Sunday, July 06, 2008

The Sunday Salon: A Week of Reading

Not a big day for reading around here – it's been hard to concentrate on the printed page today, with Federer and Nadal burning up the court on the tube. Just the Sunday book review supplements – that's all I've managed so far. Thank goodness for rain delays.

But I did get some reading done earlier in the week. Finished a couple of books that I've had going for about a month now, but somehow never wrapped up till now. One was Wish You Were Here, by Rita Mae Brown (the first of her Mrs. Murphy mysteries). And the other was 2010: Odyssey Two, by Arthur C. Clarke. For some reason the last hundred pages or so of 2010 took me weeks to read. Not a reflection on the book because I really enjoyed it – just my strange reading habits. I'll be posting reviews of those two later this week. Also need to review a couple more whodunits I've read recently.

The other book I read this week was The Fires, by Alan Cheuse – two short novellas together in one volume. It was a free book from the Santa Fe Writers Project – they called it an ARC, but I think the book has actually been out for a while. Well, even so – don't you just love getting free books?

The books I've got going right now are Summer Reading by Hilma Wolitzer, and The Aviary Gate by Katie Hickman. The Wolitzer book is one that I had on my summer reading list last year and just never managed to get to. I'm only a few chapters into it, and so far it's got a suspiciously chick-lit feel to it. Not that I have anything against the genre – I just wasn't expecting this particular book to go that way. I'm sort of hoping for a little more substance as I read on.

I'm only a couple of chapters into The Aviary Gate, as well – so it's hard to make many judgments yet. But any book that starts out with ancient parchments and Blackwell's bookstore can't be all bad. Besides, it was another free book – and don't you just love getting free books?

To participate in The Sunday Salon, visit the TSS website here.

3 comments:

  1. Hmmm....wouldn't know because I don't get free books :(. Your reading lists sound so sophisticated and intellectual -- I really, really need to quit reading the kids books. Really.

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  2. boyett-brinkley--
    Now, Cuzzie! You know I love reading kids books, too. And some of them can be very sophisticated and intellectual. And a lot more fun than "adult" stuff.

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  3. In my opinion, Bram Stoker's original Dracula is the only vampire book you need to read. I haven't read Anne Rice, but my husband, who normally reads literary fiction and history, seems to like her. Either way, you're not missing much by passing on the Meyer books.

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