Hey! How's it going at your end of the world? Me, I've had some problems these last few weeks, and at the risk of becoming one of those little old ladies who'll talk about their ills to anybody who'll listen, I'm going to fill you in on the particulars, then I'll move on to the good stuff, like reading and books. OK? My review of The Poisonwood Bible is down at the end of the post, so if you want to skip all the personal stuff, feel free.
Long story short...I have poor digestion, and the Dr. prescribed Lorazepam for the 'anxiety' that was causing it. I got 'addicted' after only three weeks, have been going thru withdrawal for another three weeks, but have escaped relatively OK.
Meanwhile, I began to suspect there were food sensitivities involved in this whole thing. With some tedious food testing on my own, I have realized that not all of my tummy trouble was anxiety after all; it is definitely food related! There's quite a list I have going too. It's amazing that I can go whole days now without the terrible pressure I experienced while eating those foods!
One last thing. I got a new eyeglasses prescription, but the new script was horrible, so they had to re do them;now I've waited two weeks for them instead of one. Bad reading glasses really cut down quality reading time.
Even with all the tummy/eye dramas going on, I was able to read a book or two. My review, such as it is, of my first book read in The New Classics Book Challenge is below.
My thoughts on The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver? Man Oh Man, It's no wonder it earned a place on the New Classics list. I can only describe it as A GREAT AND TERRIBLE book. I didn't want to stop reading it, but was afraid what new horror I would encounter should I turn the page. Now, maybe horror is the wrong word, a little strong, but there were horrible things happening thru this story. At times I almost believed it was a true story. After all Missionaries back in the day of the 50's/60's had it pretty rough. Come to think of it, a lot of them still do, even 50 years later.
The story is about a family named Price, whose father Nathan is a fanatical preacher who takes his wife and four daughters to Africa in 1959 to preach the Gospel to the natives living there. Let's just say it's not a success, and as Nathan Price sinks lower into his insanity* ( and he was insane; had been since he had been a soldier in WW2,) his family unravels, and scatters to the four winds. It is not a happy story, but a good one.
* That's not to say all Missionaries are insane!!! I've actually known some very sane ones. But, I have known some Nathan Price types along the way, too.( Please don't ask.)
Anyway, I recommend this book. I can't say as I understood much of the ramblings of the mother when it was her turn to 'speak', but suffice it to say she was one hurting woman. I may go back and read this again some day. It was that good.
Below is the 'link' to the New Classics challenge, and under that you will find the list of new classics.
http://lostinagoodstory.blogspot.com/2008/07/new-classics-challenge.html
1. The Road, Cormac McCarthy (2006)
2. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, J.K. Rowling (2000)
3. Beloved, Toni Morrison (1987)
4. The Liars' Club, Mary Karr (1995)
5. American Pastoral, Philip Roth (1997)
6. Mystic River, Dennis Lehane (2001)
7. Maus, Art Spiegelman (1986/1991)
8. Selected Stories, Alice Munro (1996)
9. Cold Mountain, Charles Frazier (1997)
10. The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle, Haruki Murakami (1997)
11. Into Thin Air, Jon Krakauer (1997)
12. Blindness, José Saramago (1998)
13. Watchmen, Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons (1986-87)
14. Black Water, Joyce Carol Oates (1992)
15. A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius, Dave Eggers (2000)
16. The Handmaid's Tale, Margaret Atwood (1986)
17. Love in the Time of Cholera, Gabriel García Márquez (1988)
18. Rabbit at Rest, John Updike (1990)
19. On Beauty, Zadie Smith (2005)
20. Bridget Jones's Diary, Helen Fielding (1998)
21. On Writing, Stephen King (2000)
22. The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, Junot Díaz (2007)
23. The Ghost Road, Pat Barker (1996)
24. Lonesome Dove, Larry McMurtry (1985)
25. The Joy Luck Club, Amy Tan (1989)
26. Neuromancer, William Gibson (1984)
27. Possession, A.S. Byatt (1990)
28. Naked, David Sedaris (1997)
29. Bel Canto, Anne Patchett (2001)
30. Case Histories, Kate Atkinson (2004)
31. The Things They Carried, Tim O'Brien (1990)
32. Parting the Waters, Taylor Branch (1988)
33. The Year of Magical Thinking, Joan Didion (2005)
34. The Lovely Bones, Alice Sebold (2002)
35. The Line of Beauty, Alan Hollinghurst (2004)
36. Angela's Ashes, Frank McCourt (1996)
37. Persepolis, Marjane Satrapi (2003)
38. Birds of America, Lorrie Moore (1998)
39. Interpreter of Maladies, Jhumpa Lahiri (2000)
40. His Dark Materials, Philip Pullman (1995-2000)
41. The House on Mango Street, Sandra Cisneros (1984)
42. LaBrava, Elmore Leonard (1983)
43. Borrowed Time, Paul Monette (1988)
44. Praying for Sheetrock, Melissa Fay Greene (1991)
45. Eva Luna, Isabel Allende (1988)
46. Sandman, Neil Gaiman (1988-1996)
47. World's Fair, E.L. Doctorow (1985)
48. The Poisonwood Bible, Barbara Kingsolver (1998)
49. Clockers, Richard Price (1992)
50. The Corrections, Jonathan Franzen (2001)
51. The Journalist and the Murderer, Janet Malcom (1990)
52. Waiting to Exhale, Terry McMillan (1992)
53. The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay, Michael Chabon (2000)
54. Jimmy Corrigan, Chris Ware (2000)
55. The Glass Castle, Jeannette Walls (2006)
56. The Night Manager, John le Carré (1993)
57. The Bonfire of the Vanities, Tom Wolfe (1987)
58. Drop City, TC Boyle (2003)
59. Krik? Krak! Edwidge Danticat (1995)
60. Nickel & Dimed, Barbara Ehrenreich (2001)
61. Money, Martin Amis (1985)
62. Last Train To Memphis, Peter Guralnick (1994)
63. Pastoralia, George Saunders (2000)
64. Underworld, Don DeLillo (1997)
65. The Giver, Lois Lowry (1993)
66. A Supposedly Fun Thing I’ll Never Do Again, David Foster Wallace (1997)
67. The Kite Runner, Khaled Hosseini (2003)
68. Fun Home, Alison Bechdel (2006)
69. Secret History, Donna Tartt (1992)
70. Cloud Atlas, David Mitchell (2004)
71. The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down, Ann Fadiman (1997)
72. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, Mark Haddon (2003)
73. A Prayer for Owen Meany, John Irving (1989)
74. Friday Night Lights, H.G. Bissinger (1990)
75. Cathedral, Raymond Carver (1983)
76. A Sight for Sore Eyes, Ruth Rendell (1998)
77. The Remains of the Day, Kazuo Ishiguro (1989)
78. Eat, Pray, Love, Elizabeth Gilbert (2006)
79. The Tipping Point, Malcolm Gladwell (2000)
80. Bright Lights, Big City, Jay McInerney (1984)
81. Backlash, Susan Faludi (1991)
82. Atonement, Ian McEwan (2002)
83. The Stone Diaries, Carol Shields (1994)
84. Holes, Louis Sachar (1998)
85. Gilead, Marilynne Robinson (2004)
86. And the Band Played On, Randy Shilts (1987)
87. The Ruins, Scott Smith (2006)
88. High Fidelity, Nick Hornby (1995)
89. Close Range, Annie Proulx (1999)
90. Comfort Me With Apples, Ruth Reichl (2001)
91. Random Family, Adrian Nicole LeBlanc (2003)
92. Presumed Innocent, Scott Turow (1987)
93. A Thousand Acres, Jane Smiley (1991)
94. Fast Food Nation, Eric Schlosser (2001)
95. Kaaterskill Falls, Allegra Goodman (1998)
96. The Da Vinci Code, Dan Brown (2003)
97. Jesus’ Son, Denis Johnson (1992)
98. The Predators' Ball, Connie Bruck (1988)
99. Practical Magic, Alice Hoffman (1995)
100. America (the Book), Jon Stewart/Daily Show (2004)
