All in Popular Books
In reading a first lady’s memoir you might expect descriptions, perhaps some even heartfelt, about what it was really like spending four, or maybe eight, years in the White House. Michelle Obama delivers that, hands down. But, in addition she offers her readers much, much more.
Another popular read, which I am a bit late getting around to,Sweetbitter was every bit as entertaining as promised. I have not watched the television adaptation, but I can imagine it is also quite fun.
I have been wanting to read this book for a long time, and I know I am quite late to the game in singing its praises. This book is a modern classic, and one of the best books I have read in a long time.
In a previous issue, I reviewed We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves by Karen Joy Fowler. I loved that book so much, that I gave it as a Christmas gift and found myself exploring what else Fowler had written. Happily, I found The Jane Austen Book Club, written nine years before We Are All Completely… Although very different from her other book, The Jane Austen Book Club is similarly innovative both in its story and in the way that Fowler tells it.
Full Disclosure: This is the first Dave Eggers book I’ve ever read, so that fact that it is essentially a beach read is probably weird. The book opens with protagonist Mae Holland heading to The Circle for her first day at a new job. She is thrilled because this is the most important and respected company in the country, and probably the world.
My mom and I both read this book, and were both hesitant to review it. In the end I agreed to do it because this is an important book. That is my opinion, but obviously, also the opinion of the literary establishment.
