L.A.

Finished listening to Bright Shiny Morning by James Frey. I have to say I have a love hate relationship with Frey. I read his first novel A Million Little Pieces a few years ago. I started it on our plane ride to Paris and remember being super jet lagged when we got there but not being able to put the book down so I finished it up when we got there instead of taking a nap. I loved that book. It was one where you rush through it but then are sad when you get to the end. Obviously though a few months later I was very disappointed? when the controversy of this book arose.

Either way though I think Frey is a great write. Which is really why I didn't understand why he couldn't be honest with his first book. Whether it was fiction or non fiction (or as wikipedia says in the link above "semi fictional") it was a great book. I do have to say though I was mostly disappointed in the second book Frey authored. My Friend Leonard wasn't exactly bad, just not near as good as Frey's first book.

Still when I saw a third novel was out I added it to my list and BSN did not disappoint in the least. I was hooked from the beginning. The novel's central theme is Los Angeles and is told in two parts woven together. Los Angeles history is explored throughout the book as one of the parts. Additionally short stories taking place in L.A. makes up the second part. Most of the short stories are a few pages long and then that's it for the characters. There were however a handful of stories that we got to find out more about throughout the story. These were the characters you were routing for to succeed. Some did and some tragically did not. I've never been to L.A. and I don't have any real passion for the city, but this book made me fall in love with L.A. More so though it just makes you take a look at the intermingling of our lives and the history of time and where it can take us. I highly recommend it.

Current Listen: The Hour I First Believed by Wally Lamb