why be happy when you could be normal, jeanette winterson
this memoir was simultaneously terribly sad and extremely uplifting. not only was 'oranges are not the only fruit' not depressing enough but it turns out it was the glossier cover version! out of all of winterson's writing this book was much more prose and direct that usual, making it all the more stark. i imagine winterson to be a towering force of nature.
townie, andre dubus iii
i like reading about childhoods (as previously mentioned) and the first third of this memoir was particularly good with an undercurrent exploring the roots of violence. the middle third started to drag.. the end was ok. this is a boring review because i want to get to the next one! but i would rate this very highly in terms of memoirs by people who have not had extremely interesting things happen in their lives.
ghost lights, lydia millet
i started this book and read the majority of it thinking yeah, yeah, this is ok, i don't love the main character but i don't hate him, i kinda like the journey of self discovery he has taken throughout this somewhat typical journey to a tropical island country complete with manhunts and tiny covert military operations and stereotypical side characters. all of that is well and good. and it would have been fine with a typical loose-end-tying culmination and resolution. but no. the entire last chapter changes everything and turns it into a book worth at least another read right away.
eta: i do have one significant criticism for this book and it is that the font for the page numbers is way too quirky such that it is too difficult to read and therefore remember the page at which one pauses.
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