books

22. Single Wife by Nina Solomon
I randomly picked this book up at the library the other day. It is a strange book. It follows a woman whose husband tends to disappear for days on end. This time, he leaves for longer than ever, and the wife keeps up a charade that he is around, apparently convincing most of her family and friends. There is stuff about independence and marriage, and how much of yourself you give up in a partnership. I ended up enjoying the book, but I felt like it held me at arm's length a bit, and I am not sure I know exactly what went on. It was an interesting read, though. I have thought about it a lot since I read it, so that must mean something.

23. We Need to Talk About Kevin by Lionel Shriver
This is a really really powerful book. It is a series of letters by a woman who is the mother of a boy who perpetrated a Columbine-like school shooting. It is a really engrossing and disturbing book. I thought it was really brave and interesting, but am hesitant to recommend it as it is very disturbing and deals with such difficult subject matter. I also found Shriver's writing style overblown from time to time. This is the main problem I had with her book, The Post-Birthday World, which I did not like. We Need to Talk About Kevin is a much better book than The Post-Birthday World.

24. Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers by Mary Roach
I really enjoyed this book, about all the different things that can happen to you after you're dead. I thought Roach had just the right tone in dealing with the subject matter, a little irreverent, yet respectful at the same time. This book would be a quick read, except that I could not read it while eating which is when I do most of my leisure reading. It is really not graphic, and I am not a squeamish person (ask anyone who's had to hear me talk about monkey poop at dinner), but I still couldn't quite stomach reading this over lunch. So this is a good book, but you might want to approach it cautiously if you are easily grossed out and have an active imagination.

25. Apartment Therapy: The Eight Step Home Cure by Maxwell Gillingham-Ryan
I just read this book through and did not do the cure. That said, I liked the accessibility of this book and that it made me feel I could still make my place nice even though I am poor and rent a small apartment. It also inspired me to clean, take better care of my plant, and to try to live more purposefully in my next apartment (it is too late for this one and we're moving this summer anyway).