Spiegelman tells the story of his father's experience as a Holocaust survivor. I was a little put off by the fact that it was a comic book. There's something jarring about combining cartoons with such serious history. But, the immediacy of the comic strip really brings the story and the reality of such an awful time to live. I plan on reading Maus II next.

Housekeeping
by Marilynne Robinson

Imagine the blank light of Judgment falling on you suddenly. It would be like that. For even things lost in a house abide, like forgotten sorrows and incipient dreams, and many household things are of purely sentimental value, like the dim coil of thick hair, saved from my grandmother's girlhood, which was kept in a hatbox on top of the wardrobe, along with my mother's gray purse. In the equal light of disinterested scrutiny such things are not themselves.

Good book. It was incredibly well written. The language was slow and fantastically done. It is about two girls whose mother leaves them at their grandmother's house and then drives herself into a lake. After the grandmother comes, they are cared for by spinster great aunts and then their mother's sister who was (and is at heart) a transient. The story itself lagged for me at times. I really enjoyed the end, though. All of the themes of the book came together. The main character has to choose between her sister and her aunt and, in a sense, her childhood or herself.


These Is My Words
by Nancy Turner

Fabulous book. This is the story of girl who travels with her family from Oregon to Texas to Arizona. The beginning is really intense and awful things happen to the family, but the story grips you and pulls you in.

The Myth of You and Me
by Leah Stewart

This was an interesting, easy read. It is the story of a 30 year old woman who is still dealing with her high school and college experiences. She is unable to put down roots and maintain real relationships. When her best friend from high school writes to her, the story of their relationship slowly comes out. It plays with the idea of who are in relation to our friends and how we change and bend for others.

March

Inconceivable
by Ben Elton

Novel about a British couple in their mid-thirties trying to have a baby. It was good, but not great. It was funny and had some interesting twists, but I don't know if I would have finished it if it didn't deal with infertility.

Songbook
by Nick Hornby
I read a lot of Nick Hornby, and by the time I picked up this book I think I was just a little tired of him. Although I'd probably have enjoyed another book of fiction. This book is self-indulgent meanderings about his favorite songs. It's just alright.


Follies
by Ann Beattie

Well written, but I couldn't care less about the characters or the story, for that matter. Not recommended.