Book Talk

 Over winter break, I read A Little Life.  This book was super long, but very good. The story follows four friends as they leave college and work to make their way in the world in.  They are very different people, with varied backgrounds, but who rely heavily on one another for stability.  Over the decades, their relationships are marked with success, failure, addiction, and demons from the past that still haunt the present day.  This last part is most true for Jude, the one of the bunch who has, throughout the years, been the group's common center.  While all four of the friends are important to the story, Jude's story is central - and it's traumatic.  It covers deep, dark ground, and although the book was excellent, it was heavy and very, very sad.

I also read Dear Mr. M, which was a pretty quick, thrilling read.  Mr. M is a famous author who writes a book about the real-life disappearance of a teacher who had an affair with one of his students.  The book constantly goes between the real event, Mr. M's life, and the current day-to-day of a person who was allegedly involved with the disappearance of the teacher.  I know that sounds confusing, but it wasn't when I read it.  Super interesting, and hooks you from the start.

"I used to walk to school with my nose buried in a book."

-Coolio