Monday, May 16, 2005
I've been sick and am still not up to full strength, so I'm just going to do a quick rundown of the books I read when I wasn't sleeping or staring out the window in a cold pill induced haze. First up: The House of Sleep by Jonathan Coe for my online book group. It was a quick read and I enjoyed it a lot. Claire didn't like the ending and I'm interested to get into our discussion to find out why not. Maybe it was too tidy? I was surprised that Robert didn't annoy me because that kind of hopeless love and blind devotion usually makes me roll my eyes and yell at the character to get a life.
Anyway. Next one: Slave Day by Rob Thomas. My last one of his you'll no doubt be happy to know. I'm glad I ended his backlist with a strong title. This follows a number of students and teachers as they participate in a school fundraiser called "Slave Day" where members of the student government and teachers are auctioned off as slaves for the day. It addresses racism, of course. But there are also some fun storylines about a computer nerd bought by the richest girl in the school, a girl who realizes that being her boyfriend's slave is actually no different from any other day they're together, and a teacher who had lost sight of all the things he enjoyed about teaching. I liked it but I still think Rats Saw God is Rob's best book.
Okay. Last but not least: Improbable by Adam Fawer. I read about this one on one of the lit blogs and was intrigued by both the back story and the description. It's basically a thriller but with a lot of math and a little bit of poker thrown in. The main character, a math wiz, has epilepsy but when he starts a new drug trial he discovers he can predict the future through probability. It's like that movie Rounders crossed with the TV show Numbers. It started to get a little silly toward the end, but overall it was a lot of fun (although it required much suspension of disbelief).
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Anyway. Next one: Slave Day by Rob Thomas. My last one of his you'll no doubt be happy to know. I'm glad I ended his backlist with a strong title. This follows a number of students and teachers as they participate in a school fundraiser called "Slave Day" where members of the student government and teachers are auctioned off as slaves for the day. It addresses racism, of course. But there are also some fun storylines about a computer nerd bought by the richest girl in the school, a girl who realizes that being her boyfriend's slave is actually no different from any other day they're together, and a teacher who had lost sight of all the things he enjoyed about teaching. I liked it but I still think Rats Saw God is Rob's best book.
Okay. Last but not least: Improbable by Adam Fawer. I read about this one on one of the lit blogs and was intrigued by both the back story and the description. It's basically a thriller but with a lot of math and a little bit of poker thrown in. The main character, a math wiz, has epilepsy but when he starts a new drug trial he discovers he can predict the future through probability. It's like that movie Rounders crossed with the TV show Numbers. It started to get a little silly toward the end, but overall it was a lot of fun (although it required much suspension of disbelief).
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