Bookitude
Inspired by eeminy and brooklynite. It's summertime, and the fluff is fluffing.
Just finished reading:
Twisted, by Jonathan Kellerman. Pure brain candy, a guilty pleasure listened to on tape (but it counts 'cause it was unabridged) while walking to and from work. This one features Petra Conner, not Alex Delaware. Successful in that I was dying to know whodunit and how, but the final answer felt very contrived and not nearly angst-laden enough for my taste.
The Lost Continent, by Bill Bryson. Bryson's first travel book. He drives in a huge figure eight around the lower 48, with Des Moines as the center, trying to recapture the road trips of his childhood. Not his best, but still had enough laugh-out-loud moments to satisfy.
Notes from a Small Island, by Bill Bryson. His valedictory trip around England before moving back to the States. Pleasant, but not laugh-out-loud funny. I think I'm OD-ing on Bryson a bit -- the result of all my reserve books flowing in too quickly.
Currently reading:
Fingersmith, by Sarah Waters. I can barely put this down to go to work. If you liked Tipping the Velvet -- this is better. Wonderful late Victorian atmosphere. Full of Dickensian plot twists that literally make my jaw drop, but feel exactly right (unlike the contrived one in Twisted). Plus there's lesbian sex. Goody.
The Witch in the Well, by Sharan Newman. The Hershey's Special Dark of brain candy -- I adore this mystery series about a feisty 12th-century Frenchwoman who was educated by Heloise (yes, that Heloise) and secretly has Jews in her family. This is shaping up to be a good one.
The Torah, by Moshe Rabbeinu, or by J, E, P, and the Redactor (wouldn't that be a great name for a superhero? Or put them all together and it's a band name), depending on your point of view. More fun than I expected. BB and I are reading it aloud together. We're using the Oxford Jewish Study Bible, so I actually understand most of what's going on, a big difference from my earlier attempts. We just got past Joshua and Caleb spying out the land of Canaan, and the dude getting stoned to death for gathering wood on Shabbos. A good parasha.
Will probably abandon:
The Afterlife Diet, by Daniel Pinkwater. After hearing him on NPR so many times, I was dying to know what he was like as a writer. Answer: a Kurt Vonnegut wannabe. I think I may be too old for this one.
The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency, by Alexander McCall Smith. Yes, I know I'm way behind the curve. I'm finally getting around to reading this (listening to it, actually) and it seems kind of, well, boring. It's like the mystery novel version of Jean Plaidy -- I probably would've liked it a lot when I was 11. I detect a trend. Also, is this a white dude (he grew up in "Rhodesia" and now lives in Scotland) writing about black Africans? If so, that rather bugs me.