Spring Break Reading

Well, it's finally spring break and I've been enjoying the finer things about being home: family, my fat cat Sushi, not having to cook, and reading for fun! It was nearly 80 degrees today, and while it was a little on the warm side, I'm not about to complain! Not having to wear a coat, or sleeves of any kind, is awesome. It's perfect weather for sitting on the porch with a little pleasure reading. My problem is that I finished my book on the way home! So, I thought I would make a spring-reading recommendation to you all in the hope you will return the favor and recommend me a good book that I can knock out in a week.



Never Let Me Go first attracted my attention in movie form. I saw the trailer and thought, "Oh hey, here's another British period movie with Keira Knightley in it," but I soon realized that there was much more to it. Imagine a story that's part science-fiction, part period piece, part British dystopia novel. Now, imagine it partly takes place in a boarding school (think Harry Potter), and features a love triangle (dare I reference Twilight?). What you end up with is a page-turner unlike any other.

It's pretty easy to find plot spoilers online, but you won't find them here. Especially since Ishiguro keeps you reading by being so darn vague. Never Let Me Go is written in the first person, with the narrator telling the story as a series of memories. Just like you might forget the details of a childhood memory, grasping only the way you felt toward a certain situation or perhaps backtracking to include a newly surfaced detail, Ishiguro's narrator reveals, piece by piece, a childhood shrouded in mystery. I enjoyed this book because it married my interests of sci-fi (I recently embarked on a 3-week-long Battlestar Galactica marathon) and what I'll call the "British boarding school romance."

Read the book before you watch the movie. You have a better chance of enjoying both that way. It's not one of those not-as-good-as-the-book movies; in fact, it does some things better than the book in my opinion. The movie stars hip, up-and-coming actors Andrew Garfield (The Social Network, The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus) and Carey Mulligan (An Education) as well as Keira Knightley, who is perfect for her role.

If anyone wants to recommend a book for me to read, please do. And for those of you tuning in just for the posts about food, never fear! There's an epic cupcake post in the mix, courtesy of my best friend and baker extraordinaire, Kim.