Run

I find it hard to describe the plot of Run, by Ann Patchett without just copying the jacket description, but I'll try. The book follows the story of the Doyle family over a period of 24 hours on a winter night in Boston. The story started a little slow for me, as we learn about Bernard Doyle's two adopted sons - Tip and Teddy. But about one chapter in, a startling car accident sort of woke me up and suddenly I couldn't put the book down. The story weaves in the characters of Sullivan, Bernard Doyle's older, biological son as well as the mysterious Tennessee Moser and her daughter Kenya. Bernard's wife died when the children were young so he's raised them primarily alone. The plot is extremely captivating and I became very invested in all the characters by the end.

I really love Ann Patchett and wish there were more authors as consistently great as she is. Does anyone know of any that they would recommend? This book is beautifully written like all her others, but doesn't have quite the melodrama quality of Bel Canto. That said, it also didn't leave me at the end wondering if she'd let someone else guest write the last chapter like I did with Bel Canto. Am I the only one who thinks that Bel Canto was one ending shy of being one of the best books ever? Anyways. If you've ever liked any of Ann Patchett's books (or if you haven't ever read her books), I definitely recommend Run. I also highly recommend one of her other books, Truth and Beauty, which I reviewed here.

I Stand Corrected

I said something about being excited for the new Ann Patchett book on Monday night when I was hanging out with some friends and they said, "Oh! She has a new book already?" to which I replied, "What do you mean already?"

I guess Run came out *last July* not this July. I still want to read it, so it can stay on my To Do List (see my post last week), but I felt I needed to correct myself nonetheless.

On a side note, I started The Myth of You and Me by Leah Stewart this week. So far so good. What book are you currently reading? Is it good?

Truth and Beauty

I loved this book. This was my favorite kind of reading. I started the book on Saturday night and finished it in bed this morning. I couldn't put it down. I recommend reading at least one of Ann Patchett's books and Autobiography of a Face before reading this book, but you could do it in whatever order really. I just liked having some background information on both "characters" before picking this book up. Like I said in my post last week, this is the memoir of Ann's friendship with fellow author Lucy Grealy. You should be warned, this is not an uplifting book. But the writing is so beautiful and their friendship is so captivating that you forgive the fact that it's the literary equivalent of listening to REM's Everybody Hurts over and over.

I particularly related to Ann in the telling of the story. She often compares herself to the tortoise and Lucy the hare, or herself as an ant and Lucy as the grasshopper. I am most definitely, without a doubt the ant and the tortoise in most of my friendships. While Lucy was technically the addict, it also seemed like Ann was addicted to Lucy and their friendship, and I didn't find it hard to connect to that. While the book honored their intense friendship and showed how fiercely intelligent and sensitive Lucy was, it also painted her in a very ugly light. There seemed to be an anger coming from Ann, it was hard to tell if she was angry at Lucy for all her betrayals and bad behavior, or just angry at her for dying and leaving her alone. Both maybe.

Reading the book made me curious about what Lucy actually looked like, so I watched a couple tv interviews of her in the late 90's. It was interesting, but difficult to reconcile the difference between the Lucy on tv and the one in the book.

Anyways. This book is really, really good and if you haven't read it - you should.

I think I'll start The Alchemist tonight.

I am the mayor of Serioustown

So I had about an hour free this afternoon between meeting with the hotel and freaking out about things beyond my control. It's possible that during that time I visited my favorite place (see my first post). At this place, I might have swung by the table marked "buy two get one free". So I might have bought three new books:

Modoc - a true story about a boy and his circus elephant that spans 7 decades and 3 continents. It's described as a book about friendship and love. I am seriously quite pumped about this book and might have already started it. Why do I feel so connected to elephants?

Truth and Beauty - another true story about a friendship, this time between two humans (no elephant); Ann Pachet (who I think is an excellent writer - Bel Canto, Patron Saint of Liars, Magician's Assistant...) and Lucy Grealy, who wrote Autobiography of a Face, which I loved. My friend Maggie highly recommends this book and I've meant to read it for a long time.

The Alchemist - this book sounded familiar, but I'm 99% sure I haven't read it. It says that it "inspired a devoted following around the world". It's about a Spanish sheperd boy who travels to Egypt in search of treasure buried in the pyramids.

So much for buying a girly novel to read on the plane. Since when am I the mayor of Serioustown? So I guess one book is about circus elephants, but still!