Greetings, Saloners! I hope you all had a good reading week. Here’s a summary of mine: I read two books, experienced an unexpected problem with DailyLit, and set myself a reading challenge. Here are the details…

The two I read

The Book Thief, by Marcus Zusak. Oh, this was good. I was on the verge of hating it the whole way through, but in the end I must admit I loved it. Brief plot summary: coming of age novel set in Nazi Germany. Young girl navigates the tricky shoals of adolescence, made trickier by the horrors of the Holocaust and the death of her best friend.

This book reminded me a LOT of Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close (which I reviewed here) not only because of the similar themes but also because of the tone and language. And this is what really sets The Book Thief apart from all the other coming of age in Nazi Germany novels. This is what put me on the verge of hating it the whole way through. Sentences like “The tears grappled with her face.” Or “The minutes soaked by.” Or “The [champagne] bubbles ate her tongue.” It was almost too much. But in the end, I have to say it worked.

A Gathering of Days, by Joan Blos. I have been meaning to read this book for almost thirty years. I’m not kidding. The author is from Ann Arbor and it was the talk of the town when this book was published, and even more so when it won the Newbery. But somehow I never got around to it until this week. Brief plot summary: coming of age novel set in 1830s New England. Young girl navigates the tricky shoals of adolescence, made trickier by the horrors of slavery and the death of her best friend.

I’m actually glad I waited so long to read this. I really loved it, but I’m not sure I would have if I’d read it when it was first published, when I was about the same age as the protagonist. The language is very old fashioned (“Then Josh and I parted from them, tho’ not without calling back and forth with small tho’ urgent messages about the coming day. Soon we felt the woodsy shadows, whereat we continued more quietly, grateful to be cool.”). As a kid I would have found it hard to read. As an adult I find it absolutely endearing. I imagine her working so hard to write her journal in the flowery, ornate language she learned in her one room schoolhouse. In fact, all along I felt myself overflowing with maternal feelings towards this young girl. And I love the title.

The problem with DailyLit

Um, it’s too hard to wait for the next installment.

DailyLit, you’ll recall, is the service that emails you a little bit of a book every day. I just recently noticed that at the bottom of the email is a link to request the next installment NOW instead of waiting 24 hours. So I’ve forged ahead in What Ho, Jeeves and it’s very hard to stop. This is bad. Email counts as “work” and I plan my day accordingly. I don’t have hours to spend “working” on P.G. Wodehouse, but I’m completely helpless to stop.

Challenge to myself

I did the authors meme this week and realized something shocking. It has been ages since I sought out multiple books by a single author. Not that I haven’t read any good books lately (au contraire!). No, I think the fault is yours — all you book bloggers who keep writing amazing reviews that send me scurrying to the library for more more more but never the same author twice. So, my challenge to myself is to read “another book by the same author.” I have a copy of Amsterdam on my shelf, and since I loved Atonement so much, I think I’ll start with that.