a Lynne's

Lynne's

Wednesday, December 28, 2005

Book Reading 2005
In May of this year I told you how lame my book reading was. Since then I have tried to change that. I joined the book group, got through two books, but then left - sometimes things just don't work out. BUT I continued to read! I am happy to say that I read more books this year than last.

The list -

The Dead Man by Joe Gores This was a good book to read while on vacation during the New Year. I had it in my pile for years and finally got to it!

My Sister's Keeper by Jodie Picoult: The first book in the book club. Unfortunately, I missed the discussion because I was in the middle of moving or something. I liked it, except I had issues with the end. It is a great book to have your Mom read - I gave it to my Mom for her birthday.

Woman Hollering Creek by Sandra Cisneros. This was a book I picked up during one of my Austin visits (02 or 03). I am not sure why I couldn't finish this book before now. I submitted it to the group and it got voted in. What I remember about this book is how her characters came to life with a few choice words. Words that I did not expect. Very original - like a different language.

It was a long, but fun wedding weekend in Cottonwood, Arizona. I had an early morning flight out of Phoenix (2 hours from Cottonwood) so I crashed at my friends parents house in Phoenix. I brought along Woman Hollering Creek but it no longer appealed to me in this house full of books. I glanced at the stack next to couch I was crashing on and found myself intrigued with The Prince of Providence: The Rise and Fall of Buddy Cianci, America's Most Notorious Mayor by Mike Stanton.
I was hooked from the beginning. That is not to say it did not get slow or confusing at times, it did, but just briefly. This was a great story for me to read. A lot of familiarality, not because I lived the life of corruption, but because I grew up in Massachusetts, I worked briefly in politics, have worked in news for a good amount of years and I have some Italian in my blood. Plus I had been watching the Sopranos on DVD.

Eating Heaven by Jeannie Shortridge. I was really looking forward to this book because I enjoyed her first one so much. Eating Heaven is about a food writer with food issues and love and family and death. Unfortunately, I did not like it as much. A couple of things annoyed me, especially the overuse of the word neo-hippie and trendy3rd while describing Portland. Still I did read it in one day and passed it along for others to read.

Swimming at Suppertime by Carol Wasserman. (click link for my ealier review)

The Thin Man by Dashiell Hammett. A classic 1930's crime novel.

Motoring with Mohammed: Journeys to Yemen and the Red Sea by Eric Hansen. A friend recently lent me this to read. Apparently we had some discussion about poverty and he said I should read this book. That conversation was months ago - I barely remember it. Anyway, I am still getting through it. Not to say I don't like it, I do. Once I get focused and into it I am fine, I am just slow going.

I would have liked to have read more, I still have a huge stack of unfinished books, but it is what it is. I am happy with this accomplishment and grateful to DeAnn for giving me the little kick I needed.

4 Comments:

Hey, our book club pretty much completely fell apart and I plan to restart with mostly new people sometime soon. You interested in giving it another shot? I figure we all can talk about how we want to choose books.

Also, I'm ready for "Eating Heaven" now if you think I should read it.
DeAnn - I don't know if you have to read Eating Heaven. It is fun to read about the city you live and/or work in and I have so you are welcome to borrow. I would recommend Swimming at Supertime first. I don't own that book though came across it at the library while waiting for another book that was in the stacks.
Chic-Lit!
Anonymous -
Well yeah! I don't think I can be expected to read the classics on my first year back.
Note: There were also 2 mysteries, and a biography. Swimming and Hollering are more "high-end" chic lits - whatever that means.

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