Let's Talk About Books

I know, I know. I've been totally slacking on my posts, so here's a quick rundown of what I've been reading lately.

Horse Soldiers: The Extraordinary Story of a Band of U.S. Soldiers Who Rode to Victory in Afghanistan by Doug Stanton. Unfortunately I didn't have time to finish this book. I renewed it twice and it was overdue, and I was just too busy to get through it, so I thought I'd better let someone else have a chance at it. Anyway, from what I read, I thought this was a very interesting book. The book recounts the team of Special Forces soldiers who went into Afghanistan after 9/11. You get an intimate look at the soldiers, great descriptions of Afghanistan, and a side of the war you may not have heard about. One detail really floored me: before the U.S. invaded Afghanistan, we were not at all prepared to go to war. Soldiers didn't have the necessary equipment needed for their missions, so many of them were buying out supplies in camping stores and REIs! A must for fans of Black Hawk Down and other exciting military adventures.

Super in the City by Daphne Uviller. A single, twenty-something who can't make up her mind about what to do with her life, is thrust into the position of super of her parent's NYC apartment building. A secret staircase erected by the previous super drives Zephyr Zuckerman's already overactive imagination into overdrive. Meanwhile, a fledgling affair with the exterminator and an obnoxious, demanding tenant keep her busy. Humorous chick lit.

The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein. I put off reading this book for quite some time, because after the sob fests I endured when I read Marley & Me and Merle's Door, I could not bear another story of doggy death. But so many people had been raving about it, I decided to give it a shot. I was pleasantly surprised. Don't get me wrong-there is a doggy death. Enzo, the dog, tells us up front that he is aging and getting close to death. But his death is not too dramatic and I got through it with a minimal amount of tears. You've probably heard about this book, so you probably know that the story is told from the dog's point of view. I thought this would be cheesy, but it's not. Enzo is an interesting character, humorous, intelligent, and has a lot to say. A great read.

I just did The 19th Wife by David Ebershof for a book discussion, and I now know more about the Mormon Church and its history than I ever thought I would. There are 2 story lines going in this novel. The first story is of Ann Eliza Young, the 19th-ish wife of Brigham Young, who divorced him and went on a crusade to end polygamy. The second story is a present day murder mystery about the murder of a polygamous man living in a fundamentalist LDS community. I loved the historical aspect of the story, since I knew very little about the LDS Church. But I also enjoyed the shocking story of the present day fundamentalist Mormons, and what it means to live in that kind of a community. This is one you won't want to put down.