The People Have Spoken (part n+1)

Sweet Katie says (in re: my previous post about books):

I haven't added any books to my permanent bookshelf for awhile (instead I read and pass them on), but when I try to get rid of any of my favorites, I just can't do it. Favorite books are like old friends. They're always there for you when you need them : )

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Looking at my bookshelf since I posted the photo and it could use quite a lot of paring down. I donated roughly half as many as are shown on the shelf already but on review I think it should have been more. Something to work on.

All this talk of books motivated me to finish The Yellow Birds, which is very good if you like things that are depressing in the extreme. Superb storytelling, highly recommended. I would totally send you my copy except I read it on my ipad.

If you want to punish yourself a little you can browse the one star reviews for the book. It was featured on many 2012 Best Books lists, which isn't always a guarantee of relative 'good' but still: this was a book that a lot of people agreed was excellent. It is dense, and the writing is challenging in that it tries to explain in words things that you must feel in order to fully know. Translating that is difficult. The prose is rich and stylized. Not inaccessible (it's not Melville), but not People magazine.

Too much heavy lifting for 17 people (as of this writing), which I find hilarious. Who gets to the end of a book which the NYT calls, "brilliantly observed and deeply affecting" and says, "this is bullshit, ONE STAR!" I need to start doing that.