I forgot to update this when April bowed out. Only three books this month. Blame Mario Vargas Llosa, who’s Dream of the Celt sucked up a huge amount of time, but remains unfinished.

Rilla of Ingleside, L.M. Montgomery So, in April I joined the ranks of the smartphone enabled, and promptly added the Kindle app to my phone. And then discovered that you could get all these free, past-copyright books from the internets. So I promptly downloaded a favorite from childhood. 

Frankenstein, Mary ShelleyI had never read Frankenstein, and it seemed like one of those books one was meant to have covered in high school. Well, frankly, I don’t see why. The narrative is uneven—where does the monster disappear to? how could it possible be known to be killing people near his home?—and very few of the twists and turns seemed earned. Why is this considered a classic?

Bogeywoman, Jaimy Gordon Gordon snagged a National Book Award in 2010 for her depiction of a down-and-out racetrack and the characters who surround it. Bogeywoman also aims to encompass a sort of sleazy, sort of ignored setting (mental institution) and the stories of its inhabitants, but it doesn’t have the same fire and interest as the track. One is a minutely observed world that’s not often shown. The other feels a bit like a rehash of every disturbed adolescent novel you’ve ever read.