The Things They Carried – Tim O’Brien

Aug. 26, 2010 – This is my first Tim O’Brien book. It’s unique in it’s structure: part memoir, part novel and sort of a collection of short stories about O’Brien’s experience in Vietnam. It is profoundly moving. It’s also a beautifully written work – what I think of as a very literary style of story telling. I find it beneficial – necessary really – to step back occasionally from my focus on things like business reading to read something that broadens my perspective and deepens my understanding. I like books that challenge me to consider the world in a different way; that help me step outside the narrow confines of my life as I’m living it to consider what I haven’t experienced myself. It’s a great book. I could have gone on reading Tim’s stories well beyond the last page