Current Listen: Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton
Whoa. So many feels. I finished New York by Edward Rutherfurd last night, and I was not expecting the 9/11 section to have such an impact. Obviously you can't write a historical novel about New York City without it, but it was a bit of a trigger. This novel was an epic, I'll grant you, and I'm not sure that it will be to everyone's tastes, but I definitely found it worthwhile. I might have even liked it better than the first Rutherfurd I read, Paris.
It follows the Van Dyke and Master families (Dutch and English) through generations from the times of New Amsterdam through the 2008 recession. Along the way we also learn about many other families that reflect the diversity that New York generates throughout history. We encounter the descendants of the Masters' slave, Hudson (no last name there for obvious reasons), the Irish McDonnell family, the German Kellers, the Italian Carusos, and the Jewish Adlers. All of the story lines blend so well, and Rutherfurd generally does a great job keeping you up to speed with who each character is related to and using dramatic irony to reference things from the past. He also does a great job of making sure the generations of characters are not flat or stale and have different personalities, motivations, and perspectives. I had a fun time reading it, and I learned some things! I had no idea about the Draft Riots of 1863, for example. Also, since I just really got into Hamilton the musical, which is set for the most part in New York City around the Revolutionary War, it's been fun to put both the musical and the book into the same historical context.
I also finished At the Water's Edge by Sara Gruen. I read this one quite quickly, and it was a fun little break after the seriousness of the Dickens from the previous week. In this story, Maddie Hyde travels to Scotland from Philadelphia with her husband Ellis and his best friend Hank, despite the fact that it's early 1945. Silly war getting in the way of the rich folks' plans. They also happen to be looking for the Loch Ness Monster. It was sort of a strange, unbelievable premise, but it turned out okay. A lot of complaints I have read about the book mentioned the fact that Maddie is rich and privileged and therefore hard to relate to, and I'll agree that for the first 50 pages or so that was a struggle. However, Maddie SUPER redeems herself by overcoming the privileged attitude and standing up for herself (yay feminism!). She and the cast of Scottish characters make the book worthwhile, along with Gruen's writing style.
I know I have no reason to be antsy, but I am getting a little nervous about the books I have left in the challenge. Here's an updated list:
A classic romance: Far From the Madding Crowd by Thomas Hardy
A book you were supposed to read in school but didn’t: Mr. Sammler’s Planet by Saul Bellow
A book with antonyms in the title: Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil by John Berendt
A book that came out the year you were born: Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton
A book set during Christmas: Let it Snow by John Green, Maureen Johnson, and Lauren Myracle
A book based on or turned into a TV show: Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel
A book you started but never finished: Musicophilia by Oliver Sacks
Awesome people keep writing books that I just NEED to read (like the new Harper Lee that I just started), and those have more intense time constraints. Also, my favorite TV shows are starting up again (Mindy Project, How To Get Away with Murder, Scandal, etc.), AND Oscar contender movies have started coming out, which divides my time some more. Incidentally, would people be interested in my movie travails, or would that make this too complicated? ANYWAY. I've started the Harper Lee and also Jurassic Park, and also have been reading Musicophilia, since that seems like one that is better read a chapter a night rather than binged. I have fall break in a few weeks, so I reckon I'll get a lot done then. This blog continues to motivate me to read, which is pretty darn great!
Thanks for taking me seriously, and for now, that's all she read.
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