Busy, busy

Travel is good for the reading person. As a result of my recent trip to England, and for that matter, before, I have finished a number of books.

Listened to:
The Art of Racing in the Rain. An okay book, written in first person, by a dog. I chose this book because it was described as touching, funny, and capable of taking the steam out of death. There were a few laugh out loud lines, but not many. I suppose it was touching because there is a death. But the word that most describes this book is predictable. It was clear that Denny, the protagonist, would face a child custody challenge and what grounds there would be for the custody fight. It was clear that there would be a happy ending. So it wasn't a waste of time, but the book was like a snack. Good at the time, but not fulfilling in the end.

Read:

Of Human Bondage, by W. Somerset Maugham. Good from start to finish, and so well written, that I found myself shouting out loud to Philip, the main character, and wanting to tell him to run from that skank, Mildred. I rejoiced when Philip found the Altheny family, who provided him a model of a realistically functional family. Life is tough, and maybe we are limited by our human-ness, but doing what we can to live a rich, full, and good life seems to be an elegant statement of the meaning of life.

It was particularly fun to read this book while I was in London, since the book is set there and Maugham makes reference to many London landmarks, including Picadilly Circus, Green Park, Hyde Park Corner, the Victoria station, etc., many of which I happened to visit.

Driving with Dead People, by Monica Holloway. The best description of this book: self-indulgent. I can appreciate the painful childhood that Monica recounts in this memoir, including the abusive father and the molestation. I can admire Holloway from having come through the fire and survived mostly intact. And if writing down her story was therapeutic, than all the better. But why this story was published and marketed is beyond me. If there was something more than the message described above, I missed it. Holloway has a compelling story, but nothing that merited sharing with the general public. The publisher's description was nothing short of deceptive.