A Long Way Down

At my roommate's urging, I read A Long Way Down by Nick Hornby a couple weeks ago. My roommate, Sara, and her mom were going to hear him speak and since they were raving about Nick Hornby I figured I'd read one of his books and go along to hear him speak.

The book was pretty amazing. The unusual premise focused on several strangers that meet on top of a building on New Years Eve because they were all planning on committing suicide. The four main characters all face various problems in their lives--a severely disabled child, public disgrace, lack of a career, no girl friend, no boy friend. Despite their problems, though, they all come down from the building that night and become a sort of support system for each other. The characters couldn't be more different from each other but nonetheless find something in each other that creates a friendship strong enough to keep them alive.

Despite my somewhat corny synopsis, the book is actually really funny and touching. Hornby really finds a way of getting into the heads of these characters and creating unique voices for each one of them. Despite the sobering topic of suicide the book is quite light hearted and fun. I really enjoyed reading and felt as though I connected with the characters.

I was lucky enough to finish the novel just before Nick Hornby was coming to speak at the DC bookstore, Politics and Prose. The bookstore was totally packed, apparently he has quite the fanatic following. Mainly, he read from his newest book but Hornby also answered many questions and was very gracious as readers asked all about his writing process and the details of his book.

A Long Way Down
by Nick Hornby

Future Reads

I don't usually love reading nonfiction, but lately I've heard about some great nonfiction books. Here is a list of books I hope to read in the future (just finished two days at the Feminist Majority's Women, Money, Power Summit so these books are definitely focused on women):

It Takes a Candidate: why women don't run for office
by Jennifer Lawless

Strategic Communication for Nonprofits: a step by step guide to working with the media

Half the Sky: turning oppression into opportunity for women worldwide
by Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn

Girl with a Pearl Earring

When I was in eighth grade, I went with my family to New York City for the first time. We were there for my cousin Molly's beautiful wedding but there was obviously time for sight seeing, too. We went to the Met and they were having an exhibit on Vermeer; of the paintings featured, Girl with a Pearl Earring was the focus. I saw the painting about the same time that Tracy Chavalier's Girl with a Pearl Earring came out. So, I've been meaning to read it for the last eight years...

Finally, this fall I read and completed the novel. I wasn't expecting much but I still found it disappointing. It was a cute story but not really much more than that. Its always fun to learn about the story behind a famous piece of work, but I found the plot line kind of silly and over dramatized. Griet, the girl in the painting, works as a maid for Vermeer and somehow their long eye contact and touching of hands means that they've fallen in love and closely connected. It just didn't seem very believable to me.

Generally, I don't finish books I don't like but I did finish this novel. Which, I suppose, suggests that I really didn't hate the book. And, that's probably true. It was worth reading while I took the metro back and forth to work (its a small paper back, so it was light in my purse, too). I would recommend this as a vacation read or for something to read when nothing else is around...

I do want to see the movie, though.

Girl with a Pearl Earring
by Tracy Chevalier

Delinquent

So, I've actually already finished three books since starting this blog. Its hard to find time to write about a book after you finish it--usually I want to spend that time reading whatever new book I'm working on.

Throughout this weekend, I'll try to catch up on blogging about the books I've missed so far! In case I don't, these are the books I've read but haven't written about recently: Girl with a Pearl Earring, A Long Way Down, and A History of Tractors in Ukrainian. Currently, I'm reading Saving the World, the book I heard about when Julia Alvarez was speaking so I'm excited to read that!

In other reading related news, my sister, mom and I have decided to start a mother daughter book club. We currently all live in different cities (Chicago, Philadelphia, and Washington, DC) so we're still working out the details of how to communicate about the books we've read, but I'm confident we'll find a way. I think it will be fun way to stay in touch and find out more about each others reading interests. My sister is choosing the first book!