i remember now …

Three other books I forgot to mention last week:

Pretty Little Dirty: Granted I read this while lounging on a beach, but it was interesting … i appreciated that the friendship between Lisa and Celeste was complicated and spiked with jealousy as well as devotion … there’s nothing more annoying that reading a book with female leads that’s all coffee dates and shoe-sharing. 

Picked up Thank you for smoking at the airport and read the book from cover-to-cover in no time. Funny … Haven’t seen the movie, but hope to catch it on the Movie Network at some point …

 

Also started (but did not finish) Veronica … not sure why. Don’t think I gave this one enough time. My attention span lately has been less than 100 pages and if a book doesn’t grab me, I’m gone … think part of the problem is that I’m approaching reading like it’s some sort of assignment instead of a leisure activity … tsk, tsk – i know …

i know, i know …

Other than being silly busy, i have no excuse. For the two people who ask me regularly why I’m not posting – thank you for the kick in the butt – I’m going to do my best to get back into the routine.

Here’s what I’ve read since we last met:

• The Other Boleyn Girl

Yes, I read it because the movie’s coming out with Scarlett Johansson and Natalie Portman … but, I have confessed my weakness for historical fiction and I do enjoy Philippa Gregory’s books from time-to-time. It is what it is and I liked it.

• The Hungry Years: Confessions of a food addict

Great for the first 100 pages, but I started to lose interest quickly.

• Running with Scissors

Odd (odd) story, but worth reading … looking forward to the movie, but I can’t imagine it will capture how bizarre the relationship is between mother, son and the adopted family.

… am drawing a blank … there’s been others, but two are waterlogged as I read them while in Mexico and I can’t picture the titles for the life of me … will look under the bed and report back. One was a slightly higher-brow version of chick-lit and described an interesting relationship between two female friends.

At the moment, I’m attempting The Red Tent (for a second time), and am reading A Sunday at the Pool in Kigali. Struggling.

Anyone read Red? I read Snow, which is also by Orhan Pamuk and enjoyed his style of writing … have picked it up and read the first page while standing at Cole’s … but haven’t quite made it to the cash.

Perfume

Have been completely negligent about posting. Trying to get everything done before I go on holidays next week and just haven’t had a chance to sit down and read.

Hoping to get caught up while we’re in Ottawa for a couple of days … and I have three days on a dock planned for next weekend. If I’m not completely consumed by the pile of trash magazines sure to make an appearance, I’m hoping to really get into The Unbearable Lightness of Being.

I had dinner with a friend this evening who mentioned that’s reading Perfume: The Story of a Murderer, which I’m going to ask to borrow when she’s done.

Lamb finished with more of a whimper than I’d originally hoped for … not enough there for a formal novel and think the author could have pushed the humour by introducing each new character through a series of short stories or “gospels” … I’m all over short stories at the moment … there could still be overlap, but the story needed to be sharper to maintain the momentum generated in the first 100 pages.

Amy

Under the bed

The pile of books stashed under my bed recently reached critical mass and started to spill out onto the bedroom rug. Feeling somewhat wheezy after blowing layers of dust off the covers, and being completely undecided about what should stay, I carefully moved the pile to the next most logical place (under the bedroom window), where it lived for weeks. Whenever I walked past the pile, I thought about moving it, but I wasn’t really motivated until I realized that space under the bed was rapidly disappearing.

One or two of these will make it back into the rotation, but the rest are destined for GoodWill.

 

When I Was Young & In My Prime (Alayna Munce): I picked this up when I heard the author read. It’s a beautifully written story about a young woman finding her own way while trying to consolidate the lives of her grandparents into boxes, yard sales and memories that she can carry with her.

The Ultimate French Review and Practice: Once a year I decide I have an aptitude for languages  … Should keep this as I’m due for another delusion sometime in January.

A Bend in the River (V.S. Naipaul) & Vintage Nabokov: Think these were prematurely archived … Haven’t read either but both are now on my summer list.

The In-Between World of Vikram Lall (MG Vassanji): Pretty sure this is my mum’s and that I should return it.

See Jane Run (Joy Fielding): Subway reading … GoodWill

The Odyssey: I must have just received a copy of my university alumni magazine. Keeper.

I, Elizabeth (Rosalind Miles) & The Crimson Petal and the White (Michel Faber): Following the French phase, I usually go through a historical drama one. I, Elizabeth might make it another round, but The Crimson’s moving on.

Amy