Books #3 through #7
I'm trying not to fall behind in posting this year which means that it's time for an update. I seem to be tending to the YA so far. I'm not sure what that says about my current state of mind. I'm setting a goal for myself of ten books a month. That appears eminently doable this month, but we'll see what develops later in the year. Life has had a habit of throwing me lots of curveballs in recent months.
3. A. P. Giannini: The Man With the Midas Touch by Dana Haight Cattani and Angela B. Haight--This is by a friend of mine. She wrote the book with her mother while it's geared toward kids, it's still a fascinating story about a man who started with very little and created an empire. For those of you, like me, were unfamiliar with the name, Giannini founded the Bank of Italy which eventually grew into the modern-day Bank of America.
4. Nightlight: A Parody by The Harvard Lampoon--The Lampoon takes on Twilight. Just like shooting fish in a barrel...
5. A War of Gifts: An Ender Story by Orson Scott Card--A holiday novella set in Battle School.
6. The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery--My newer book group's choice. This was apparently a sensation in France. It was slow to start, but I eventually enjoyed it quite a bit. I'm a little conflicted over the ending, but it did make for interesting discussion at our meeting earlier this week.
7. A Stopover in Venice by Kathryn Walker--A lovely trade paper. I'm a sucker for a parallel timeline story and this has elements of that as well as great descriptions of Venice. The protagonist is a woman married to a famous musician who is self-involved. She abruptly leaves the train they're on as it's about to depart from Venice and stumbles into an unexpected and possibly a more fulfilling life. I quite enjoyed it. As I was doing a little research upon finishing it today, I found out that the author was married to James Taylor for a number of years and that she'd lost her first partner in exactly the way the main character had. I'm thinking that it lifts pretty much wholesale from facets of her life.
3. A. P. Giannini: The Man With the Midas Touch by Dana Haight Cattani and Angela B. Haight--This is by a friend of mine. She wrote the book with her mother while it's geared toward kids, it's still a fascinating story about a man who started with very little and created an empire. For those of you, like me, were unfamiliar with the name, Giannini founded the Bank of Italy which eventually grew into the modern-day Bank of America.
4. Nightlight: A Parody by The Harvard Lampoon--The Lampoon takes on Twilight. Just like shooting fish in a barrel...
5. A War of Gifts: An Ender Story by Orson Scott Card--A holiday novella set in Battle School.
6. The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery--My newer book group's choice. This was apparently a sensation in France. It was slow to start, but I eventually enjoyed it quite a bit. I'm a little conflicted over the ending, but it did make for interesting discussion at our meeting earlier this week.
7. A Stopover in Venice by Kathryn Walker--A lovely trade paper. I'm a sucker for a parallel timeline story and this has elements of that as well as great descriptions of Venice. The protagonist is a woman married to a famous musician who is self-involved. She abruptly leaves the train they're on as it's about to depart from Venice and stumbles into an unexpected and possibly a more fulfilling life. I quite enjoyed it. As I was doing a little research upon finishing it today, I found out that the author was married to James Taylor for a number of years and that she'd lost her first partner in exactly the way the main character had. I'm thinking that it lifts pretty much wholesale from facets of her life.