This Is Where I Leave You by Jonathan Tropper

This book was on my "to-read" list for a while; I think because it's being made into a movie. I picked it up at the College of Charleston bookstore while on my honeymoon and I blew through it in a few days. The book was quite funny, although I will admit that the laughs occasionally came at the expense of female characters. There is a lot of objectification of women. I'm going to try another book by the same author and see if it has the same quality to it. If so, I'll be disappointed as I found him quite capable of good storytelling.

Educational Opportunity in an Urban American High School: A Cultural Analysis by Patrick McQuillan

This ethnography was given to me by its author, with whom I work. Even though the research was completed in the late 80s, I found the experiences Dr. McQuiilan had at Russell High matched the experiences my friends and I had while teaching in Memphis. It's truly unfortunate that so little progress has been made in over 20 years. I found his conclusions about what's happening in the school to be spot on. If you're interested in reading about the day-to-day in a typical urban high school, I recommend this book.

Friday Night Lights by H.G. Bissinger

I enjoyed this book but wish it had more depth. I didn't feel like I got to know the student athletes very well, and it felt a little scattered. It tried to cover too much, oscillating between the players and descriptions of Odessa, and it left me without a good grasp on either. I haven't yet seen the movie but I did watch the TV show, which is of course very loosely based on the book. I tend to enjoy journalists' forays into books, but this one didn't quite hit the mark for me.

Being Dead by Jim Crace

I struggled mightily through this book. Henry recommended it to me because he thought it was beautifully written. He wasn't wrong, but there was no plot and I need a plot. It just didn't hold my attention at all. Half of the book is filled with descriptions of decomposing bodies.

And here's where I struggle with this 52 books thing. I'm too stubborn to give up on a book even though reading an uninteresting book delays me enormously.

Reading Time: Much too long...

The Sibling Effect by Jeffrey Kluger

This post is about a week delayed, as I finished this book on February 2. Quite accurately, the book's description calls it a mix of "equal parts science, psychology, sociology, and memoir." It doesn't come off as an academic text; it just isn't one. I'd call it one man's opinion on how sibling relationships shape who you are. I definitely disagreed with some of his assertions and conclusions, and questioned the veracity of some of the studies he presented. I myself fall outside of the typical birth-order theory, so I wasn't bought in to that chapter. That being said, I did enjoy reading it. I would like to dive into a book that tackled this topic from a more academic perspective, but that might be a more boring read.

The Shipping News by Annie Proulx

I picked up this book because it was a Pulitzer Prize winner and it was on the bargain book table at The Coop. Note to self: don't let those two factors ever be the sole determinant of whether you read something. You might have thought I forgot about this blog because it's been so long, but it took me 15 days to get through this 335 page book. It wasn't a bad book, but it wasn't that great. My biggest problem with it was that it didn't follow standard English conventions and that sort of thing bothers me. There were a lot of sentence fragments. The story line was also bizarre and the plot thin. This book doesn't have much to recommend it.

Reading Time: 15 days
Currently Reading: The Sibling Effect
On Deck: Being Dead
In the Hole: Blue Like Jazz

The Rosie Project by Graeme Simsion

After reading a mere 12 pages of The Rosie Project I had let out at least 5 of those guffaws that my college roommates knew all too well from my reading in college. At that point hopes were high for this book, which was recommended to me by the father of one of those roommates (n.b. the grammatical construction of that sentences took me over 3 minutes, and I'm still not sure it's correct). After looking at a few of the negative Goodreads reviews (the book's rating is currently 4.09 so clearly those are few a far between), it's probably a good thing I've never seen The Big Bang Theory; someone described the book as BBT fan-fiction. At any rate, I really enjoyed it. I read the book in about 36 hours. It was funny and interesting. I look forward to the sequel.

Reading time: 1 day
Currently Reading: The Shipping News
On Deck: The Sibling Effect
In the Hole: TBD