I loved this book. It’s narrated by a young girl whose father is an obsessively strict Catholic. He holds the family to impossibly high standards, meting out harsh punishment when they don’t measure up. The father refuses to associate with “heathens”—a category which includes his father.

The book reminds me a lot of Achebe’s Things Fall Apart—it echoes a some of the same themes, exploring the conflict between Christianity and the Igbo culture and traditions. Excellent, excellent book.

I didn’t get into this one before I had to return it to the library. I may pick it up again sometime, though.

This book is hilarious. What can I say—I love punctuation humor, and I will freely admit to being the type of person who calls attention to public grammar errors. The British humor certainly doesn’t hurt.

This is sort of a memoir-ish account of Collins’ move from San Francisco, California to Hay-on-Wye, the famous “Town of Books” in Wales. I visited Hay-on-Wye in 2000, and found the place delightful. I have fond memories of browsing for books in the shadow of Hay Castle.

The book was great fun. Collins incorporates references to obscure books throughout his narrative, as well as observations on life in Britain. A favorite passage involves a meditation on water pressure in British showers.

Another favorite passage:

“If a book cover has raised lettering, metallic lettering, or raised metallic lettering, then it is telling the reader: ‘Hello. I am an easy-to-read work on espionage, romance, a celebrity, and/or murder.’ To readers who do not care for such things, this lettering tells them: ‘Hello. I am crap.’”

You may be interested to note that Sixpence House has no raised lettering, metallic lettering, or raised metallic lettering on its cover.

I keep getting distracted from this one, as often happens to me with nonfiction. I’ll get back to it at some point.

I started this and then went to Wales. Lousy reason for getting distracted, but there you go. Once I get through Foucault’s Pendulum, I’ll pick it up again.

I listened to this on CD on my drive to LA this weekend. Gaiman is a great reader. It’s a wonderful and slightly creepy tale. Loved it.

I re-read this over the weekend. It was just as good the second time. I’ve gotta get the second one…

Just finished this. It’s not Tolkien, but it was pretty good. I tore through the bulk of it quickly and really enjoyed the story, though the themes weren’t always very subtle. A couple of the more minor characters were quite annoying, but the two main characters, Elli and Tamwyn, were very likable. I want to hear more about Elli in particular as the series continues. I’m interested to read the next installment.

Loved it.

I Capture the Castle is made up of a series of three journals written by 17-year-old Cassandra Mortmain, who lives with her family in a dilapidated castle. Her father wrote one innovative, groundbreaking novel many years ago, but hasn’t written anything since. The family has little income, and Cassandra’s older sister is determined to marry rich. When the Mortmain’s castle is inherited by a rich young American…well, you can see where this might go.

I like the way the book maintains the immediacy of a journal, and yet allows some narrative distance by having Cassandra narrate events a few days or weeks after the events occur. What I don’t like about journal narratives is that the narrator has little room to reflect on events with any real perspective, but this book managed that quite well. Cassandra is an amazing, insightful narrator, and this is an amazing book.

The movie’s a pretty good adaptation, too.