trouble

I have been reading some wonderful books recently!

Last night I finished "Trouble" by Kate Christensen - too fantastic. It's about two friends escaping from their troubles by going to Mexico City and letting loose. I adored the descriptions of lively Mexico City! The food, the music, the history, the colors and smells. My husband and I went on vacation there a few years ago and it was tremendously fun to revisit through the book. The ending also has a utter shock that made me gasp out loud. Wonderful book, wonderful writer.

I also read "Of Mice and Men" by Steinbeck and shed many tears at the end. In 100 brief pages, Steinbeck makes you care terrible for the characters and then breaks your heart. It's devastating. I haven't read it since high school but I loved rereading it.

"Cold Mountain" by Charles Frazier is a masterpiece. I was utterly enthralled. So many things stick in my mind: A body is a "hut of bones." The scene where Ruby covers Ada's eyes and asks what she hears - "Just 'trees'? What kind of trees?" They lived so close to the earth, with all its savagery and beauty. The ending made me clutch my heart and sob and ponder the power of being claimed by another human.



"Not Becoming My Mother" by Ruth Reichl - I'll read anything by her, her memoirs about food and her life are some of my favorites. But this book was very slight - lots of white space on every page, very thin. She has already told stories about her mother in her previous books so she just kinds of puts them together in this book. Don't bother reading this book.