The mind of a 15 year old boy...

I am reading Vernon God Little. It is a challenge, but interesting. The mind of a 15 year old boy is a tough place to be. Just finished Lisa Jackson's Lost Souls. It was okay, but nothing worth really recommending to anyone. It got me to sleep for a few nights.

Moving Along...

I finished InkDeath and it was pretty good. This is a series that I know I will re-read later in life. I will hold onto it. Funny how you know that with some books and you don't let them go. I am now reading Lost Souls by Lisa Jackson. It will be suitably non-taxing to my brain to get me through the incredibly busy weeks ahead!

Halloween... Accounting...

I am waiting for Trick or Treaters so I have a bit of time to catch up.... I am currently reading Inkdeath, the third in the Inkspell trilogy by Cornelia Funke. Usually after waiting this long for a sequel I would reread the first two books, but she provided nice little summaries at the beginning and I am managing well. I have the 2nd and 3rd in the Eragon series and I know that I will have to reread the first before I make heads or tails of them. I tried, it didn't work! I still have The Tiger's Claw on my bedside table. I pick it up in between books and read a bit, but it hasn't grabbed me completely. Christmas is coming and I have started compiling a wish list so who knows when I will finish it.

My days and nights are crazy...

So the reading has been sporadic... I read another Robert Crais book, Hostage. I just finished that. I have also started The Tiger Claw by Shauna Singh Baldwin. Unusally for me, I have two books on the go. One lives in my car for picking up when I am waiting at a child's activity. I have a new murder mystery author on the go. Peter James' Dead Simple. My Mom leant it to me so I am giving it a shot. I fidn it easier to read a formulaic murder mystery when I have a lot on the go because my brain can't handle too much more...

Fringeous Interruptous...

Because of the Fringe it took me awhile to finish J.D. Robb's Strangers in Death. I am done now and I have started Angie Sage's Queste (one of the Septimus Heap books). This is a series that I think should be read more. I find it well written and I like the characters (or don't like them, as you are supposed to). There are many book series out there trying to be the next Harry Potter series. It is hard to understand why some are successful and some are not. What is the allure of the Potter books compared to the Artemis Fowl or Septimus Heap series? Is it the fact that EVERYONE is reading them so there is that 'community of readership'? That is the same reason for Book Clubs. You not only want to read the books, but you want to have the shared experience with other.

More Vampires...

The Front was a very quick read. It was okay, but I prefer the Scarpetta books. I am now reading New Moon, the book that follows Twilight. Twilight was a quick read for such a long book, so I figure I will sail through this one and make my decision on the third.

I didn't post about but did read several Robert Crais books in the past little while. I also read the new Artemis Fowl book (The Time Paradox). I really liked that one. I think Eion Colfer is one of the best writers for youth. Clever, funny, well-written and engaging. It is also original.

5 Billion Adolescent Girls can't be wrong?.....

Just read Twilight. Not bad, but not great. It picked up at the end but there was little suspense until the last third and the dialogue is so stiff and unrealistic. Quite a bit of over-writing, but the target audience might like that. I bought the second book and if that fails to thrill me I will stop there.

I am reading Patrica Cornwell's The Front now.

And I read this...

This is not a book. It's a blog post, but it has to do with books and what is in them. The comments are also enlightening.

http://jaslarue.blogspot.com/2008/07/uncle-bobbys-wedding.html

I have lost track... but I will try to re-start....

I am currently reading The Memory Keeper's Daughter by Kim Edwards. I picked up in Safeway from their book bin about 10 months ago for cheap and because the cover looked good. Finally got around to reading it. It has been slow going because of my trip.

Before the trip I read Careless in Red by Elizabeth George. It is her latest. I liked it. It was very thoughtful and follows Lynley's grieving after Helen's death. I recommend because I love Elizabeth George's writing, but you'd have to go back and read the rest of the series (or at least several of them) to understand a bit of it.

Don't worry, I haven't given up on books (as if!)....

I have just been too busy to blog about it. I know that I have been reading in the past little while. I will try to remember what I can. I read the first book in the Dexter series (the one the TV show is based upon - slightly different than the show - the books came first). It was alright. not as gory as I was worried about. I also re-read the first 4 Narnia books because Prince Caspian was released as a movie. Now I have to get to see the film. I am now reading The Two Minute Rule by Robert Crais. I just finished two others by him (The Forgotten Man and Demolition Angel). Fairly good procedural. Well written and interesting, developed characters. Good for the busy brain because of the pattern of the genre. I have the new Elizabeth George novel in my trunk so I will get to that when I am done this one.

How One Book Makes You Read Another...

I just finished reading Jane Eyre (Charlotte Bronte). I had never read it before. I mostly stayed away from those books unless I had to read one for an English class. My sister seemed to really like them (you know, the Bronte Sisters, Jane Austen...) so I figured they could be her kind of books. I read Pride and Prejudice because it was on the syllabus for first year English. It was okay, but never made me want to pull out any of the others by Austen. So, anyhow, I was reading the Jasper Fforde books and the first one, The Eyre Affair, has a lot to do with Jane Eyre so I kept thinking I should probably read it. When I was at Cole's, picking up some books for Mark, there was Jane Eyre, just waiting for me on the bargain stacks. It was alright and added much to the appreciation of The Eyre Affair. Now I am onto the next in the Jasper Fforde series and I am content. It seems to have a lot to do with Hamlet and I have already read that several times.

I do want to say that I have loved reading Edith Wharton for some time... but she was American so for some reason that made the difference for me.

I Don't Know How It Happened...

A year or so ago I picked up two interesting looking books that I found in a used book store. They were by Jasper Fforde. I meant to read them, but they went into the 'stack of books to read' and I forgot about them. Then, the other day, I packed up the first one and thought it would make a good 'car reading book'. It was The Eyre Affair. I LOVED IT! I quickly tore through the next book in the series and then when I was about 25 pages from the end of that one I drove to two book stores to find the next three books in the series. If you like books (and reading about books), if you like funny books (like Douglas Adams kind of stuff), if you have read a lot of books, particularly classics and you would enjoy reading about a universe where the Complete Works of Shakespeare is legally mandatory in all hotel rooms (right next to the Gideon's Bible, the Koran, and various other religious books), then you would like this series. I am halfway through the 3rd book (Well of Lost Plots) and very much enjoying it!

Change in Plans...

Okay, so I put Odalisque down and picked up Bones to Ashes by Kathy Reichs and whipped that off in two days. I needed a break from Stephenson because the writing is so dense. I have picked up Kim Edwards' The Memory Keeper's Daughter and hope that will move along as well. I will get back to Odalisque later.

Sleepy... few pages read...

I finished The Vagabond King last night. It was hanging on for a few days there because I would only get one or two pages read before I found myself asleep. I have picked up Odalisque, which is the next in the Baroque Cycle (Neal Stephenson). I think I would be going through these faster if it weren't Spring Break. I don't have the 1/2 hour in the car waiting for Oliver after school, so that's a lot of my reading time gone right there.

I forgot to mention I read Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro. My sister lent it to me. It is the same author who wrote Remains of the Day but is nothing like that one (I am assuming based on my recollection of the movie). It was very interesting and sad in a way. I wanted an uprising and that was lacking. I do recommend the read. The concept was brilliant and the writing is really good.

Getting Through a Bit...

I whipped through the rest of the Artemis Fowl series. Don't know why I wanted to re-visit them, but I was glad I did. They are good. For anyone out there who likes a bit of kid-lit these are pretty good (think Narnia, Harry Potter, and that kind of reading level). I am now onto the 2nd book of Neal Stephenson's Baroque Cycle 1 series (the book is in the car so I can't currently check the title). I think it is called King of the Vagabonds or something like that. It is totally independent of the first book. I think the only thing it has in common is the time period and world. Perhaps characters will cross over but I don't know yet. So far so good. I also read something else in there, but I can't remember what it was... silly me.

On to the next...

I am reading Lee Child's Echo Burning. I hope to be done in a couple of days. Shouldn't be a problem.

Travel is good for reading...

On my trip to Toronto I finished Water Like a Stone and on the way back I read and finished J.A. Jance's Hand of Evil. Both we fine for the series they come from. I am now reading Lee Child's Persuader. It was given to me by my sister in an attempt to get some of her already read paperbacks out of her house and into mine. Cool. I like reading books I didn't necessarily have to buy, especially since I know I will read it and then never pick it up again.

Lightweight for travel...

I finished Not in the Flesh. Typical Rendell, except I figured it all out way before Wexford so I started to wonder how smart he really is... Hmmmm....

I know have to sort through my stuff to decide what to take on my TRIP TO TORONTO! Woot! Woot! I want it to be light enough to carry well, but I also want it to be a good read and I don't want to run out of words on my travels. I picked up the Deborah Crombie book, Water Like a Stone. Mom lent me it and it is a paperback. I also have Wicked (yeah, yeah, I know I am late on picking that up) and it is a paperback as well. I can always put extras in my suitcase for the trip home and shuffle. I just read so quickly when I have uninterrupted time. I pray that I do not have chatty seat companions! I am not good at anti-social so if they talk to me I will talk to them and I will be wishing I were reading!

Continuing in the same Vein...

I finished Artemis Fowl and then re-read the second book in the series, the Arctic Incident. They were good and quick. I shall likely plow through the rest of the series just as fast. I have now started Ruth Rendell's Not in the Flesh. It is the latest Inspector Wexford book. I am not sure what will be next. Now that Crimes is done I intend to get some serious reading done. I have a huge stack from the last trip to Chapters. I started a Kim Stanley Robinson book and then realised I had missed the second book in the series and this was a third book, so I need to get the middle book first. It may also mean re-reading the first book. There may be something to Mark's habit of waiting until the whole series is out (or at least a sizeable chunk of it) before starting the reading. I cant' always do that - some authors must be read immediately!

Okay - Time for an update...

I finished the first John Harvey book my mother leant me. It was good. I then read Gone to Ground - also by Harvey. It was good, but it was more difficult to get "into" the two detectives in that series. I then read Ruth Rendell's The Water's Lovely. I quite liked it because Rendell has a real knack for writing flawed characters and she is not afraid to make then internally ugly and at the same time they always seem to feel quite justified in their ugliness. I am now re-reading Artemis Fowl (Eion Colfer) because it is a fun quick read and my brain is acting funny lately. I think it is the diet coke withdrawl or the stress of the show (which you should all come and see - it's wonderful!). For young readers I highly recommend the Artemis Fowl series. They are clever and well-written and they don't take themselves too seriously like that series about Wizards... you know what I mean...

Amost Done.. then what?

I am 15 pages from the end of John Harvey's Darkness & Light. I will then have to find something new. I'll let you know.

A couple on the go...

I picked up A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini who wrote The Kite Runner and I started that. It is my bedtime book. I also have John Harvey's Darkness and Light as my purse book. Those of you who, like me, always have to have a book on hand to read will totally understand this. The first book is hardcover so it won't fit in my purse!

Ah, I cried a bit... So much for my heart of stone...

I finished The Kite Runner yesterday before rehearsal. I cried, even though I knew what was coming in the last chapter. It was so nicely written. Very clean and clear. Hosseini merely told the story. Yes, there were passages where the narrator was reflecting and emotional, but the style of writing was uncluttered, which I loved. I was ambivalent before I read it because there seem to be a lot of those kinds of books out there which have received acclaim and I have found the historical story more interesting than the personal story (eg. What the Body Remembers) but this was not the case with The Kite Runner. I also am suspicious of any book that has received tonnes of hype. That may be why I never picked it up before. Glad I did.

I am picking now for the next read. I'll let you know.

Moving On...

I finished up Atonement. Interesting. A good read once I got into it. The construction of the story was interesting but I feel cheated the way I did with Life of Pi. Can't say more or I'd give it away.

I am now reading The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini. It is another book I am reading in anticipation of a movie release. What can I say? I like to read the book first.

Inspired by Movie?

I finished up Cornwell's Book of the Dead. More mythology of the world and less compelling murder to solve so it was strictly for the die-hard Scarpetta fan.

I picked up Atonement by Ian McEwan and I have started reading that since I have seen the movie advertised so much. It is likely going to be nominated for an Oscar if the buzz is correct so I thought I would check it out in print first. I am likely going to pick up I am Legend in print now that I have seen the movie. So, there is something good that comes from movie adaptations of novel. Some people actually use that to motivate reading the book. That's why I read The Hours...