Nine books. One month. Raw thoughts on what I read during those humid summer weeks when the year was still young and promising.
Got a few more weeks chained to my desk before I escape to some tropical island. But if you're already hunting for reads to stuff in your suitcase, here's what came out in the first half of 2017 that's actually worth your time.
Read More"Walking toward minimalism, we realize buying and owning stuff doesn't make us happy, no matter what consumer culture screams at us." Been following minimalism blogs for years now. This book finally puts words to what I've been doing wrong.
Read More"Some books distract you but don't shake anything deep. Then there are those that make you doubt, bring hope, expand the world and maybe give you vertigo." This Icelandic novel does all of that. And then some.
Read More"Melt the guns, I thought, break the knives, burn the guillotines - and evil minds will still write letters that kill." Never read Bradbury before. Always lumped him with sci-fi, which I usually avoid. Turns out I've been missing out.
Read More"Troubles are like rain: they'll fall on us eventually, but there's no point worrying while the sun's still shining." Long ago in an imaginary Estonia, people lived in forests and spoke the language of serpents. This book is weird. This book is wonderful.
Read More"The simplicity defining its essence revealed an extreme concentration of beauty." Don't let the ridiculous title or unpronounceable author name scare you off. This novel is a tiny gem. Strange, yes. But worth every page.
Read More"Living, finally, fully, like in an embrace." Belinda Cannone writes and teaches. From her desk, she watches an oak tree. Two blackbirds sing. And she feels wonder. Sometimes that's enough. Sometimes that's everything.
Read More"I could be a psychopath. After all, I was a literary critic for several years." I do crazy things sometimes, like reading David Foenkinos. But I can't resist a novel about the literary world. Even when it's absurd.
Read More"Overall, others never really see us bare, and when it happens, the logical reaction is to run. Because that revelation might be followed by a gunshot, the sharp sound of an arrow." A book about isolation, art, and what happens when the world finds you anyway.
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