Last week I finally finished reading Under the Banner of Heaven. Everything I said about it in my previous Summer Reading post still stands. I ordered two more books by Jon Krakauer, Into Thin Air and Into the Wild, which arrived today. (Mike: "Why do all his titles begin with prepositions?" And another aside: Note to self--Stop ordering from Amazon! They waste so much plastic and cardboard on their packaging.)
Last week I also read Kindred, by Octavia E. Butler. The plot was captivating and kept me turning pages. A young black woman in 1976 Los Angeles is transported back in time to save the life of a white plantation owner in the Antebellum South, who turns out to be her ancestor. She keeps having to save his life in order to lead to ultimately save her own. But the writing style was very matter-of-fact and I had really wanted to be swept up by emotion. It's a big deal, being a black woman coming face-to-face with your white slave-owning ancestor, and I wanted to be in tears by the end of it. But I wasn't. I was curious about where the story would go, but I wasn't emotionally invested.
I don't know what I'll pick up next. For months I've been slogging through Simon Winchester's A Crack in the Edge of the World, about the 1906 San Franciso earthquake (like I really need to freak myself out over that). But I'm tempted to pick up one of my new Jon Krakauer books. They're thin, so I can pick them off quickly.
2 comments:
I really liked "Into the Wild". I'm curious what you think about it when you finish.
We have Under the Banner of Heaven and I keep meaning to start reading it.
Hi Stephanie, I popped over here from the stitchers' guild. I just listened to "Under the Banner of Heaven" on my iPod. Krakauer did a masterful job of weaving Mormonism's history with the events surrounding the murder. I found the book enlightening. I also share many of the feelings you described in your first "summer reading" post.
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