. I haven't been that satisfied with the ending of a book in ages. It made all of the, sometimes confusing, tech and marketing lingo in the middle worth it. It's a strange book and I can't provide a good synopsis of the plot, but I definitely recommend it!
And that's it. Again, I spent a lot of time on planes, in airports and on the road so I read a lot of books. Per usual, I have no idea what to wear for the Literary Stylings Link Party next Tuesday, but I'll find something. Hopefully you will too and hopefully you'll come by and link up!
Happy Thursday, All!
Gracey
