What I Talk About When I Talk About Running by Haruki Murakami

What I Talk About When I Talk About Running by Haruki Murakami
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

It was pleasant enough to read if you're not a runner but are a Murakami reader (like me). It seems like he ran out of things to discuss despite the book's short length since he started talking about swimming as well.

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Mala by Melinda Lopez

Mala by Melinda Lopez
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This is so unbelievably good. This is the (Cuban-American) Boomer/ Gen X Death of Ivan Ilyich. Also if you want an approximation of many of the things (but definitely not all) I personally experienced with my dad's and my mother's deaths this is eerily close. My parents were very young though, my dad was 61 and my mom was late 50s. They very much did not want to die and were very scared. Both fought to the end, though my mother did agree to hospice in what turned out to be her last month. She didn't call me "mala" but it was strongly implied any time I tried to restrict any of her choices which I avoided a great deal.

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Looking Backward by Edward Bellamy

Looking Backward by Edward Bellamy
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This is not really a book of fiction, as there’s no plot to speak of except showing the protagonist around the future. It’s really just Bellamy’s well-intentioned hope for a future utopia. It’s actually a lot like the StarTrek vision without any technology whatsoever. Of course, unlike Bellamy, we have the benefit of understanding the failure of the centralized Russian economy. We also have the benefit of knowing about the internet in general and Amazon.com specifically. And while Bellamy’s ideas about feminism were a little off the mark, I really appreciated his solid attempt at equalizing women, particularly with his streamlined maternity leave and easy reentry to the workplace.

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Alexander's Bridge by Willa Cather

Alexander's Bridge by Willa Cather
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Well, it was an interesting little story. The characters were underdeveloped- probably because the book was so short. The story itself was a bit too moralistic.

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Chemistry by Weike Wang

Chemistry by Weike Wang
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I have an insane crush on this book. I flew through it while stopping only to text people to go read this book now. The science is beautiful. The relationships are real, and touching, and so sad. It's also hilarious. Also, clearly the author is brilliant. I am seriously considering just reading this book again immediately.

Note: I know this sounds like one of those crazy reviews that a friend of an author writes but I never even heard of Weike Wang before I picked up the book and read it.

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Interpreter of Maladies by Jhumpa Lahiri

Interpreter of Maladies by Jhumpa Lahiri
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I know this is a the Pulitzer Prize fiction winner for 2000, but let's pretend for a moment that I don't know that. I think this was a solid collection, but not quite up to 5 stars.

I think the short stories "A Temporary Matter" and "This Blessed House," which were both short stories about married couples were my favorite. I would have enjoyed reading more about either couple in a full-length novel, which is maybe more of a complaint than praise when it comes to short stories.

I also really liked "The Treatment of Bibi Haldar," which was a little messed up if you take a feminist reading of it, but real life isn't always very feminist either.

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