Monday 8 July 2013

It's Monday! What are you Reading?


Props to Sheila from Book Journey for hosting this weekly meme! You all know the drill by now. 

For the last few days I have been slowly making my way through People of the Book by Geraldine Brooks:


For those of you who follow my blog, this novel is slightly incongruous with the type of novels that I usually read and write about. I'm no elitist prick when it comes to literature but I tend not to stray far from the so-called "classics" or read much modern fiction published after 1965. I recently joined a book club at my local library and this is pick for the month of July, so there you have it. Much to my surprise, it's turning out to be a pretty decent read so far; nothing spectacular or mind-blowing but entertaining nonetheless. It reminds me of C.S.I. except instead of solving crimes, the female protagonist investigates old manuscripts or rare books that have been lost for centuries and through meticulous examination she is able to provide an exegesis on the history of these texts as they pass from one person to another over time--hence, the title of the novel. The narrative technique of jumping back in time, introducing a host of new characters and different stories as they come into contact with this rare Jewish text is interesting. I am curious to see how Brooks will tie all of the subplots together. I hope to devote more time to reading it but with my busy work schedule, this has proved most difficult.

Has anyone read this one or anything else by this author?

4 comments:

  1. I enjoy Brooks, but I haven't read this particular book. I thought The Year of Wonders was a great read :)

    Happy reading!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hi Jennifer! Cool, that one sounds pretty interesting. She also has a Pulitzer Prize under her belt so that is slightly reassuring.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I liked People of the Book a lot. I've also read her novels March and The Year of Wonders. I like that her stories start with really meticulous historical research but they aren't constrained by it.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Awesome, its good to hear from someone who enjoyed this book. True, you can tell that Brooks definitely did a lot of research not only relation to history but more impressively, book conservation--fascinating stuff. Thanks for stopping by Lindsey!

    ReplyDelete