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Since finally finishing Jonathan Franzen's Freedom I have regained my own personal freedom in selecting reading material. For the record, I will never again read another of Franzen's self-indulgent, over-sized volumes about some of the least likable people in the universe. Screw you, Pulitzer and National Book Award conferrers - the appeal of his stories simply escapes me.
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There have been a couple of things, however, which I read this summer and thoroughly enjoyed. The first was Sarah's Key, written by Tatiana de Rosnay. This fictional work about the roundup of Jews in France during World War II was near impossible for me to put down. I've always had an interest in Holocaust literature and have read many books about this topic (one of my favorites is the Book Thief by Marcus Zusak), however, I was completely unfamiliar with this dark part of French history. A movie starring Kristin Scott Thomas has just been released and I sincerely hope the filmmakers did this great little book justice.
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I must admit, I feel a connection to Tina Fey. Like me, she wears smart girl glasses and her character on 30 Rock, Liz Lemon, has an old school card catalog in her home. For sheer fun, I can't recommend Tina Fey's book, Bossypants, enough. She is one hilarious lady and her voice carries consistently throughout this book as she shares her personal and professional lives with the reader. I can't remember the last time I literally laughed out loud when reading a book, but this autobiography cracked me up. If only Bossypants was the same length as Freedom my summer reading would have been much more balanced between enjoyable and an endurance contest.
What was on your summer reading list? Winners? Losers?
If you liked Sarah's Key, you might also like A High and Hidden Place by Michele Claire Lucas. Based on a true story and also set in France during the Holocaust. I picked it up in a Friends of the Library book sale. Also Sofi Oksanen writes the book Purge (picked up in Heathrow airport on our way back from France - Yeah I had lots on my iPad but this just called out to me from the shelves of Waterstone's) about the Soviet occupation of Estonia. Both winners in my book. Want me to keep going? I can get really dark, dark, dark... Tina Fey may just be the antidote I sometimes need. Thanks!
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ReplyDeleteAnother rarely discussed aspect of the holocaust. I missed my subway stop reading it, which sounds like no big deal until you realize that I am the last stop on the n line. We literally sat in the station for ten minutes and then were two stops back towards manhattan before I looked up from the book and realized what happened!
Your description of Jonathon Frantzen's writing made me laugh out loud. I also loved Sarah's Key, in a heartbreaking way. A friend gave me the audio version of Bossypants, and it was a great listen while driving on summer road trips. I'm knee-deep in Island Beneath the Sea, Isabel Allende's new book. It's the story of a slave girl in Saint-Dominique, 1770. Good summer reading.
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