very simple

I should probably preface this entry by mentioning that in the fourth grade, I actually made it all the way to county finals in the spelling bee.

Upon reading this book, I finally realized that I had gotten over my reader’s block. For some time, I had been buying books, putting them on my shelf and never looking at them again. I fully intended to read them, but the process seemed too daunting, so I’d pick up a copy of the New Yorker or fiddle with the design of my webpage. And today I realized that I’ve read 3 books in the past 3 weeks.

Maybe it’s the incessant computer problems, forcing me to resort to such luddite tactics as reading books, but I’ve found that point where I remember the sheer joy of finding out how a story ends.

This book was fascinating – it’s exploration of religion, faith, obsession, lies and a particularly idiosyncratic family whose lives all change when 9-year old, previously unremarkable, Eliza makes it all the way to the national spelling bee, attempting to navigate the shoals of the letter Y. Which was the letter that tripped me up in my own spelling bee attempts at age 10. I’m thinking that this might be part of the reason that I was so engrossed in the story. Then again, it could have been the incredibly engrossing story.

I always feel odd writing these mini-reviews. I don’t want to spoil the story for anyone who might pick up the book, but then I realize that these entries are incredible vague and possibly uninformative. At any rate, this was an excellent book.

Tags: books