Turn of Mind

Terrific book. This book is told from the perspective of a 64 year old woman suffering from Alzheimer's Disease.  It is a bit of a thriller because she is accused of the murder of a close friend and neighbor.  The story follows her decline.  There were so many moments in this book that left me terrified at the thought of experiencing dementia or a related disease.  For me, it was nice to have this book set in Chicago.  I am familiar with the neighborhood where the main character lives so I had an easy time picturing things.

Best of 2012

What did I like in 2012?  

Even though I read more books in 2012 compared to 2011, I didn't read as many great ones.  Normally, I would have a difficult time narrowing my list to my favorite book of the year.  Now I am having a hard time coming up with a favorite one because they were all average.

Fiction: I will have to go with State of Wonder by Ann Patchett. The Fates will Find Their Way by Hannah Pittard is a close second.

Non-fiction: I finally read Douglas Brinkley's book, The Great Deluge.  While the author bothers me on many levels, I thought this was a well-written book.  I also try to absorb as many different things related to New Orleans so this was a natural pick.

Movies:
Most of my movie watching is based on my quirky movie watching system of classics and top movies that I have missed over the years.  Since I usually do a recap after I finish an alphabet, I am going to focus on movies that did not fall within that system.

Beasts of the Southern Wild.  Lincoln is a close second.  Honestly, I loved the Hunger Games. I am currently making my way through other movies released in 2012 that are still in theaters so this throws off my list.  For example, on New Year's Day I saw Django Unchained and that could have bumped off Beasts.

Concerts:
This is a tie between Bruce Springsteen and the Gossip.  I have never considered myself a Bruce fan so it is somewhat odd that he made this list.  It is only in the last few years that I've started appreciating his music.  But, he turned me around based on this concert.  He played for two and a half hours.  I see performers half his age who play an hour and a half tops.  He played his heart out.  He was constantly bringing different people on stage.  He interacted a lot with the audience.  He mixed up the play list.  I had a blast.  Amazing show.  I loved the Gossip show because it was such a positive experience.  The crowd was diverse.  Beth Ditto sang her heart out.  Everything was just happy.  She also brought a fan on stage during her final encore because she heard this woman's voice coming from the crowd.  Watching Ditto hand over the microphone to this woman, the crowd's reaction to her voice and her reaction to the applause brought on some tears of joy for many people in the crowd.

Dum Dum Girls were great. Meshell Ndgeocello doesn't disappoint. Cat Power definitely disappointed me but I attribute that to her current health situation.  I will say that the crowd experience for that show was probably the worst one I've experienced in Portland.

I can't really pick my favorite music because I am all over the place.  I have to reflect on my favorite discoveries for this year...

Recent Reading

I admit that it took me awhile to get through this book but it was a wonderful read.  I know, a biography of cancer, wee!  It is a fascinating walk through the history of cancer prevention, treatment, people and politics. It was also nice to see my place of employment and one of the star doctors featured in the book. 



Excellent book. At first, I was not sure that I would like it because it started off slowly and the main character was so messed up. I ended up loving this book for perfectly capturing the moments of a relationship that had so many intense moments followed by intense sadness.

 

I loved this book. Over the years, I have heard great things about Patchett's writing but this was the first book I've read of hers. Some fans of hers were unimpressed by this novel but I really enjoyed it from start to finish. It motivated me to read some of her earlier work sometime in the next year.

 

Hmmm...I ended up disappointed with this one. It had a lot of buzz surrounding it so I was pleased that it came as part of a book club shipment. It started off as a fascinating tale but then just grew somewhat tedious. The last quarter of the book was the weak spot and just lost me a bit.