2006 Books

The Interpreter of Maladies by Jhumpa Lahiri — Beautiful short stories about strangers living in a strange land.

Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides — Not what I expected. A great coming-of-age story about a teenage girl and her family background, except she’s not really a girl.

Perfume by Patrick Suskind — It stinks. Serial killers are supposed to be more interesting than this.

The Beautiful and Damned by F. Scott Fitzgerald — Not as good as Gatsby. I didn’t feel sorry for a single character in the end.

Down and Out in Paris and London by George Orwell — Thank god it was short, because at just under 100 pages it was already too repetitive.

The Red Tent by Anita Diamant — This book made me miss my Mom and renewed my interest in Biblical history.

Hollywood Babylon by Kenneth Angers — Trashy eye candy. Like Find-A-Death in paperback form. Loved it.

My Sister’s Keeper by Jodi Picoult — Written like a predictable Hollywood script. Surprise! It’s already been optioned. Probably by Lifetime, Television for Women.

Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott — Didn’t really like it. I should stop reading books about how to write and just start writing.

Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil by John Berendt — Better than the movie in 5,000 ways, and I loved the movie. For a month afterward I talked like Lady Chablis.

Drugs are Nice by Lisa Crystal Carver — In which she tries to justify why she’s a trashy slut who lets men abuse her. There was typo on the fifth page.

Geek Love by Katherine Dunn — Okay. Not what I expected. I couldn’t figure out when this story was supposed to take place, and I was seriously frustrated by the absentee parents. But I’d be willing to read another book by Dunn if she’d ever write one.

The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd — If you’re stuck on a boat in the middle of French Polynesia and you don’t read French and there is a small selection of English books on the boat and you have the choice of choosing between this one and something by Clive Cussler, choose the Clive Cussler book.

Shock Value by John Waters — Loving and funny and extremely entertaining. This was written almost 20 years ago — I’d like to know what he’d say about Divine now that she’s dead.

If Nobody Speaks of Remarkable Things by Jon McGregor — Then surely they’ll complain about this remarkably boring book.

The Time in Between by David Bergen — Sad and quick but it hasn’t really stuck with me.

Pyongyang: A Journey to North Korea by Guy DeLisle — I’ve never read a graphic novel so I wasn’t sure what to expect. The story was entertaining but there was little flow and the ending was pretty anticlimactic. Still, the journey itself was incredibly fascinating.

One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Gracia Marquez — I’ve liked his short stories but never read his novels. After this book, he may be my new favorite author. I’ve already ordered “Love in the Time of Cholera.”

Still Life with Rice by Helie Lee — Interesting because so little has changed over here, but it’s written in a style that’s way too simplistic. Young adult book simplistic. Oprah Book Club simplistic.

Culture Shock Korea — I read this to try and overcome my sudden disillusionment with living over here. It helped, but I found the book to be very superficial: glossing over, ignoring and occasionally flat out inaccurately explaining some of the most perplexing aspects of living in Korea.

Shopgirl by Steve Martin — I’m always impressed when men can write effectively and emotionally from the point of view of a woman. This book left a lump in my throat for hours. It’s so simple and short, but it’s one of the most beautiful things I’ve read lately, which is especially surprising considering it was penned by Mr. King Tut himself. What’s best is that Martin totally refuses the Hollywood ending I was secretly ashamed to hope for.

The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath — Interesting but not earth-shattering. Still one I’ll keep though.

Stuart: A Life Backwards by Alexander Masters — reads like the world’s most boring documentary, only longer.

Bastard Out of Carolina by Dorothy Allison.

The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini.

Myra Breckenridge by Gore Vidal — Wish I hadn’t seen the movie first: it spoiled the surprise. Still awesome.

Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy — It’s a classic and I’ve always wanted to read it, but it is 800 pages long. Sigh.

Les Liasons Dangereuses by Pierre Choderlos de Laclos — I’ve seen four different movie versions of this book and am therefore having a very hard time finding the motivation to keep reading, since I already know how it ends.

Henry and June by Anais Nin — This is the second or third time I’ve tried to read this book, which I bought after I discovered and fell in love with Henry Miller about seven years ago. It’s supposed to be graphic and sexual, but it’s really just extremely boring and repetitive. I don’t think I’ll ever finish it.