I read both Great House and History of Love in 2011 and I would include them both on my favorite books of this year. I like the structure of the novels and I love her writing style. I may have liked History of Love more, though it seemed less successful in terms of how the narratives came together. But I liked the premise of it more. However I loved both novels and highly recommend them.
Another favorite book I read this year will actually not be published until 2012. But my friends at the bookstore loaned it to me. I love the way Wild weaves together the stories of Strayed's life. It is a touching memoir, but it is also entertaining. It definitely made me want to plan a big backpacking trip. Highly enjoyable.
I chose this book perhaps because I just read it. Son gave it to me for Christmas and I read the whole thing on Christmas day. It has a compelling story line and it clearly and eloquently written. A very enjoyable mystery.
I am a big fan of Hemingway, so I can't believe it took me so long to actually get to this book. I enjoyed it much more than I thought I would. It has the pacing of general musings, but the book contains may insights and classic great Hemingway lines.
I absolutely loved big parts of this book, but they basically made me want the novel to be a traditional novel that stayed with the characters I loved and not move on to other characters. That said, I still really liked this book. Well-written, moving, everything a novel should be.
3 comments:
Goon Squad, huh? I'm surprised it made your favorites list though I did enjoy it (seems we both gave in 4 stars on Goodreads) but as you say here I couldn't help wanting a more traditional narrative which focused on the characters I liked. Maybe I miss the point of the disjointedness and genre bending.
I agree, CI. But I think I still enjoyed it more than most books. Which is probably more of a comment on how mediocre most books are. There were some real high points in Goon, which I think a lot of average books miss.
I don't think I really understood why the book had to be structured the way it was. But I still enjoyed most of it.
I loved Goon Squad as well, for the reasons Lynn says--most of it was so amazing.
I can't believe I have never heard of that Agatha Christie novel! (and how adorable, that Son gave it to you.)
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