June Reads

Well. The month of June kind of, how do I put this delicately?, kicked my little reading arse.  In fact, I only managed to read one book the entire month!  I suppose these are the sorts of things that happen when you a) have just come back from vacation and are playing life catch-up, b) are out of town several weekends in a row and c) doing fun summery things like soaking up the sunshine and planting vegetables and flowers on your little apartment porch and, maybe...just maybe d) get stuck with a dud of a book the first half of the month and devote too much of your time to a book you are not enjoying.

Cutting for Stone - Abraham Verghese:

Before I write anything about this book, I'll go ahead and say this.  I know, okay?  I know.  People l-o-v-e this book.  I've read countless reviews that sing its high praises, I've heard several friends, whose book taste I am usually very much aligned with, swoon over the story.  I have long held the title of being one of the few people who did not fall madly in love with Jeffrey Eugenide's Middlesex and now it appears I will add Cutting for Stone to that pile as well.  Except I at least managed to finish Middlesex.

I tried with Verghese's book, really I did.  But after 160+ pages of forcing myself to sit down and try - yet again - to get into the plot or care about the characters, I gave up. For me, Cutting for Stone was the equivalent of that guy who keeps asking you out...and you say yes, because in your head things really *should* be working out, but then you stare across from him over the dinner table and think "You know?  No."  


A Gate at the Stairs - Lorrie Moore:

I'd been wanting to read Lorrie Moore's book for a few years now, so when I found a hardcover copy in my hometown's used bookstore for $4, I snatched it up.  This book had its work cut out for itself from the get-go, meaning that I was desperate for some book that pulled me back from the edge post-Cutting for Stone attempt, practically begging my bookshelves to transport me back to the land where I looked forward to picking up my book du jour, rather than dreading it.  A Gate at the Stairs was strong out of the gates; I enjoyed the first half-immensely.  I easily identified with the protagonist, a young girl in college, experiencing -  things as simple and as trivial as Chinese food - for the first time, in your first year away from home.  Moore captured that voice, that energy, that sense of wonder so well, that I have to admit the second half of the novel left me disappointed.  Certain characters and story lines never felt fully fleshed out, and I was left wondering about a few plot line "doors" Moore opened but never bothered to fully explore.  All in all, I'm not disappointed I read it, I just wish certain pieces and characters had not felt so rushed and jumbled together toward the end.  As is my habit, I do often write down sections of stories, books that I enjoy or that hold some sort of meaning.  This bit resonated with me and is a good example of that young college girl's voice I thought Moore captured so well.

"I tried not to think about my life.  I did not have any good solid plans for it long-term - no bad plans either, no plans at all - and the lostness of that, compared with the clear ambitions of my friends (marriage, children, law school) sometimes shamed me. Other times in my mind I defended such a condition as morally and intellectually superior - my life was open and ready and free - but that did not make it any less lonely."