It's Monday, What Are You Reading?

Last week I finished reading Margaret Atwood's recent novel, The Heart Goes Last. I've read every novel Atwood has written, and she's one of my favorite writers; however, I have to admit I was disappointed by this one. While the writing, the sentences themselves, is excellent, the futuristic world in this book is not well-developed enough to make it either understandable or believable. But it was the ending that was most disappointing. Without giving away anything, I found the ending trite and cliche, and as I finished the book, it felt as though the whole book was simply a vehicle for leading up to this cliched ending.

This week I started a Zadie Smith novel, On Beauty. I've never read Smith before, and so far I'm absolutely loving the book. I'm a sucker for a book that stars professors and artists, so I'm sure that's one reason I'm finding the book so gripping, but both the writing and the character development are spectacular as well. Smith will be attending The Festival of Faith and Writing this year in April, which I will also be attending, so I'm looking forward to hearing her speak there.

I'm also reading a funky little memoir titled The Argonauts, by Maggie Nelson. It's so interesting because it includes philisophical insights and references to a variety of academic texts.

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