The Assist by Neil Swidey

I heard Neil Swidey interviewed on NPR when this book was published, and I think I had also read a few excerpts in the Boston Globe Magazine several months earlier.

This book started as a series of articles in the Globe about the coach of the Charlestown, MA high school basketball team. This coach took high-risk kids from all over Boston and made a state champion team several years in a row. While this was hardly a Michael Lewis level of writing, it was an interesting story about a dedicated coach and some inspirational students. The author painted a vivid picture including racial, educational, and class-based angles.

I was left dissatisfied with the end of the book, though. The book seemed to end at a certain date, rather than at a natural end of a story.

People of the Book by Geraldine Brooks

I had liked Brooks' other books (Nine Parts of Desire and Year of Wonder) so I was excited to see that she had written another. This book was probably my favorite by her and one of the most engaging book I've read in a long time.

The book is about a famous illustrated manuscript known as the Sarajevo Hagaddah. (Interestingly, the Sarajevo Hagaddah really does exist, although the rest of the book is fictionalized.) The book opens with a well-known ancient book restoration expert being called to Sarajevo to look at a Hagaddah that is rumored to be a particular ancient illustrated Hagaddah. Brooks uses her journalistic background and skill in storytelling to imagine a history of the Hagaddah reaching back to the 1400s. Each time the main character learns something new about the Hagaddah, the books goes back 100 years further into the past to learn where the Hagaddah started.

I really enjoyed the stories and main character's personality. It was also fun to read this book with Passover coming up.

Senator's Wife by Sue Miller

Sue Miller is typically one of my go-to authors when I don't know what to get at the library or when I haven't read anything I liked recently. I noticed she had a new book out so I decided to try it. Unfortunately, I was disappointed with this one.

The story follows a young newlywed couple (Nathan and Meri) who moves into a two-family home. Their neighbors are a well-known, well-liked senator and his wife (Tom and Delia). While the Nathan is impressed by their famous neighbor, Meri (suddenly pregnant and lonely) gets to know Delia and learns that their marriage is not as happy as it would seem. Delia continues to support Tom publicly, but their private relationship is far more complicated.

I think the story is supposed to contrast an old marriage with a young one, and to humanize the "stand by your man" strategy practiced by political wives today. Instead, I thought the book was preachy, slow-moving, and the characters one-dimensional. While there is a stunning climax, it did not make up for the entire book's dull pace.

Eye Wide Shut

When I get really tired but I'm reading a good book in bed at night, I start to read with one eye closed at a time. I close one eye to rest it, read with the other eye, then close the second eye and read with the first one.

I did not realize that was unusual until recently. I also have my 14-digit library card number memorized but I knew that was weird from the start.