Books so far in 2010

This year I set myself a resolution to read more books. Since I graduated in July, I can probably count the number of books I read in the remainder of 2009 on one hand. It was nice to have a break from literature for a while, as studying it makes you read in a different way than just reading for pleasure. However, I ended up feeling slightly ashamed of how little I read and how I missed it, so in 2010 I am resolving to read lots more books! And I have. I have already read 4 books so far, which I am quite proud of. Not quite the same as having to read one huge novel in a week for my Undergraduate studies, but hey.

The Life of Pi by Yann Martel

This has been on my bookshelf for such a long time - probably since about 2003. I think I was still at school! I remember vividly buying it at the same time that I bought Everything Is Illuminated by Jonathan Safran Foer, in Waterstones on a special offer. So it was about time that I got round to reading it and I am sad that I waited so long! It is was fabulous. It's about Pi, a 16 year old boy, and his journey after his ship to Canada sinks. His only companions are a Tiger called Richard Parker, a hyena and a dying zebra. It makes for one of the strangest but intriguing books I've read in a long time. It reminded me slightly of Salman Rushdie, maybe because it starts in India but it also has some magic realism aspects to it. Some people don't like that type of surrealism blended with reality, but I really enjoy that kind of writing.

Half Broke Horses by Jeanette Walls

I read this book because of the Slow Readers group that Diana created in the New Year. I won't talk about it too much, as I know some people are still reading it, plus there is the blog post to do on the 4th March regarding it, but I rather enjoyed it. It's not something I would choose to read myself and I'm not sure I would read it again, but it was a very easy read and enjoyable and sad all at the same time.

The Wild Things by Dave Eggers

I bought this book for 3 reasons: 1. I love Dave Eggers. 2. The cover is nice. And 3. It was on offer. As you can tell, it doesn't take too much to sell me a book! Hah. I really enjoyed this book. I had seen bits of Where the Wild Things Are from my Dad watching it, so reading it in book form was a bit weird. It was quite hard to keep track of which wild thing was which (except for Carol). But there were some bits that I loved about it that doesn't come across in the film, such as Max's thoughts about his father and his mother's new relationship, etc. He really manages to get inside Max's mind and it comes across perfectly. It was a nice, easy read again. I think I seemed to be going for easy books to break me in nicely! Plus it was a nice change from some of the heavy things I had to study in Uni.

A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess

So, after 2 easy reads, I went for A Clockwork Orange. I was a bit worried about how I would cope with the Nadsat speech, but I got used to it quite easily (especially once I had googled for a nadsat dictionary/glossary! haha!). It wasn't light hearted either, and at times the violence was a bit creepy/scary. But then I ended up really enjoying it because it reminded me of 1984 in some aspects (the control from the government, etc). I really did end up feeling quite sorry for Alex by the end of it all, although perhaps that is because I tend to forgive too easy.

Have you read any of these books? What did you think? Now, I'm reading The Silver Linings Playbook, which is one of the books from the new Channel 4 TV Book Club. I got it out of the library out of curiosity really (it had a nice cover too). How do you like to choose books? Do you have any other recommendations for me?