- Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban by J. K. Rowling
- 600 Hours of Edward by Craig Lancaster
- American Spirit by Dan Kennedy
- Revenge Wears Prada by Lauren Weisberger
- The Call of Earth by Orson Scott Card
- Telex from Cuba by Rachel Kusher
- The Silence of Bonadventure Arrow by Rita Leganski
- Waiting for Columbus byThomas Trofimuk
- Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter by Tom Franklin
- Care of Wooden Floors by Will Wiles
Many of the books I bought and read this past month were choices made through the Amazon Whispersync for Voice mechanism to synchronize kindle ebooks with the Audible versions. Aside from the mechanism itself, Amazon offers very reasonably priced kindle ebooks (daily and monthly deals) and heavily discounted audio versions. I went crazy and downloaded a whole bunch and six of the ten books above were purchased this way. I knew nothing of the authors beforehand but all of them without exception were enjoyable. 600 Hours deals with how an adult man with Asperger's gets on in a social context with new life-changing challenges. I enjoyed it so much I bought the sequel. American Spirit reminded me of Douglas Coupland's writing style and it appears I'm not the only person to think that. Kennedy makes some amazing descriptions of every day objects and events that we all ignore as ordinary. Telex from Cuba reads like little snippets of news as it might peel off from a telex machine as it describes the events of the Cuban revolution through the 50s from the perspective of lives that it impacted. Bonadventure Arrow was not something I was expecting -- a beautiful story told like a fable or fairy tale about how a mute child with incredible hearing heals the broken lives of those around him. Crooked Letter seemed like a genre I don't usually go for -- a crime novel. But the story unfolded making Faulkner-esque observations about the South which I really liked. Last of the ebooks was Care of Wooden Floors. I loved the protagonist who reminded me a lot of the Timothy Cavendish character in Cloud Atlas who suffers in a comically cruel way from events seemingly beyond his control.
Now for the other books I already had. Revenge was a bust. I don't know how or why I finished it. I hoped, I guess, that it would get better. In the last 10% of the book there were hints of former greatness but the rest was boring drivel. Call of Earth is a second installment of the Homecoming series. It was ok but not as enjoyable as the Alvin Maker or Ender series. I'll keep going with it though. Waiting for Columbus wasn't at all like I thought it would be. But for all that, it was a good read. An amnesiac patient thinks he Christopher Columbus. He charms those around him with his tales of adventure that work up to the point of where the past meets the present.
October will be a breeze...
