Life of Pi by Yann Martel
It's not atheists who get stuck in my craw, but agnostics. Doubt is useful for a while. We must all pass through the garden of Gethsame. If Christ played with doubt, so must we. If Christ spent an anguished night in prayer, if He burst out from the Cross, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" then sure sure we are also permitted to doubt. But we must move on. To choose doubt as a philosophy of life is akin to choosing immobility as a means of transportation.

This was a great book. It has been recommended to me several times. I picked it up once a few years ago, and gave up on it after just a few pages. I don't know why. This time everything about it was fabulous from beginning to mysterious end.

The story is about Pi, a Hindu boy who converts to Christianity and Islam and practices all three religions. His family decides to move from India to Canada, but on the way their ship sinks. Pi finds himself alone in a lifeboat with a Bengal tiger.

Each page is gripping and lyrically beautiful. The story is incredible and leaves you with unanswered questions. It's the questions that make this book so brilliant.


All New People by Anne Lamott

I liked this book, but I didn't like it as much as the other books I've read by Lamott.

The novel begins with Nan Goodman coming back to her hometown after the death of her father and her painful divorce. She goes to see a hypnotist who has her think back through all of the painful and shameful moments of her life, back to her earliest memories. Then, he has her step into each scene as an adult and comfort herself as a child. This helps her to view the events of her life not just through a child's eyes, but her own adult eyes, and forgive herself and help herself.

The novel melts into telling Nan's story of growing up. It is hard, painful, and real. I appreciated Lamott's honesty, but the book seemed to maintain a quiet depression throughout the book that just never lifted. It had a nice premise, good writing, and a light touch, but the story stagnated.


My Name is Asher Lev by Chaim Potok

This book is about Asher Lev, a boy who is a gifted artist and a Ladover Hasidic Jew. His father does not approve of his gift and tries to convince him to give up his art. Asher struggles with the conflicts between his art and his religion.

This is a good book. It is well written, but there's a certain hollow quality to it. Asher feels detached, even in his grief and struggle. And, I think the fact that he was such an artistic genius/prodigy gave the book an unbelievability. His struggle is purely with his religion and hardly at all with the art itself. In the end, I didn't really care about Asher or his family that much. I found them interesting, but not particularly likeable.


A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving
When someone you love dies, and you’re not expecting it, you don’t lose her all at once; you lose her in pieces over a long time - the way the mail stops coming, and her scent fades from the pillows and even from the clothes and drawers. Gradually, you accumulate the parts of her that are gone.

This book started off fabulously, then it dragged in the middle and then I liked it again when it ended. It was well written, but it was long and he would go off on political arguments that were tired and not entirely logical. His indictment of American foreign policy falls quite short. I was expecting more about Vietnam, instead I got Gary Hart.

The main character, John, is writing about his childhood in the 50s and occasionally comes back to 1987 where he attempts to rip President Reagan a new one several times. It was actually funny when he was complaining about Reagan's attitudes toward the Soviet Union and how Americans just don't understand history, but history will judge Reagan. He talks about "Americans" with great disdain, but by "Americans" he simply means Republicans.

The book is about loss, friendship, miracles, growing up in the 50s, coming of age in the 60s, Vietnam, 80s politics, religion, and miracles. Despite disagreeing with many of his tired political "zingers", I think the main reason that I thought about giving up on this book was because it was just too long. I like a long book that sucks you in, but this one just dribbled mundane details.