I'm hoping this year that my reading goal will be completed long before the January 1st deadline and so far I'm making great progress! I started all three of these books a week ago but managed to finish them all this weekend. Two of them are expiring on my Kindle this Monday and Tuesday so I was desperate to get them finished in time.
Swept Off Her Feet by Hester Browne -- This was my least favorite of the books read this weekend and, honestly, the entire year so far. I'm planning to read a few more contemporary romance novels (or 'Chick Lit'--a term I despise) this year because it's a genre I do generally enjoy. This was severely disappointing though.
Maine by J. Courtney Sullivan -- I thought I was going to love this one and while it was better than the previously mentioned novel it wasn't as enjoyable as I expected. There were so many characters that I had trouble keeping their names and stories straight. The entire novel felt very chaotic and I couldn't really connect to anyone in the book.
Swamplandia! by Karen Russell -- I really enjoyed this novel. From the Goodreads description:
The Bigtree alligator-wrestling dynasty is in decline, and Swamplandia!, their island home and gator-wrestling theme park, formerly #1 in the region, is swiftly being encroached upon by a fearsome and sophisticated competitor called the World of Darkness. Ava’s mother, the park’s indomitable headliner, has just died; her sister, Ossie, has fallen in love with a spooky character known as the Dredgeman, who may or may not be an actual ghost; and her brilliant big brother, Kiwi, who dreams of becoming a scholar, has just defected to the World of Darkness in a last-ditch effort to keep their family business from going under. Ava’s father, affectionately known as Chief Bigtree, is AWOL; and that leaves Ava, a resourceful but terrified thirteen, to manage ninety-eight gators and the vast, inscrutable landscape of her own grief.
This book was a bit haunting, definitely sad, a little mystical, and thoroughly well-written. I've mentioned before about my love of books set in Appalachia. The same applies to books set in Southwest Florida. This no doubt contributed to my love of
Swamplandia.
In order to come up with a list of ten books I think would make great book club picks I had to first envision the kind of book club I'd be picking them for. I mean I know people (my mom's boss for example) who have really stuck up and pretentious book clubs where they read the latest Thomas Friedman books and then debate politics for two hours. If I had a book club it would probably involve lots of wine and appetizers and gossip. The books would be fast reads, YA or contemporary fiction, nothing that stresses out book club members to get finished in time for a meeting.
