Josh's Book Corner

I have been trying to think of some things that I could blog about to increase the frequency of my blogging. There are only so many blogs about my kids I can write, unless you want some photos on Jonah in too short PJs playing the Wii and some witty commentary about how he and I just had a screaming match about how it's not the games fault when he can't fly that stupid bird thing through the ever-closing door in Super Mario Galaxy 2. Because that is usually what is going on at my house. It's not always Diet Coke and trips to the pumpkin patch over here. Ok, let's be honest: it is always Diet Coke.

I tried writing about books once before, but it never really stuck. So, I am stealing this idea from Kacy, who writes one of the funniest blogs on the planet (no pressure.) I'm sure she won't mind. Each month I'll tell you all of the books I read that month. If you click on them and buy them (or anything) from Amazon, I will make like $.00000001! Everyone wins!

Really this started because I was going to write one of those "End of the Year Top 10" lists that everyone seems to do in January - you know Best Movies of 2010, Best TV of 2010, etc. But did you really need another list telling you that I liked Inception and Toy Story 2 and that the best TV was Lost, Mad Men and Community. Don't you already know that? The only place where I felt like I would have anything original to say was my Best Books of 2010 (Hint: It's not Freedom: A Novel. Boring!) And then that seemed kind of daunting. So I decided to do it one month at a time, ala Kacy.

So here we go, in reading order.
 The Imperfectionists by Tom Rachman
4 our of 5 stars (sidenote: I need a better rating system than "stars." Any suggestions?)
This was the January NWBC  (Northwest Book Club - my bookclub with some friends here in the Northwest - Great name, right?!) selection. It is a group of loosely interconnected short stories about the people that work at an English language newspaper in Rome. It had some of the most interesting characters I have read about in a long time, even though most of them were d-bags. (Sorry, mom.) Highly recommended. And the entire book club liked it too, which hardly ever happens.
The Passage by Justin Cronin.
4 out of 5 stars
When is the last time you read a great zombie apocalypse novel? If you ask me that question, I read about one a month. But for your average reader, that may not happen all that often. I guess in this book the zombies are more technically vampires (not the sparkly skinned emo kind, either.) but you know the drill: virus breaks out, widespread carnage and destruction, small pockets of humans survive. This is definitely a page turner and there were a few times when I gasped out loud as I read. Chilling? Yes. Really annoying to my wife when I gasp our loud while laying in bed? Also, yes. It is a bit on the long side and drags here and there, so read it on vacation when you can digest it in large chunks. READ IT!
The Help by Kathryn Stockett
4 out of 5 stars
I know me telling you to read The Help is like me telling you that Lost was the best TV show of 2010. I think everyone has read this and everyone loved it. It was delightful and interesting and frustrating all at once. Slavery and segregation get my goat. What on earth were we (white people) thinking?! Anyway, it is beautifully written and touching. It's a great read.
The Art of Racing in the Rain by a dumb author I don't want to credit
-32 out of 5 stars.
This was the February NWBC selection. For any readers who are in my book club, sorry for not saving it for the club. When I finished this book I literally punched the photo of the author on the dust jacket in the face. It was so stupid. It was a moderately interesting story told from the point of view of the family dog. Have I mentioned that I hate dogs? Wow, was this book dumb. There was a dog pontificating about what it means to have a soul, and then on the next page describing how eating a pepper gave him runny, burning poo. I am not kidding. And then it ended SPOILER with some cheesy people speaking cheesy Italian. I read the last paragraph out loud to Amy so we could laugh at it. A monumental waste of time. Unless you like dogs and spicy poo - then you might love it!
The Dream of Perpetual Motion by Dexter Palmer
3 out of 5 stars
This book vexes me. In some ways it was beautifully written and had some really interesting ideas. In other ways I just didn't really feel myself compelled to read at all. It is only about 300 pages but it took me more than a month to read. It is a steampunk retelling of Shakespeare's The Tempest, kind of. And kind of a love story. I think if you had a lazy Sunday afternoon (do people actually have those?) and could read the whole thing in one sitting it might have been more interesting. It was worth reading, but I can't say that I recommend it, unless Shakespeare and steampunk are your thing.

So that's it. Look for another installment next month of what I read in February. If you want to follow my reading selections MINUTE BY MINUTE click here to be my friend on Goodreads.