18, 19, 20 and 21 (and 22 and 23)

Oh dear, I keep forgetting to keep track...

Well, Jane lent me Saving Graces, a wonderful book on friendship. Since I know Jane from a group of friends a leeeetle like the Saving Graces, this book was especially tearjerky. So good.

Then I read All Families are Psychotic. Not my favorite Coupland ever.

So I went back to Martha Grimes. I read Cold Flat Junction then I went over to her website to read about this author, I was a bit confused as to whether she's English or a Yank. Well turns out that she's famous for her Richard Jury mysteries of which I've read one. And that her RJ fans actually sent her hate mail when she wrote this semi biographical trilogy (Hotel Paradise, Cold Flat Junction and Belle Ruin). Well, I'm sorry, but I think they're brilliant. In fact, I started carrying a pen and paper with me to write down quotes from the books. But then I like to think I'm a precocious child like the protagonist in these books is...

When I was returning books to the library I saw Robert Ludlum's The Bancroft Strategy. Probably my favorite Ludlum book to date. Although in the beginning I found it quite witty and kept reading one liners and quotes to Andrew. By the end it felt like he was tidying things up too quickly and it was getting a bit corny.

Next I pulled out Hey Nostradamous, but after the first page I realised I've already read that one, so instead I started Miss Wyoming, also by Douglas Coupland. And that brings me to book 23. I was getting a little desperate for books, but I realised that Jane lent me a few more which I have yet to read...

I just started reading King of Torts. My first impression is that

john grisham does not look at all like I thought he would.

Sixteenth this year, Fiftieth since keeping track!

jPod by Douglas Coupland.

DC is one interesting person. Actually, believe it or not, this book reminded me of some of my favorites by Robertson Davies, another prolific Canadian Author.

I'd stop and chat about why I liked this book so much, but I have about 23 more books on my shelves that need to get read and returned to the library.

Oh - I did decide to finish Daughter of Mine. I think it bugged me so much cause it was like a really bad Catherine Cookson.

Books 12, 13, 14 and 15

Shutterbabe by Deborah Copaken Kogan: I kept trying to read this book for a bit longer. Andrew says the stories of her adventures as a photographer aren't bad, but I couldn't get past her moral issues (my moral issues?) Anyway, I may go back and give it a bit of a skim, but probably not.

Next on the agenda was Daughter of Eden by Charlotte Bingham. I quite liked this story: It was like watching an old movie. Set during World War II it not only featured characters, plot line, etc. from that era, you almost felt like the author was stuck in the 1930s/40s. Which in this book's case was a good thing. The story had a kind of corny olden-days feel to it, which was actually more conducive to the storyline, or at least, that's what I felt.

Then I read Anne Bennett's Daughter of Mine. Which just felt completely contrived. So I read the first two hundred pages and skimmed here and there in the next four hundred (cause you have to know what happens after the first two hundred). But I wouldn't recommend it.

Now I'm reading Saving Graces, loaned to me by Jane. Very, very good. I'm currently trying to figure out which of us is which (from our writing group of five). Looking forward to getting through this one.

This Blog's First Posting:

I finally decided to follow Rachel's lead and just start a new blog about all the books I'm reading.

I currently have 19 books on my shelves from either the library, Jane or my mum. 16 of these books should be read soon. 12 of them definitely before I rack up more debt at the library.

So what did I do tonight? Well, I divided my time evenly between reading and creating this new blog. All of my postings about books I've read so far (since 01/06) I've put here. Now I just need to quickly review the books I've read so far this year:

Whiteout by Ken Follett
The Train Now Departing by Martha Grimes
The Old Wine Shades by Martha Grimes
the English Assassin by Daniel Silva
Devices and Desires by PD James
The Broker by John Grisham
Death of An Expert Witness by, PD James
Original Sin by PD James
The Street Lawyer by John Grisham
The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver
Against Tall Odds by Matt Roloff

And finish the 19 books on my "to read" shelf of course...

Today we decided to go to the library. I've been wanting to go for ages, but I had a fine to pay. No big deal except I couldn't ever seem to remember having my card and my debit card on me at the same time and believe it or not, they don't like having to look up your account. Even to take money from you. Crazy.

Anyway, we went to the big library in downtown because I thought there would be more selection just 'there'...usually I find my books on their website and order them because the libraries never actually seem to have anything worth reading in them. But that's probably because I wander aimlessly through the stacks not really knowing what to pick up.

But that's exactly how I found books today and I think I scored some good ones:
Charlotte Bingham's Daughters of Eden which "focuses on the lives and fortunes of four very different young women at the outbreak of" WWII. They turn out to be spies, which I thought could be very cool.
Ken Follet's Whiteout which is billed as an "intricate, knife edge drama" about a killer virus and bad guys misuing it.
Anne Bennett's Daughter of Mine which is about a woman, also in WWII who is disowned by her family when she decides to keep the child conceived when she is attacked.
John Grisham's The King of Torts which is another lawyer story about a rookie lawyer this time. Martha Grimes' The Train Now Departing which contains Two Novellas.
And Deborah Copanken Kogan's Shutterbabe, her memoirs which are supposedly about how she went to war as a photojournalist and how that experience changed her. So far it's just a gratuitous retelling of her sexual exploits and I don't think I shall bother reading any further.

I also found a DVD on Digital Photography: The Camera which promises to teach the fundamentals of digital imaging. Everything from F-stops to using light to files to shopping for a camera are covered so I'm hoping I will understand it and that it will improve my photography. Before my Canon got ill I was becoming more and more frustrated with being unable to control the flash and readjust the white light or whatever that is called. Let's hope I can learn something from this. If not, I also recently purchased Photography for Dummies. But, as I've mentioned before, I hate non-fiction so I may or may not slog my way through that one.

Well, now that you know what I'm planning on reading in the next little while, I'll update you if any of the books are really good.

Just finished another book. Thought I'd offer a brief comment rather than just adding it to the list at the bottom of this page because I enjoyed it so much. You know how if you look at books a lot, you start to forget if you recognize an author's name just because you see it everywhere or if you've actually read any of their books? Well MG was one of those for me. Turns out I read her "End of the Pier" a few years ago. Bought this because I liked the synopsis on the back. Both very good books. But this one in particular. An incredibly interesting idea for a mystery story with a GREAT twist in the middle that I never saw coming (and I always guess the end of mystery books). If you like everything neatly tied up by the end, you're in for a disappointment. But read it anyway, fabulous read!