Whatcha reading?, our new category, is all about you. We want to know what you’re reading. Think of this as a chance to let other people know about a good book (or a bad one) that you’re reading. It’s kind of like an informal virtual book club, except we’re not all reading the same book. Use the comments section to voice your opinions on your latest read.
OK, I’ll go first. I’m currently in the process of reading a book in Spanish entitled “La Sombra del Viento” (The Shadow of the Wind), written by Carlos Ruiz Zafon. The book takes place in Barcelona in the 1940s, a very difficult era in Spain’s history due to the recent end of the Spanish Civil War and the start of Franco’s dictatorship. The protagonist, Daniel, finds this secret ‘Library of Forgotten Books’ and becomes enthralled with a particular book. Zafon’s novel follows Daniel’s ten-year obsession with the fictitious book and its author. As I said, I haven’t finished the book, but I’ll let you know my thoughts when I’m all done – and don’t worry, there’s an English translation.
If you haven’t gotten your fix of cuteness overload from Flickr, try “Rascal, A Memoir of a Better Era.” Edgerton-native Sterling North shares his childhood adventures with his pet raccoon, Rascal. This adorable and affectionate masked bandit steals the neighbor’s sweet corn, begs for sips of strawberry pop, battles with Poe the crow, and rides shotgun in Sterling’s bicycle basket. Cuteness alone would make the book worth reading. But against the lighthearted foreground is a backdrop of loss and loneliness as Sterling comes to terms with his mother’s death, the periodic absences of his traveling father, and the fear of losing his brother, who was fighting in France in World War I. This book offers a journey back in time, to a childhood aching with loss, yet triumphing in the beauty and wonder of the natural world.
A real good read for anyone interested in science without too much detail, or sortof info-science, is Secret Family by David Bodanis. I liked it so much I had to buy my own copy! Lots of disgusting details about the mites and things we can’t see that are all around and even all over us!
Perfume (author David Suskind) is an interesting novel. UWW doesn’t have it, but other campuses do. This guy is born with an extremely keen sense of smell, but he himself has no scent. The lack of scent makes him repugnant to others. He tried to learn to make perfume so that he can invent a scent that will make him human. Not terribly long–less than 300 pages.
I just finished The Lonely Girls Club, by Suzanne Forster. Bought at the Library’s April book sale! It’s a mystery, so it has no academic value whatsoever. 4 girls were abused by their boarding school’s headmistress in high school. She was murdered, a man was convicted, and 20 years later DNA evidence finds he didn’t do it after all. So who did? One of the “lonely girls”? Who are now a federal judge, a spa owner, and First Lady of the United States? Hmmm. It’s a great read, although it started to drag by the end.