let's take the long way home & a visit from the goon squad

I've said it once, I'll say it again.  An e-reader makes me read more and faster.

I still love a good book in my hands.  The two things are satisfying in entirely different ways.  But if you're the type who reads less for recreation and more for lifeblood, then you will benefit from an e-reader.  (I read digitally on an iPad, but of course there are other options.)

Let's Take the Long Way Home by Gail Caldwell had been on my radar for title alone, but when my friend and fellow life-reader Shauna mentioned it, I downloaded it immediately.

"The false starts probably mirrored my tendency toward flight and longing.  Leave Texas, then miss it forever.  Love your family from two thousand miles away." - LTTLWH

It's a story about the kind of friendship that you only have once in your life.  The kind of soulmate that fills you up differently than your spouse or your sibling or any other of the wonderful friendships you have throughout your lifetime.  Maybe you experience it when you're young, and so then you spend decades trying to find a relationship that's comparable.  Or maybe, like in this memoir, you find it in the middle of your life, and it becomes an island.

The book is very, very sad.  And towards the end, the story becomes very dog-heavy (both women have and are obsessed with their canines), but I didn't mind either of these things. 

I read this non-fiction account with both nostalgia and hope.  I believe I've glimpsed what a friendship like this is about, and I also know that in this big ole city I don't have it. 

A Visit from the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan was my pick for book club this month.  I've been wanting to read it for months, since I saw a few respected book bloggers I follow on twitter raving about it. 

There seems to be some confusion about this book.  I've seen it discussed as series of short stories and this isn't true.  It is a series of vignettes, but it's always following through the same group of characters or extensions of characters.  What may be confusing for some readers is that it jumps back and forth in time and substance quite a bit. 

"'Rich children are always blond,' Jocelyn goes.  'It has to do with vitamins.'  Believe me, I don't mistake that for information.  I know everyone Jocelyn knows."

I thought it was excellent story telling and excellent writing.  I cared about even the characters that I only knew for a few pages.  And I liked how interconnected some of the characters were, many without knowledge.  I find that in my own life and it's always sort of a delight.  (Or a shiver, whichever.)

If I hadn't read a novel in years, this probably wouldn't be the one I would pick up.  But if I was bored with reading the same old type of narrative, Goon Squad is a fresh experience. 

What are you reading these days?

You can find a list of my very favorite books by clicking here or follow me on goodreads here.

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