Books for the Beach

It's rainy and mid-60s today in Boston.  Perfect weather to think about what to read on that beach vacation coming up!!  Here's a list of my top five recommendations for your next beach vacation!!

• Bossypants, Tina Fey-- This isn't just another silly memoir.  This book gives us fabulous insight into a strong, caring, and incredibly funny woman.  I laughed out loud so many times that the dogs started barking at me!  :)

• Heads You Lose, Lisa Lutz and David Hayward-- Lisa Lutz is one of my favorite authors (she wrote the Spellman Files) and here she collaborated with an ex-boyfriend to create a strange and unique experience for her readers.  She and Hayward alternated chapters in this comical murder mystery and they left in their notes to each other at the end of each chapter.  Truly an entertaining read!!

• The Lincoln Lawyer, Michael Connelly-- This was a rather poorly written book, but I'm recommending it anyway.  The story is interesting and the character is developed enough to allow us to actually develop an opinion about him.  If you can get past sentences like "he looked down the hallway and she was standing at the end of the hallway,"  then I actually think you'll find it a pretty good read.

• Slammerkin and The Sealed Letter, Emma Donoghue-- Donoghue wrote Room, which got a lot of attention earlier this year for it's unique premise.  But, long before she ripped the premise of that novel from the Jaycee Dugard case, Donoghue was using headlines as inspiration.  Both Slammerkin and The Sealed Letter are novels based on newspaper articles written in the 1860s in London.  Personally, I've never found that genre overly interesting (Jane Austen aside, of course) but Donoghue's books are really good!!  Unique, intense, gripping, and entertaining, I had a hard time putting either one down.

Wowza!!!!-- ROOM

Holy guacamole, what a story!!  Sometimes I wonder where these authors come up with the concepts for their books.  Emma Donaghue's novel, Room, takes the reader into an incredibly disturbing world but makes her feel completely at home in this world.  Donaghue tells a story from the perspective of a 5 year-old boy, Jack.  In doing so, we come to view the events that unfold with the same innocence that he does.

Without giving away much of the plot, I can tell you that Jack's world is very small.  He knows two people but his universe has many characters.  Jack's imagination brings him so far beyond his physical limits that I'd venture to say that he's seen more than I have.  His Ma has created for him such a lovely life.

When we discover why Jack's world is so compact, it's hard to maintain a comparable level of optimism and joy for his lifestyle as Jack.  But here is the brilliance of Donaghue's writing-- she helps us see clearly; through Jack's eyes, we understand that it's not what but who we have that matters in life.

This novel isn't one in which it's easy to find the bright side.  It's a difficult story and doesn't get any easier as circumstances change for Jack and his Ma.  But, I think that's necessary-- we live in a 24-hour news cycle culture.  We give attention to people's lives only when they're sensational, over the top and dramatic.  But, once we've deemed another bit of news more interesting, we move on, we forget, we ignore.  But, the original story continues, even without the news coverage.  And, sadly, just because the paparazzi have moved on doesn't mean that the drama has ended.  Readjusting, rebuilding, renewing one's life is a challenging and difficult task.  Unfortunately, it's one that doesn't often allow for much imagination.

Jack's story is powerful and heart-wrenching.  It's one that will draw you in and keep you on the edge of your seat until you finish.  There was actually a moment when I gasped out loud.  (Unfortunately, Andrew was asleep at the time and I woke him up.  That's a true sign of a good book!!)  Read it.  And tell me you don't close the cover and say "wowza..."