Books

With too much time on my hands, I have been, once again, reading a lot.  A couple of recent reads and my thoughts on them:

"Telegraph Avenue" by Michael Chabon.  If you are a Chabon fan, it helps.  If not, this book might not make you one.  I am a sometime-fan but to me it is too wordy, too pretentious (one three-page chapter is one long sentence, a fancy that I had hoped was out of fashion by now).  I liked the characters, he is always brilliant at creating funny, bizarre, endearingly odd people. However it simply didn't work for me that well.  I ended up skipping some long, overly detailed paragraphs in order to get the story to move along. 

"Eight Girls Taking Pictures" by Whitney Otto.  A smart concept, eight different women for whom photography is their passion or their link to the world or their downfall.  Basically eight long short stories, marginally connected.  Some of the women are more interesting than others but I read every story and enjoyed the book.  A little more solid connection between them would have worked better for me but still it was a good read.

"The Boy in the Snow" by M.J. McGrath. A mystery that takes place in Alaska, some political intrigue, a couple of dead babies, frostbite, sled dogs.  An easy read if you are a mystery fan.  Really good descriptions of what a blizzard will do to your skin, in case you were wondering.  But maybe that's not enough to recommend it unless you are a dermatologist. Still, it was decent, for a mystery.

"The Art Forger" by B. A. Shapiro.  A really good read, especially if you know much about the art world.  (I don't.) Lots of cool information about oil painting and forgery of such paintings. Intrigue, suspense, revenge, glory.  All the elements of a good almost-mystery story.  Fun and fast paced, totally worth the time.

All these books are at your local library, you can request them.  Or not.  

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