The Road

A couple months ago, some friends and I started a book club. We all realized that we loved to read prior to grad school but now we didn't read for fun at all anymore. The rule is fiction only. There's another rule that says no Oprah books, but I don't really agree with this rule. But so far, there are plenty of good books to read out there without having to challenge this rule. We read Ian McEwan's Atonement first, which was really good even though I was very frustrated by one of the main characters. Then we read Murakami's Norwegian Wood. I actually didn't read this one, which I got in trouble for because I had recommended Murakami in the first place. Ooops. This month we read The Road by Cormac McCarthy. The plot involves a man and his son traveling south in the context of a post-apocalyptic US. I really liked this book a lot. It's as bleak as everyone claims, but I loved both the main characters. So even though the book was sad, it wasn't shattering. And for some reason, I'm kind of fascinated to read about people's survival innovations. What can you use that was intended for something else to survive. To be honest, all those sections of the book actually reminded me a bit of the Little House on the Prairie books: they have to find food, and preserve it somehow, and sometimes use a coffee grinder to grind some grain for bread when there's a long winter. I don't think anyone else will think of Little House on the Prairie when they read The Road, but oh well, I did.