Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine, by Gail Honeyman

Grade: B

I don’t know. It wasn’t great, but there was definitely some redeeming qualities which, in contrast to Holden Caulfield, made the reading worth it.

Eleanor Oliphant reminded me of two individuals. On the one hand, she is Holden in that she is bratty and arrogant and generally unlikeable - at least for the first third of the story. But then, she has a change and her more redeeming qualities stand out, making her enjoyable. Unlike Mr. Coulfield.

She also reminds me of the main character in Queen’s Gambit in that she is a bit uncomfortable and not a natural fit to the societal norms. Yet, there is something attractive about her, something that draws you in and wonders.

I’m not sure I would recommend it to many, but I wouldn’t discourage you from taking if off my shelf either.

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The Great Alone, by Kristin Hannah

“Mostly he was afraid for Leni, because no matter how this all worked out, no matter if she did everything perfectly and got away and saved her mom, Leni’s heart would always have a broken place. It didn’t matter how you lost a parent or how great or shitty that parent was, a kid grieved forever. Matthew grieved for the mother he’d had. He figured Leni would grieve for the dad she wanted” (pg 359).

One of my favorites. Beautifully written, often poignant, and truthfully told. I loved this story.

Grade: A+

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Pachinko, by Min Jin Lee

A beautiful and terrible story. A real-life journey story.

I friggen loved it.

Grade: A

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Less, by Andrew Sean Greer

“Almost sixty years ago, just after midnight, a few feet from the river where they danced, a wonder of modern engineering occurred: overnight, the Berlin Wall arose. It was the night of August 15, 1961. Berliners awoke on the sixteenth to this marvel, more of a fence at first, concrete posts driven into the streets and festooned with barbed wire. The knew trouble would come but expected it in degrees. Life so often arrives all of a sudden. And who know which side you will find yourself on?” (pg 124).

It isn’t often I am so deeply disappointed in a book. Largely because it is so very rare that I get so excited for a book. Yet, this book captured both: my anticipation and my deep disappointment.

Grade: C-

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My Name is Asher Lev, by Chaim Potok

“He left a taste of thunder in my mouth” (pg 4).

“I’m not made for this. I need people. I hate sitting with telephones” (pg 24).

“To survive, you learn to learn quickly” (pg 38).

“A Jew should not only talk, he should also do” (pg 81).

“Live and be well” (pg 83).

“To touch a person’s heart, you must see a person’s face” (pg 117).

“We must fight against it. Otherwise it will destroy the world” (pg 177).

“Every great artist is a man who has freed himself from his family, his nation, his race. Every man who has shown the world the way to beauty, to true culture, has been a rebel, a ‘universal’ without patriotism, without home, who has found his people everywhere” (pg 203).

“Only those who have mastered a tradition has a right to attempt to add to it or to rebel against it” (pg 213).

“You have a gift, Asher Lev. You have a responsibility” (pg 217).

“You will enter in truth or you will enter not at all” (pg 287).

“You have cross a boundary. I cannot help you. You are alone now. I give you my blessings” (pg 367).

Grade: A+

One of my all-time favorites. I rarely read a book more than once, but this one is an exception.

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Big Sky, by A. B. Guthrie, jr

The following quote says enough about this book:

“Thinking that way made a man feel friendlier toward God. Most folks made God out to be a mean somebody, putting notions in people’s heads and sending them to hell if they acted accordingly. God must have aimed for a man to enjoy himself, so He gave him a hankering for women and put women around him, and when a man pleasured himself, he was doing what God expected all along. Where was the sense in it otherwise? Why were squaws so many and so easy, if not for a purpose?” (pg 219).

Grade: F

Racist, sexist, and truly a pile of garbage.

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