49-50

Oh man. Ever since I joined a book club earlier this spring, I've been trying to branch out with my reading. I walk into a bookstore and try to find books that I think are book club worthy...or at least out of my normal range of reading. I bought myself a little book case which I keep next to my room and anything that might be interesting goes there on my To Read pile.

A few months ago I picked up 39 Steps. The book is a little Jeeves and Woosterish in that it's the story of a rich young man who is bored with life. He's returned to England after working in mining in South Africa and is finding British society life just a little tedious. He decides that if nothing exciting comes his way within the next few days he will return to South Africa.

That's when adventure comes into his life in a big way. You can read more about the novel and the author here. Suffice it to say, I really enjoyed this book and this style (the author himself calls it a Shocker novel, popular in the early 20th Century.)

Another book I picked up on a whim was I Capture the Castle. The cover of the book was gorgeous and the tag on the front said, "The acclaimed novel is now the most romantic novel of the year." I'd never heard of it, but that intrigued me. Here's what the back of the book says, "I Capture the Castle tells the story of seventeen - year old Cassandra and her family, who live in not so genteel poverty in a ramshackle old English castle. Here she strives over six turbulent months to hone her writing skills. She fills three notebooks with sharply funny, yet poignant entries. Her journals candidly chronicle the great changes that take place within the castle's walls, and her own first descent into love. By the time she pens her final entry she has "captured the castle" - and the heart of the reader - in one of literature's most enchanting entertainments."

Even though this book is set in the early 20th Century, I thought it had been written recently. I'm not sure why. And while this book reminded me of Pride and Prejudice (Cassandra and her sister joke that they are Brontesque Austen characters), the story is original and charming and I was really sad to finish it. Oh. And it was written in 1948. In case you're wondering. And here's something else that shocked me. Dodie Smith (the author) wrote the novel, The Hundred and One Dalmations. I didn't even know it was a book!

47/48

*sigh* I seem to read in spurts these days. I think mebbe I'm too busy cause I keep forgetting to bring books along in the car. And that's the only time I have to read these days. I did finally finish a couple books tho'.

Book one (or 47 depending) was Echo Park by Michael Connelly. I had brought a different book along to read at the beach on Sunday, but I think I could already tell it wasn't my cuppa tea. So when Libs and I wandered into the local bookstore, I was drawn to this mystery. A few pages in and I was shocked when I realised it wasn't a Britcop story. You mean there are other mysteries out there? And it was good. For a beach read, ya know?

I finished that and went back to my original book The Ha-Ha by Dave King. The back of the book reads:

Howard Kapostash has not spoken in thirty years. The small repository of gestures and simple sounds that he uses to communicate leads most people to assume he is distrubed, and no one understands that Howard is still teh same man he was before a war time injury. But when he agrees to help an old girlfriend by opening his home to her nine-year-old son, the presence of this nervous, resourceful boy in his life transforms Howard utterly. He is afforded a rare glimpse of life outside his shell - with all its exuberant joys and crushing sorrows.


Sounds good, no?

Well it was way too crass for me so after a few chapters I gave up and moved on to Sundays at Tiffany's by James Patterson. Who, incidentally penned some of my favorite movies that used to be books. Like Along Came a Spider and Kiss the Girls. So I thought this one would be awesome. After all, the entire premise of the book was, "What if your imaginary friend from childhood was your one true love?" Sweet, right?

And there was so much potential in this book. In fact, after the first few chapters I was promising myself I was going to read every one of Patterson's books. But the deeper I got into the book, the less satisfying it got. Michael (the imaginary friend) just doesn't seem developed enough as a character to be real (maybe that's the point?) and most of the story telling reads like Shopaholic and Imaginary Friend. Actually, that's about the level of this book and I expected so much more.

James Patterson doesn't actually seem to write his own novels, of all the books listed on the two pages at the back of this book, he'd actually penned maybe 15 and the rest were coauthored. Which makes me wonder why he's such a great author. Why not just sell your ideas and let someone who can write do the writing? Okay, I won't judge based on one book. And maybe this wasn't supposed to be better than chick lit. But it could have been...

Book 46

A Thread of Grace by Mary Doria Russell.

This was recommended to me by my good friend Christine along with the last book I read, Year of Wonders. If you're wondering why my pace slowed so dramatically with these two books, it's because the reading was so, so heavy.

While both were impossible to put down and really well written, captivating stories (I loved all the characters in both books), I can't decide if I loved the stories or hated them. And maybe that's the mark of a good book. They have stirred such emotion in me that, well, I don't even know how to verbalize it until I've had more time to process. I highly recommend both.