21: in which I finish with Michael Crichton

I popped in the library with David last week and happened to see (along with Mall Cop and Baby Mama) Michael Crichton's last book in the weekly rentals. Since I've read everything else he wrote (fiction), I thought I'd better do this one too. I kept expecting killer bugs, or insane zombies or something for which MC was so famous. But I suppose The Great Train Robbery was just a good read. And so was Pirate Latitudes.

Not too much ship talk. Not too much pirate talk. The only thing I would have changed is how the book ended abruptly and then had an epilogue which just gave a paragraph for how the story ended for each character. But perhaps MC never had time to finish before his death?

A good read in any case...

18-20

The Enemy Within by Noel Hynd. The trouble with not blogging right away is I don't remember much by the time I do blog. This one was billed as a cross between Alias and 24. It was. Good beach read.

To Kill a Mocking Bird by Harper Lee. WHY did I not read this 20 years ago? Or more? My life could have taken an entirely different turn. Instead of emulating Anne Shirley all these years, I could have been Scout.

The Birthday Present by Barabara Vine. Good.

16 & 17

I do most of my library-ing online. For one thing, it's a lot less overwhelming than wandering book aisles and trying to pick a book based on whether the cover appeals or not. And of course, I almost always go to the library with David and Elisabeth. If I pre-order my books online, all I have to do is pick them up and then I can hang out in the kids' section with them.

I recently signed up to get the library newsletters. They have some that review books every month and you can sign up by genre to receive these. I don't always read the newsletters, but they offer a snippet into a few books and so far they've all been for new-to-me authors.

Which is how I found Book 16. I don't have the newsletter on hand, but Sarah's Key (by Tatiana de Rosnay) was described as a book about World War Two. It sounded interesting.

And it was. Especially the first half. I'd stop reading so many times to exclaim, "this is such a good book!" The first half alternated between Sarah's story (set in Paris and a prison camp in France during World War II) and Julia's story, set in almost present day Paris and New York. I found Sarah's story the more interesting of the two, so when the second half of the book was all told from Julia's point of view I was a bit disappointed. But only a little bit.

The other book I've read recently is The Sad Truth About Happiness by Anne Giardini. And as far as I can remember, I did choose this one because I liked the title and the cover. This one was set almost entirely in Vancouver - and in parts of Vancouver I know and love. And to me, it resembled a Marian Keyes novel, but there were enough literary references and philosophical overtures to make me feel like I wasn't reading brainless fluff. Although, I'm pretty sure it was along the lines of fluffy chick lit. Good thing our next book club read is a classic...