Ashleigh:I've spent most of the week reading Ian McEwan's acclaimed novel Atonement.
I was initially suspicious that this would be yet another elegantly written tale of stuffy people going nuts in the English countryside, and it is, but I'm enjoying it anyway. I, along with seemingly every book reviewer in the world, am impressed with how McEwan applies his empathy and insight to a group of disparate characters. Not content to make this just a war story, or a love story, or a story about class, or family relationships, McEwan has also woven into his narrative an ongoing rumination about the way stories work, and the effect that storytelling has on the storyteller. I would say more, but I'm only halfway through the book; I'll let you know if part two lives up to part one. I've also just begun The Art of Travel
by Alain de Botton, which I'm reading in order to mentally prepare for an upcoming vacation. De Botton draws on accounts from famous travelers as he explores the ways travel can force us to engage with the world -- and ourselves -- in new ways.
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