I have a self-proclaimed love of reading trashy books. I enjoy silly romance novels and formulaic mysteries and ridiculous pulp horror books. But lately, I have found myself choosing books that are none of those things and are actually traditionally "good" books. The three most recent (and for some reason the ones that I group together in my head) are Revenge by Stephen Fry, Between The Bridge and The River by Craig Ferguson and Eleven by Mark Watson. Perhaps I group them because they are all comedians/comedy actors? And from the UK? I dunno, but anyway. All three books I chose because I thought they would be light, funny stories. And all three were extremely well written, thought provoking novels.
Revenge is some sort of retelling of the Count of Monte Cristo, though having never read that, I had no idea where the book was heading. And really, it started out light enough and then went dark. And kept going darker. And then by the end, it really was just depressing. But in a good way. I found that main character, who normally would be the hero that you root for, in some ways was the least likable character. I definitely didn't agree with his actions at the end, though I also thought that he probably would have turned out different had certain actions not happened to him. Just overall, way depressing. But so very very good.
Between the Bridge and the River was a book I picked up a long while ago and finally got around to reading. And I was so sad that I waited so long to read it. The plot is far to complicated to recap at all, but it wasn't hard to follow in the book. The narrative kept switching to different characters and going random places in time and other planes of existence, but it all felt very real. That is the sign of a good book. When there are different planes of existence, yet it still seems like it is set in reality. I also enjoyed the journey of the characters. The main character (or who I consider to be the main character) changed completely throughout the book and went from a totally unlikable person to the person that I enjoyed the most. I also really enjoyed the portrayal of religion in the story. It definitely made fun of crazy religious fanatics, but it also showed what good could come out of that. Very interesting read and ridiculously good.
Eleven is my most recent read and for some reason really touched me. I am not an emotional person most of the time, but I found myself on the verge of tears in parts just due to the heart that the story had. Essentially, there are eleven stories in the novel, all connected and started by one act by one person. On the surface, it was a great story that had a lot of depth, but underneath, it was a story that really made me think about how people are connected and ask the question of do the small actions that we do or not do affect everything. I found myself really caring about the main character and wanting him to be engaged in life. I feel like it is a book that will stay with me for a while.
I would highly recommend reading any or all of these books. They are all well-written, engaging, and unique.
And now I am back to reading my normal light fluff! I read The Cinderella Deal by Jennifer Crusie (which in all honesty had tons of heart too and I found myself caring a bit too much about the main characters getting together. Though given that it was a Jennifer Crusie, I knew they were going to) and am currently reading Swept off Her Feet by Hester Browne.
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