quick thoughts on the latest books i've finished.

middlesex: the last half was a faster read than the first half. probably because it seemed more interesting to me, although it didn't take me very long to get into the characters. they were likeable and real.

memoirs of a geisha: amazing. i liked this one better than middlesex. it was really captivating and sucked me in from page one. i highly recommend it. i love books that incorporate historical info/culture into fiction. i want to re-read this one when i get a chance, it was that good. i didn't want it to end. i took my time with this one, savoring every sentence, page and chapter. the characters were fabulous.

the curious incident of the dog in the night-time: super fast read, but interesting, too. really quirky and funny. i loved being in the mind of a 15-year-old boy with down's syndrome. on the surface, the book is about a boy searching for answers when his neighbor's dog is killed with a fork, "a garden fork, not the kind you eat with." he ends up discovering a bunch of startling information about his family in the process. it's kind of a quirky, amusing coming-of-age mystery. and that doesn't even begin to describe it. i guess what i'm trying to say is that this book can't be categorized, which is probably why i liked it so much.

she's come undone: i think i understand why elissa hated this book. i wouldn't say i hated it, but i didn't like it either. it took me forever to get into it. i would read a few pages at a time, until finally i said fuck it, and just started skimming, skipping a few pages here and there. i read a good chunk in its entirety though, and it just didn't grab me and i didn't give a shit about the characters or what happened to them. i just didn't care, which is what you need in a book. you need to care to find out what happens next, not necessarily like the characters, but at least care to know what they're doing. this book just didn't do that for me. i just finished it about 15 minutes ago, and very blah. i don't understand what the big fuss was all about for this one. or why oprah picked it for her book club. sure, it's a story of a girl and it goes through her life up until she's 40. it starts with her being 4, i think. and all sorts of bad thing happen in her life, to herself and people around her. depressing things. the usual sob story type of book. but i don't think it's done right. i suppose that's what happens when a middle-aged man tries to write about an entire woman's life in first person.

next up: a long way down by nick hornby is what's sitting next to my ibook right now.

and i'm reading the new chuck klosterman at barnes & noble. my goal is to head over there every afternoon for an hour or two before class or work and read books there to save money because, at the rate i'm going, i'll need to buy a book or two a week for the rest of the summer. and i just don't have the money for that. of course, there's always the library.