Room

Room: A Novel by Emma Donoghue is one psychological train wreck of a book. I almost gave up on it a quarter of the way through because of the awkward, disjointed syntax supposedly representing the speech and thought patterns of the five-year-old boy who narrates the story.

Reading the first half of this book (on my friend Connie's nook), I felt like a voyeur —like it was wrong for me to bear witness to the everyday occurrences being described by the innocent boy. After all, the heroine and her son are being held hostage in an old shed by a psychopath known only as Old Nick.

Maybe I shouldn't have watched the five-part documentary on YouTube about the miserable-excuse-for-a-human-being upon whose true-life story the book's plot is based. Just knowing that such a scenario actually took place definitely added to the 'ick-factor' for me. If you can stand it, you can read about the Josef Fritzl case here.

One Thousand White Women

I think I love historical fiction. Reading One Thousand White Women: The Journals of May Dodd by Jim Fergus reminded me of how I felt when I read The Red Tent. Instead of taking place during Biblical times, however, the setting is the American West during the late 1800s. When the characters are interesting and believable, I become totally caught up in their story and end up learning a great deal about how the time period shaped their feelings and actions.

May Dodd is a fictitious character who participates in a scandalous "Brides for Indians" program secretly concocted between President Ulysses S. Grant and Little Wolf, chief of the Cheyenne nation. The intent is to encourage peaceful relations between the native Americans and the early settlers during westward expansion. The book offers insight into a conflict as old as humankind — how diversity between people can be an enriching experience if we don't allow it to destroy us.

Bossypants

Bossypants by Tina Fey had me laughing out loud. I love her obnoxious, snide sense of humor! But, what ultimately makes her book so readable is her intelligence. She knows how to 'turn a phrase,' and her commentary on equality and contemporary social issues gives her writing substance. Still, it's mostly a funny book—an inside look into the life and career of a smart and quick-witted woman.

PS: I wonder whose arms those are...