And The Earth Died Screaming. While I Lay Dreaming

Today is the day to go over my traveling through books for the month of March, and boy howdee, do we all need a vacation through books these days.

I read seven books for the month of March. One of them was HUGE, and I switched around the order of my books, since at about the middle of the month I wanted to read escapist fiction, or "beach books".

1.) The first book I took a trip through was "The Japanese Lover" by Isabel Allende. It took me to San Francisco mostly, In a retirement community, but then flashbacked to several places. It was a about a younger woman with a lot of scars from her childhood who gets a job at a retirement community right around San Francisco, and meets an old woman there who's story she discovers. It wasn't groundbreaking fiction, but it was a nice little story and a fun vacation.

2.) The second book I traveled with was "4321", by Paul Auster. It was the VERY long book I was telling you about. It started right around WW II and went into the early 70's. It told four different stories of four men all with the same name and parents and family history, but then each boy had different things happen in their lives, to make them all different. The concept was interesting, the writing was good, but at almost 900 pages, I ended up skimming the last part of it. It was too bad, but you know how my attention span is...

3.) My third book trip was "Daisy Jones and the Six", by Taylor Jenkins Reid. I was hoping it would be a fun Summer type book, but it wasn't great. It took place in the 1970's, mostly in the LA area and it was about a band and the two lead singers in it, and their issues. I wish it had more of a feel of the 70's. These people are all being interviewed after the fact, but it would have been nice to be taken back there a little better. It definitely felt like the writer hadn't lived back then and remembered that people that age were all talking in SNL quotes, and wearing their gigantic combs in the backs of their too tight jeans pockets. Mostly, the story wasn't that great, sadly.

4.) My fourth book trip was Sally Rooney's "Normal People". I loved this novel. It took place in Ireland in the 2000's. It was about a relationship between two people from different backgrounds that evolved as they went through high school and college. The woman was from a wealthy family and had an abusive home situation that made her feel like she was a bad person (because her family kept telling her she was), and then she sought out relationships where guys treated her like crap, since she believed her family, and thought she deserved it. Boy, did that feel way too close to home. The freeing thing about reading this book, was that it reminded me of how far I've come. I kept thinking,"why is she putting up with that? Why doesn't she leave him?", but forgetting what it felt like to feel so badly about yourself, that it wouldn't occur to leave in those situations. This book trip was so liberating for me, because it made me look at myself in my twenties, and early thirties, and feel just how far I have come since then. I'm glad I've worked so hard on my shit.

5.) The fifth book I read was "Imago" by Octavia Butler. It was the third book in the trilogy. I love Octavia Butler, but this series wasn't my favorite, and I can't figure out why. I really loved the second book, mostly because it seemed more emotional with more of an actual story and characters I could feel something about. The first book was a lot of set-up, and the third book was the closure. I'm not sure if the third book was hard to read because of what's going on in the world right now, and this post-apocalypse seemed too close, or what. I think I'll have to read it again in happier times to see if that makes a difference.

6.) The sixth book I read was by another Iowa Writer's Workshop alumni, Curtis Sittenfeld. I read "American Wife". It was very loosely based on Laura Bush. It took place mostly in Wisconsin and then at the end, in DC. I really enjoyed it. I thought everything was believable and I was really into the story of it. I basiclly devoured that book in a couple of days.

7.) The last book trip I went on was written by someone who lives in Iowa City. It took me to Minnesota, but right right on the Iowa/Minnesota border. "The Current", by Tim Johnston was a detective/mystery book about two college aged women who's car goes into a creek and falls through the ice in Winter, and about another young woman who died in that same river about 10 years before. It was a sad trip, but also one that kept me up until three in the morning, trying to figure it all out.

So, I had mostly good reading vacations last month, which I'm glad for, because I REALLY needed them. I hope for the same in April. Since I'm stuck at home for the most part, I plan on traveling through my books as a necessity now.