Bel Canto

I recently read Bel Canto by Ann Patchett. Since I have moved from Minnesota, I'm trying to stay on top of the books my old book club was reading, and this was one of their picks. I have to say, this one took quite a long time to get into and almost a full month to finish, which for me is a very long time. I found the characters to be an interesting group of people, and the storyline of rebels taking an entire party of aristocrats hostage was unique. When you consider that much of the book was dedicated to exploring opera themes, there was a heavy juxtaposition with a hostage environment. I'd rate this as a C+ since it took so long to dive into. For the most part, the story ends as you would expect - the hostages ultimately get set free. The bad guys don't win. However, there is a twist with the love stories that feels reminiscent of a Greek tragedy which was intriguing.

I'm currently reading Kafka on the Shore and this one is quite a change with all the symbolism and Alice in Wonderland oddities like talking cats. I am looking forward to understanding how the author ties all the story lines together.

Also, I found an interesting book club reading list from Daily Candy that I thought I'd share. I'm doing well on reading these... Not so much on the Time Top 100 Novels list...