The Reader

I've owned this book for a couple years with really good intentions to get to it. When I saw the movie trailer I knew I needed to read it before seeing the film--always the best order of things. As the book opens with a sexual relationship beginning between 15 year old Michael and 36 year old Hannah I was, frankly, feeling disgusted. Not at the author, though. Although the story is told in the first person from Michael's point of view, one doesn't get the sense that the author or Michael is defending such a relationship as good or healthy. During the second and third sections of the book Michael deals with the personal consequences of this relationship, especially when he meets up with Hannah again. Set in post-World War II Germany I was very intrigued with the themes of responsibility, shame, and guilt that the author delves into. I highly recommend this book.

The Virgin Blue

Tracy Chevalier's first novel, the reader is introduced to two women in France, 400 years apart. Ella Turner, an American recently moved to a small French village, and Isabelle Tournier, a distant relative of Ella's who has a tumultuous life as a Huguenot. The novel flips back and forth between their stories and attempts some suspense, but doesn't do an especially good job of it. Although Ella is a sympathetic character at first, she becomes tedious and I began to become irritated with her. I had not read about France and Switzerland in this way before and found the true historical setting quite interesting. Unfortunately, the story is lacking.

Click

Recommended by a friend, I was intrigued by this book initially because it has ten chapters written by ten different authors. The two names that stood out to me were Nick Hornby and Eoin Colfer. Each chapter weaves a piece of the life of a photojournalist, George Keane, and his family's discovery of his life. The book has interesting characters and a fairly well woven thread. The last few chapters become a little odd, as if those authors had a vision different than the first seven or eight, but other than that, I recommend this as a good read. The proceeds of this book are given to Amnesty International. Another reason to read it!