I stupidly read to page 184 of The Library of the Unwritten before I gave up on it. What a meh book. The characters and their worlds were not explained enough for me to: 1. be able to place myself in their world, 2. give a crap about any of the characters, or 3. understand any of their motives. The main character, Claire, is the librarian of the unwritten wing in hell. We know she was human and never finished any of her own stories, and… that’s it. One hundred and eighty-four pages in, and that’s basically what we know about her history. When was she alive? How did she die? What kind of stories did she not finish? TELL ME SOMETHING.

And the writing felt lazy – things were usually only explained because a new guy who showed up in the beginning of the book constantly asks “why this?” and “why that?”

Meh, I thought the book had promise. I need to quit reading books about books. It’s not working for me.

BLAH.

I also need to STOP reading books that I don’t like SOONER. I will get better at this.

I read The Pearl that Broke Its Shell next. I appreciate that the book was readable and that despite having so many characters, they were easy to keep track of. And that things were explained so I knew what the heck was going on.

I’d heard about it in this article (pdf here) I read this summer about bacha posh – a cultural practice in Afghanistan in which families without sons pick a daughter to live and behave like a son until they’re of a marriageable age. In the novel, Rahima is one of five sisters, and it’s decided she’ll live and behave like a boy so she can work, escort her sisters to school, and go about more freely in general. The novel also tells the story of her great-great-grandmother Shekiba, who practiced bacha posh, but for a different reason, which I won’t spoil here.

The bacha posh portion of these women’s lives is short, but affects them deeply. It’s such a drastic change from the traditional female role in their culture, that the freedom of speech, movement, and role they’ve experienced during bacha posh is always remembered. The book covers their stories from before, during, and after bacha posh.

I enjoyed reading about a culture with which I am so unfamiliar. Although the continuous tragedy and hardship these women experience is sad and so infuriating. You’re just rooting for them to catch a break! And for the women to be nice to each other and get to experience some sisterhood. But it’s understandable why they don’t trust one another.

Random side note: I laughed at how much eavesdropping the characters do in this book (so. much. eavesdropping.).

I listened to the new Sarah’s Book Shelves Live podcast this morning, and the guest was talking about books that are “mirrors” versus books that are “windows.” Mirror books have themes that you relate to and let you reflect on your own life (like coming-of-age books). Books that are windows give you a glimpse in to something you are unfamiliar with. This is definitely a “window” book, and whoa, I wrote a lot about it. I finished it on the plane today and recommend it. (This was my 50th book of the year!)

I had to reach out to my reading specialist to get advice on what to read next from the two e-loan books I have that are due soon. The first is The Secrets We Kept which I saw recommended on Reese’s Book Club. I usually request her books as soon as she announces them, but am hit or miss with whether I like them. I read the synopsis for this (just yesterday) and thought it sounded meh. Also, it’s a bit about Russian politics, and I am still decompressing from A Gentleman in Moscow. And people on Goodreads said the narrators are confusing, and I am not in the mood for that. Or in the mood for another spy novel. So yeah, meh.

The other book is The Nightingale, which everyone has recommended. It’s historical fiction, which I am somewhat burnt out on, but I am going to give it a go.  My reading specialist really liked it and I trust her opinion. I feel bad skipping over the other one after waiting so long to get it. I need to look more closely (or, at all) at book synopses before I request them!