Reading on Holidays

During our trip to Vegas I made a point of sitting by the pool each day (gotta take advantage of situations when they present themselves) and while sitting by the pool I was reading Spanish Fly by Wil Ferguson. Ferguson is the author of, among others, Beauty Tips from Moose Jaw, and Generica, both of which I have read and greatly enjoyed. Spanish Fly had the same type of tongue in cheek humour that is present in his other books. I enjoyed it, though at times it seemed somewhat repetitive. The story is told from the perspective of Jack McGreary, a young man living through the depression who gets taken in by two con artists. Much of the story seemed to be talking about the various cons of the era and stories of who had pulled what off, or which con artist had been the first to do which con. It was interesting, but at times, rather than hear about another con, I found myself hoping for more plot. It was definitely an easy read; not quite fluff, but definitely motored along nicely without too much effort, and god knows I love a short chapter! I would recommend it....but I think I would have rather read it in paperback...hardcover is a bit cumbersome for reading by the pool.

When we were leaving Las Vegas (isn't that a song?) I bought a paperback copy of Maeve Binchy's newest Heart and Soul. Binchy stays true to form at all times. I've read a number of her books and each one can be counted on to be charming with some very quirky characters. Heart and Soul is about a heart clinic in Dublin and the people whose lives were effected by it, either by working there, receiving treatment, or a number of other loosely tied in scenarios. I'm not a big fan of short stories, and I was about a third of the way through the book when I realized this particular novel was a series of short stories that all tied in together. Tricky. I have preferred some of her older books that are focused on set characters, but she's such a pleasant story teller, I was willing to let it slide.

Two More for March

In the remainder of March I ripped through two books.

The Gum Thief by Douglas Coupland, and The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold.

The Gum Thief seems to be about par for the course for Coupland from what I've read. Weird characters who are almost unlikeable but somehow it feels like a betrayal to dislike them. I wasn't terribly interested in the first third, but the chapters were so simple and short it was hard to not feel like I was making progress (it's one of my little OCD reading quirks: I have to feel like I'm making progress when I read, so I'll look at how many pages I've been through, or how thick those pages are). The second third and into the final quarter (is this measurement making any sense?) was quite good and I found myself genuinely interested in what was going on with the characters. I busted up a few times when Bethany was describing the pigeons in London: "If London is a meal, then pigeons are the parsley on top of it, except instead of being green and crisp, they're grey and hobbling and missing toes, and while they may appear to be technically cute, they also appear to be riddled with disease and mites." The end left me feeling sort of sad again. I'm undecided about it as a whole.

The Lovely Bones was basically what I had heard: really good and about a really terrible topic. I loved the perspective of Susie watching everything from her heaven. I think I finished in about three days (again, my OCD about seeing how much progress I made). I'm really interested to see the movie, though I think that it will be hard to watch too. This is a definite recommended read...but I must say that I awsn't really a big fan of the end with a weird out of body experience, and a less than satisfying ending for the antagonist. I'll leave it at that though.

Monsters of Templeton

I originally bought The Monsters of Templeton by Lauren Groff because I thought it might be something of a fluff book. A nice easy read. I was partially wrong.

It was an easy book to read simply becasue it flowed so well and her writing was totally captivating. But it was not fluffy. The story was deep and spanned generations with enough of the truly bizarre (a legitimate seamonster that suddenly dies and surfaces in the lake of a small town, a woman who can set fire to buildings simply by being upset, a man born so hairy that his father calls him his "little baboon"), that I was completely engrossed in it. It did take me a while to read, but that was more because of life getting in the way. Not once did I put it down because I'd had enough. The end was a wee bit "tied up with a pretty bow" but Groff made it all better with the epilogue which tells what the monster was thinking on it's last day: "fish and fish and fish and fish...." which made me giggle. (There is actually more to the epilogue, but that did it for me right there).

It might be a good book to read a second time just because there were so many characters and so much geneology that I feel like I missed a lot the first time through or that I wasn't sure which characters where related to which. I definitely recommend it though.

Brida

Yesterday evening I finsihed Brida by Paulo Coelho. I've read a number of his books and Brida didn't disappoint me. The story is about an Irish girl, Brida, who is learning about the world of being a witch. It's difficult to write the word "witch" without imagining ugly green women in black robes and point hats, or people being turned into other creatures with magic potions. This was not that kind of witch. Throughout the book, Brida learns about the world and magic as it has passed down from generations of spirituality. The strong tie to Christianity was very interesting as well.
In every one of Coelho's books there is a passage or two that really striked home with me. This was that passage:
"...the age of miracles was returning, and no one could remain indifferent to the changes the world was beginning to experience. Within a few years, the power of the Tradition of the Sun would reveal itself in all its brilliance. Anyone not already followiung their own path would begin to feel dissatisfied with themselves and be forced to make a choice: they would either have to accept an existence beset with disappointment and pain or else come to realize that everyone was born to be happy. Having made their choice, they would have no option but to change..."
It reminded me of my latest motto: "I would rather be happy". Given any number of choices, whenever possible, I will choose to be happy.
Coelho is a beautiful storyteller and his books are multidimentional. One of the things I like best about them is that if I feel like really contemplating them, he gives plenty to work with, but at the same time his stories can be taken simply as stories.

I saw the bandwagon, it circled my block a couple of times while I toyed with the idea of hopping on, but finally let it pass.

I read the Twilight Saga. It took me two and a half weeks. In all fairness, the first three books took me a week, and the final one was the last week and a half.
I'll break it down a wee bit:
Twilight: so-so. Lots of brooding, lots of whining, lots of swooning. Some story. Definitely an easy read. By the end though, I was interested and wanted to keep going to book two.
New Moon: also lots of brooding, quite a lot of whining, and some swooning. Mostly I just found myself tearing through it to get to the end and the exciting bits. I like Jacob.
Eclipse: Not so much whining. Lots of brooding though. Jacob changed quite a lot...can't say as I liked him much anymore. This was definitely my favorite of the series though.
Breaking Dawn: ...just plain weird. I didn't like it. The characters seemed to have a totally different voice and like all of a sudden Stephanie Meyer didn't have to hold on to any shred of realism anymore and just went hog wild with mystical powers and bizarre events. I'm really not sure how they'll make it into a movie without it being totally grotesque and creepy.

All of that being said, I liked the Twilight movie, and I really enjoyed New Moon the movie (I'm fairly sure I'm branding myself as some sort of creepy perv by saying that Jacob is daaaaaaamn fine! He-llo!).
For your reading enjoyment, check out this blog entry I found online: "Reasons Why Twilight the Movie May Be Better Than The Book".
Points 3, 5, 11, 22, and 27 really hit home for me.

But, as my dear friend Mare said when we were discussing the first two books "Imagine if we'd been reading these ten or fifteen years ago! I'd have my bedroom plastered with Twilight posters!" And I concur.

Moving Right Along...

Oh so much time has passed since I bought An Echo in the Bone. I took my sweet time with it, not sitting down to read unless I knew I could get through a chapter uninterupted. Well, those moments are few and far between, so I didn't finish it until my plane was landing in Halifax at the end of October. This is the 7th book in the Outlander series, and anyone who has read a book series beyond three or four installations can understand just how involved the plot can get. Diana Gabaldon, being an expert story teller, did not let me down. The beginning was a little slow to get going and started with a lot of storyline on a relatively new character who I'm not totally sold on yet. That's not to say he's not a really solid, well developed character with believable ideas, background, etc. I just mean I don't know if I like the guy. Ha! For the first quarter I was starting to wonder whether it would turn back to Claire and Jamie and really focus on them (which, let's face it, is the whole reason for the books). And, being the amazing writer that she is, Gabaldon continued to lead me down the road and everything came together and I understood why she had written the way she did. (Not that I had any doubt). The end was so encompassing that I actually decided to forgo some of my naps on the plane in favor of finishing Echo. I can say there definitely will be at least one more book in the series as she left one plot line in a total cliffhanger. I almost didn't realize it until I closed the book and breathed a contented sigh while reflecting over the various story lines. Then it hit me - "wait, what about----??? AHH!!" There's something terribly unfair about knowing you have to wait 3-4 years to find out what happens.
While in Halifax, Maureen and I did a lot of touring around the city, but on the first day when we turned the corner from her house, we walked right past a used book store that she said she'd never been in. I dragged her in and we started looking over the stacks and stacks of books. I was looking for something easy, something simple, but something still interesting. I finally picked up a paperback called Trick of the Eye by Jane Stanton Hitchcock. The cover made it sound like a murder mystery. I suppose it was. It was certainly an easy read, but not very gripping, and not very engaging. And the "twist" at the end...well, I suppose it was unexpected, but I didn't really care by the time I got there.
Now I've started a book that Norma lent to me: Hung Jury by Rankin Davis. Interesting point though, the copy she has says it's an unedited book proof, so it has many typos and spelling mistakes. There have also been a few sentences that see a bit clumsy and I'm sure would be re-worked before a final print. Interesting, though. (and it appeals to the part of me that has always thought it would be neat to be a book editor).

Excitement!!

Today is the day I've been waiting for!! It is the official release date for An Echo in the Bone, the 7th book in Diana Gabaldon's Outlander series. FYI, you won't hear from me for a solid week while I tear through this volume.
I've already told Brad that I don't want to be disturbed unless the house is on fire...even then, just let me know if there's structural damage, otherwise I'm sure the firefighters can deal with it; I'll be busy.