Every summer I make a reading list of 10 books. This summer I'm hoping to get through two such lists, I have a shelf full of unread books I bought during the year and haven't had time for yet. Here's the first list:
OBS! Spoilers ahead!
1. Bättre tillsammans/Better Together - Sheila O'Flanagan
What better way to start the summer than with "chick lit" (a demeaning term I don't really love but hey, maybe it's time to reclaim it). This book and the next I've been looking at in the shop for ages. I really liked Better Together, it was everything you could ask from the genre, well-written, likeable characters, the perfect amount of drama.
2. Livet efter dig/Me before you - Jojo Moyes
This one, though ... I was not impressed. I really didn't think it was going to turn out to be yet another one of those "the quadriplegic has to die" stories so I was genuinely surprised and very disappointed with the ending, especially because I'd enjoyed it so much up till then. The characters are well developed and you genuinely enjoy "being with them" - right up until the end. It really felt as though the author just wanted to make a point about assisted suicide and invented the characters to suit a message that would perhaps be better suited for a newspaper opinion page, rather than the other way around. And it's not that I'm opposed to assisted suicide - I basically agree with Moyes' argument that it's each person's choice. But the book's insistent liberal individualism, its faith in a world where worth ultimately comes down to money and travel and making business deals - despite claims otherwise - made the book feel somehow American despite the endless references to cups of tea and English holiday towns. The basic argument was that the Good Life can be measured by how many extreme sports and trips to Bali it involves and despite the author's efforts to portray the working class compassionately it seems quite clear which side of the class divide one should prefer to be on. And this is all besides a dismal portrayal of life with a disability. As I read in another review, it doesn't seem like the author has real-life experience there, but just decided "now I'll write a story about what it must be like to become paralyzed"; considering that a lot of people who read this book probably don't have any first hand experience either, that's a problem. I don't know. It was an upsetting read on a lot of levels; of course I wouldn't care this much if it hadn't been well-written to begin with.
One last thing - the character commits suicide just over two years after his injury. Now, my understanding of assisted suicide clinics is that they go to great lengths to make sure you really want to make that decision and it seemed a little unrealistic to me that they would go through with it then, since it is also my understanding that a depression lasting 2-3 years after a spinal cord injury isn't completely uncommon. Again, just another thing that felt "off" with the story line, as if her plot and characters didn't quite fit together with the soap box she shoved in to the novel. I think some people feel that they need to make their chick lit "go beyond" what we expect of the genre - that it has to have some "serious" aspect that's presumed missing from these "petty things women care about". A story where he embraces life, where a life of the mind can - at least somewhat - live up to his previous life of adventure, and where the love of a woman is enough to make someone want to stay alive - nevermind a novel in which the other characters learn to let the disabled character make decisions and reign over his own life as much as possible would have been great.
3. Jane Austen's Sewing Box - Jennifer Forest
My dad bought this for me while he was visiting a couple of weeks ago. I wouldn't have bought it myself (a bit expensive) and it's great! It's full of regency-era craft projects. The photographs are great and the instructions very clear.
4. The Tailor of Panama - John LeCarré
My dad had this with him on the plane and left it here when he went back. I like John Le Carré and a spy drama is perfect summer reading.
5. S. - J.J. Abrams
I have no idea what this is, but it looks very interesting. A friend posted it to me quite a few months ago so I've really got to hurry up and read it.
6. Himmel över London - Håkan Nesser
I bought this at least a year ago after eyeing it for a while. It's about the 60s and I think it's a mystery. During the year I read so much non-fiction so it's fun gulping down novels!
7. The Hare with Amber Eyes - Edmund de Waal
A biography I've been longing to read. I bought it way back in february at the annual book sale, where all the shops in town have a huge sale.
8. How to Eat Out - Giles Coren
Rather cheeky title. It's about Coren's life as a restaurant critic. I think he's very funny so I'm looking forward to it - and have been since I got it for Valentine's day in february. Sigh. I'm terrible!
9. Matens pris - Malin Olofsson
I don't really want to read this anymore, to be honest. I bought it about a year and a half ago when I was really into food issues (still am, but less intensely), but I have no other non-fiction (besides biography) on this list and I do own the book, after all.
10. Nils Holgerssons underbara resa genom sverige - Selma Lagerlöf
A classic. And yet another book I got as a gift and haven't read yet.
