I suddenly realised that I haven’t actually written down what I thought about the last couple of book circle books!
I don’t know what happened – I did read the books but the whole writing thing seems to have escaped me. The problem with not writing about something soon after it happens is that you forget a lot, unless you make notes, which of course I haven’t. Still, let me try.
Book five, in June, was The zookeeper’s wife by Diane Ackerman. This was slightly disappointing. I thought it started off quite promisingly, but it just didn’t seem to get into enough detail where it mattered. Set in the Warsaw zoo during the Second World War and the Nazi occupation of the city, the book was about the zookeeper, his wife and how they survived and what they did to help their Jewish friends and neighbours to survive. I suppose I was expecting to read more on the subterfuge that they might have had to engage in to survive – instead it seemed to just form the backdrop to a general depiction of life in Poland during the war. I did however enjoy the descriptions of zookeeping as a profession. Perhaps a case of a mismatch between expectations and reality (can I blame the blurb?).
Book six, in July was Letter to my daughter by Maya Angelou. I’m not sure what I was expecting from this one. It is a collection of short essays written to the daughter(s) the author never had. We are all her daughters, she says. I enjoyed it but found myself wanting more – Maya Angelou was offering advice and insights from her experience but it sort of felt too brief and superficial. I don’t know, I guess I would expect my mother to know me a bit better and give me advice that directly speaks to me. I think I am being too harsh; maybe I need a heart-to-heart conversation with my own mum?
Am currently trying to read the August book, PS I love you by Cecilia Ahern. I am not sure if I will finish it as I am finding it too predictable and am not enjoying the writing very much. It doesn’t help that I have other distractions at the moment: Darkness visible by William Styron and A heartbreaking work of staggering genius by Dave Eggers.
Speaking of books, Perthites, the annual Save the Children Booksale is on this Friday!
5 Comments
I’m still waiting for a copy of the Angelou and Ahern books. I just read Cecelia Ahern’s other book, A place called here. I quite enjoyed that one.
Oh – if you haven’t managed to get copies yet I shan’t feel so bad about being so tardy 🙂
Con, the comment on the Angelou book is fascinating. I shall have to read it some time! it does seem like a funny thing to do, to write to women as daughters when you don’t have any. (Hope no one shoots me for saying that.)
genevieve i am still pondering my response to the Angelou book. I think my expectations were too high – but is it possible to write “every mother” advice to “every daughter” and not have it general? I should have added that I did enjoy her writing.
I quite enjoy Ahern’s books; I think my favourite one is probably ‘A Place Called Here’, although her latest one, ‘Thanks For the Memories’ was a little disappointing.
But if you like Ahern, you’ll probably also enjoy a book called ‘Knickles and Dimes’. It’s fun and light-hearted and has really great characters. I’d recommend it!
Anyway, thanks for the review : )