So years, literally years, later, a friend of mine dropped A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius into my hands, saying, "I just finished it. Give it a go." Given its sticky-status, I thought I should finally just get the damn book out of my system already.

The premise: Dave and his brothers and sister survive the terrible loss of both of their parents to cancer in the space of about 5 weeks. One death was expected, the other was quite sudden. Suddenly, alongside dealing with the technicalities of their parents' deaths as well as their personal grief, Dave and his two older siblings find themselves legally responsible for their seven-year-old brother Toph. The majority of the child-rearing falls on Dave's 21-year-old shoulders, and this book is the autobiographical story of the two brothers' life together.

There were parts of this book that were absolutely riveting. I would call them the first 100 pages. And then the rest of the book was very, very longwinded. And this is coming from somebody who she herself is very long-winded, so just trust me when I say it's long-winded. 437 pages of long-winded (Note: In the preface, Eggers himself mentions that the best part of the book is in the first 100 pages, curiously enough).

Sure, it's heartbreaking. It is. I just don't know so much about the staggering genius part.

Still, there was something about this book that kept me reading. Well, ok, skimming. I brought it with me everywhere I went, and pulled it out whenever I had a 2-or-more-minute wait for a train/bus. I even looked forward to transporation time because it meant reading time, and hey! That must mean I liked the book, right?

Except I didn't, really. I found it sort of tiresome. And I'm apparently in the minority here, because the book was a #1 bestseller. But so was A Million Little Pieces, and I found that book tiring in the exact same way, although Eggers is clearly a more talented writer than James Frey.

If you're curious, I copied one sentence out of the book for illustrative purposes. It's about Dave and Toph "meeting" President Clinton:

Do you see what I mean? About the tiresomeness? And the I-could-skim-this-ness?

But, if you're still confusing the book with The Unbearable Lightness of Being maybe you should buy it anyway: A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius by Dave Eggers. Or, maybe you should read it again if you're one of the other millions and millions of people who have bought this book and enjoyed it.

The premise: At fifteen years old, Kevin Khatchadourian orchestrates the killing of seven of his his high school peers, along with a teacher and a custodian. His mother, Eva, recounts his life leading up to the crime via letters to her husband, Franklin. Tracing her pregnancy and Kevin's birth, his odd and unsettling childhood, and then the years shortly before his killing, Eva dissects a mother's relationship with her son.

And man, is it haunting. Eva is smart, quirky, and frighteningly believable. Her horrific strories of the early years of raising her son are still tinged with a sort of motherly worry, even in the retroscpect of her child's terrible crime. I devoured the book, finishing it in a few days and sneaking in reading breaks when I should have otherwise been socializing. And the final pages are absolutely incredible.

Read it: We Need to Talk About Kevin - by Lionel Shriver

And woooo... was she right. At least when it came to the pick for 2005.

The Line of Beauty is Alan Hollinghurst's tribute to rampant cocaine use and gay sex, with a little bit of sentimentality thrown in. Or maybe it goes the other way: sentimentality first, and then all that wild stuff second. Well, I can't decide.

Really, though, behind its flashy scenes and regular use of the word "bumshoving," The Line of Beauty has a wonderful, delicate side. The book is entertaining, but touching, and - although I would hesitate to ever say the book is a comedy - I found a few scenes where I laughed out loud.

Ok, so the plot sounds like a mess, but the overall picture is fluid and borderline epic. We grow with Nick as he has his first sexual experience, and we wince when he tries to hide his homosexuality from his family and certain friends. Then we move on up in the world with him, and celebrate as he incorporates his way into the Fedders' life. It's also a little nerve-wracking to go to big-shot parties (attended by Thatcher) alongside Nick as he continuously takes trips to the bathroom to powder his nose. But there are other, quieter moments that make this novel a bit more cozy and touching than most, and in the end, the drugs and sex are not what make this a great read. The book is sensitive and sad and seductive all at once.

Read it: The Line of Beauty by Alan Hollinghurst

I am glad I did. The book made the plane ride fly (!) by, and was an amusing read that I still think of at random moments even now, several weeks later.

The Tipping Point is Malcolm Gladwell's book on "how little things can make a big difference." While the book claims to analyse how unpopular items such as Hush Puppies can become overnight sensations, how New York city can go from having tons of crime to far less in just a few years, or how Gold Box advertising really changes things, I had a hard time stringing together the entire book into a cohesive, nicely-wrapped package. Still, I enjoyed all the bits and pieces.

While that's an interesting concept in and of itself, I get the feeling that Gladwell is just a data geek like myself, and he really wanted to put a bunch of cool things he had researched together in a book. So he did. And it sort of works, actually. But I preferred to retain all of the little factoids independently, instead of worrying about the overall picture (which is pretty easy to grasp: crazy things happen).

I read this book really quickly and found myself wanting to underline it frequently. It reads VERY easily, but is filled of interesting things you probably didn't know. Gladwell describes the types of people who set the machines needed for any given phenomenon to be set into motion. He sets the stage for said phenomena. And then he gives a bunch of examples.

It's entertaining, well-written, and a pleasant little read. Keep in mind: it's bestselling non-fiction, so don't expect a super-academic text or Noam Chomsky. Still, it's good, entertaining, quirky, and mighty interesting.

Read it: The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell

I read it in four days, sneaking time to read it in between metro stops and waits at the eye doctor's. Usually, this kind of behavior means I REALLY love a book. But now, several weeks down the line, I still don't know what to make of The Darling.

Yes, the story really is as convoluted and hard to relay as it seems. Although there are moments where the writing is great and the book trucks along nicely, I had two issues with this novel:

1. I'm getting really tired of the story of white-(wo)man-discovers Africa. But what's worse, however, was that I felt this representation was just off somehow. Banks apparently spent quite a lot of time in Liberia researching for the book, but when it turned out that Hannah/Dawn was rubbing elbows with Charles Taylor and made privy to top-secret plans, I found the whole thing to be rubbish. And when she helped him escape from a US prison, I just... well... it was one step to far.

2. I generally appreciate when a man can write appropriately from a female perspective. I would most likely not put Banks in this camp. Although there are moments when he exhibits a fair amount of skill, the coldness of the protaganist in this book was just not convincing. She was an American woman, alone and isolated, in Liberia for much of the novel. Even after she had two sons, she remained cold and distant from them. The basic idea for Banks was to place her cunning above her emotions, but I have a hard time believing anyone can be so heartless.

Overall, I'm not upset I read it. I made it through the book and even found myself enjoying it at times. I just found it, well, a little bit too much. Somewhat OTT, I suppose. There was even a moment where I thought it bordered on trashy romance, but it quickly recovered. Still, I can't say I recommend it, even though I'm glad I read it myself. If you're into historical fiction, and into Africa, you might enjoy it. I took issue with some of the liberties he took with the story itself, but the fact of the matter is that the book is still well-researched and a pretty entertaining way to get a look inside recent Liberian politics - or at least get you familiar with the main players, if you weren't already.

Buy it, if you have read this far: The Darling by Russell Banks

In fact, the easiness-of-reading issue was probably my only issue with this book. I suppose I spend so much time reading "established" authors that I have a little bit of a hard time coming back to popular fiction, but I'll admit that this book was an entertaining read - it came in handy when I accidently showed up an hour early for my doctor's appointment, at any rate.

The narrative rotates between different characters - the artist who designs the tapestries, the weaver family who actually makes them, and the nobles for whom they are intended - and Chevalier actually manages to pull off this feat quite well. I'll admit that the first chapter had me skeptical, but by halfway through the book, I found I was getting into the different personalities and their thoughts/fears/dreams/etc. In the end, you find yourself with severall different mini-stories, all handily woven together through the story of the (woven!) tapestries.

What I liked about this book - and this is terrible to admit - is that the pretext of it being "historical" made me feel a little less ashamed about reading what is really just a well-decorated soap opera. There's sex and lying and seduction and betrayal... overall all the good workings of a crappy woman's romance novel.

The Lady and the Unicorn is a notable step up from that, and I would read it again. It's perfect travel reading; I can see myself enjoying it on an airplane or at the beach. Don't expect great literature, but it's a good time.

The Lady and the Unicorn - Tracy Chevalier

As often happens in life, when you hear about something for the first time, you begin noticing it everywhere. In the case of JM Coetzee's novel, Disgrace, I first heard about it in a short interview with a respectable, well-read European. She was citing her favorite authors and books, and this novel was at the top of her list. Always on the lookout for new reads, I printed out the interview and took it with me to the used bookstore. When I couldn't find the book there, I more or less forgot about it.

A few days later, however, I stumbled across a mention of it in another article. Being reminded of the name was enough so that when I went to check out a local English bookstore, I picked it up.

At the checkout counter, the girl sighed heavily and said, "This book is so good. It's just... (she clutches her chest)... so... painful."

She wasn't being overdramatic. The writing is excellent, but reading the book is a bit like watching a car-crash unfurl in slow-motion. Everything is heavy, harsh, and only comes to feel heavier and harsher as the book progresses.

The book is short, and I realize the snapshot of the story featured here would make you want to avoid it at all costs. But I found the book amazing - the writing style is what carries the narrative more so than the plot. Coetzee's writing is mature and fearless, and I regularly stopped to re-read sentences just because I liked the sound of them. I took this book with me everywhere, and finished it quickly while trying to savour it for as long as possible.

Lots of reviews mention this novel as painting a painful portrait of modern-day South Africa. And while, sure, that's definetly present, what I found much more poignant in the tale were the running themes of father/daughter relationships and animal rights/souls. Parts of this book are difficult to describe; as cheesy as it sounds, there were scenes that were more "felt" than pictured. Coetzee's writing is simple, but there is so much behind the words that it makes for a very interesting read.

Read it: JM Coetzee - Disgrace

The only other book I think I have ever done that with was Anna Karenina.

I think the lesson we can retain from this little experiment is that Russian literature is not my thing.

Good to know.

Me, the lowly journalism major, I did not really like this book. I began skimming halfway through. I found the characters were cold and distant, and the story was not really thrilling to boot.

To illustrate why I didn't like this book, I am going to put up a short passage that I feel sums it up quite well:

If you liked that excerpt and would like a similar description involving any of the following:

molasses
trees
wounds
death
blood
guns
grits
cornbread
horses
apples
leaves
farming techniques

then you're in for a book you'll love. Otherwise, I'd stear clear. If you're really stubborn, though, give it a try. Somebody must have liked it, or they wouldn't have decided to make a bad movie about it, right?

Cold Mountain by Charles Frazier

The book is written by Dr Andrew Weil - a Harvard-educated doctor who is interested in natural health and alternative medicine. The overall premis of the book: your body has the potential to heal itself. Try to plug into that.

Dr Weil is quick to say that our bodies are healing constantly, and we don't think twice about it. Examples: cuts, bruises, colds. Our bodies have the natural ability to defend themselves, and sometimes tuning into that aspect of our health can be more beneficial than taking prescription drugs.

I appreciated the book. To be honest, I didn't learn much that I didn't already know, but I can imagine for someone who doesn't maniacally read books on this sort of subject, there can be some pretty new ideas in there. Dr Weil writes very clearly, and maintains a sort of "high road" persepective. Often, alternative health is considered a sub-science to traditional Western medicine, but Dr Weil keeps his writings on the topic admirably well-researched and he maintains a serious tone throughout the book.

I would recommend this book to anybody looking to find out about different health options available beyond taking antibiotics. I have always been one of those weirdos who prefers not to take an aspirin with a headache, and, more generally, I don't like taking antibiotics. I will use parts of this book as reference (particularly the chapter on tonics) in the future, and think it could be useful to people looking for an overall discussion of ways to tune into the body. I agreed with almost 90% of the book, which is rare when reading health books. It was also great that Dr Weil - who is obviously a bigger fan of natural health than of traditional medicine - mentioned that there are limits to natural health care and that people need to know when the situation needs immediate (Western) medical attention.

Something revealing: I started reading this book during a break at work on a Saturday. I had the following conversation with a co-worker (French):

Him: What are you reading?
Me: Oh, it's a book on alternative medicine.
Him: Ah. I try to stear clear of that sort of thing.
Me: Lots of people think that way, but in the case of this book, it's a medical doctor - in the Western sense - who writes about the value of various alternative methods in place of drugs or invasive surgery. It's pretty well-researched.
Him: Yeeeeaahhh. I don't know. I try to stear clear of that sort of thing, like I said.
Me: Well, reading about it can't hurt you.
Him: Yeah. But in general, I try to stay clear.

This attitude - from somebody who has obviously never studied the benefits of various alternative health practices - is common and is part of what lowers its status on the health scale. This is just a result of upbringing, but it frustrates me when people see these forms of taking care of one's body as somehow sub-par. (To be fair, this guy is a smoker, with a generally haggard look, and is obviously in reasonably poor health, so I'm not surprised by his opinion on the matter)

Someone once told me that the difference between Eastern and Western medicine is that in the West, you go to the doctor when you are sick, and in the East, you go when you are healthy. Much of this corresponds to Dr Weil's book, but he also discusses using guided visualization, hypnotherapy, and other techniques to help solve what lots of Western doctors have diagnosed as chronic or incurable illnesses. If you are interested in finding about optimizing your health, you might find the stories of other people's spontaneous healing enough incentive to look into different types of treatment. Dr Weil also discusses dietary changes, lifestyle changes and so on.

It is a worthwhile book as an intro, but maybe a bit too simple for those who are already well-versed in the subject.

Sponteanous Healing by Dr Andrew Weil MD

The books was under the Staff Recommendations section of the store, and I read through all of the staff blurbs rather meticulously. I decided on She's Come Undone because its simple recommendation was: "I LOVED THIS BOOK!!!!" That seemed more enthusiastic than the recommendations that read, "In 19th centure Russia, a man finds himself in dire straights when..." or anything equally as exciting. So I went for it.

The synopsis: Told in first person, the story focuses on the fucked-up life of Delores Price. While everything starts out peachy, within the first few pages of the story, her handsome and charming father leaves her, her mother has a mental breakdown, and her upstairs neighbor does naughty things. It all unravels in a bit of a whirlwind, and Delores is left to pick up the pieces for the remaining years of her life.

The beautiful thing about this novel lies in Lamb's skills at character development. The mother we love we end up hating, but then we love her again, and then kind of hate her, but realize that we love her underneath it all. The grandmother is stiff as a board, but then becomes one of the most charming characters in the story. And so on.

The downside is that things get a little heavy (literally) at times, continuously dealing with Delores' attitude and her favorite technique of shutting out the world. Half of the book is centered around her obesity and what it costs her self-esteem and social life, which starts to wane after a couple hundred pages.

Still, certain parts of the book might have dragged a bit, but it was an overall good read. I enjoyed it, and I give it a B+. I wouldn't write "I LOVED THIS BOOK" if I were to make staff recommendations, but I will still put it on the recommended shelf.

Amazon: She's Come Undone by Wally Lamb

I would never say that it's amazingly written or destined to become a classic. It is, however, original and different, and pleasant to read.

Ok, so the time travelling part sounds trite and kind of weird with such a short summary, but the truth is that it somehow worked. It even became semi-believable at some point. Had this not happened, the book most likely would have been a big flop, and that fact alone testifies to Niffenegger's writing skills.

And although there is a slight science-fiction twist to the novel, it is more a modern-day philosophical love story than anything remotely fantastical.

Another added bonus: it takes place in Chicago, so if you know the area, it's kind of fun. Lots of musical references (especially to indie bands and such) and so on.

Read it. It's different, quirky, and manages to approach the topic of love without making me want to ralph. In fact, I found myself enamoured with the couple in question. That almost never happens.

Amazon: The Time Traveller's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger