Sunday, April 19, 2009

The Sunday Salon: On a Cloudy Sunday

In the interest of not clogging up the blogosphere with pointless filler, I haven't written a TSS post in quite a while. But I thought this week I'd use the Salon to say congratulations and "good job" to everyone who took part in the 24-Hour Read-a-thon yesterday. For about two seconds, I thought about joining in, but decided I'd never be able to stick it out. I have great admiration for anyone who can read for 24 hours at a stretch. I consider myself a pretty assiduous reader, but I could never spend a whole day doing just that. You guys are amazing.

And just the teensiest bit crazy.

But crazy in a good way.

Well, even though I didn't join in the Saturday marathon, I did get some reading done this weekend. I've got four books on deck right now, and I'm actively reading two of them. The Book of God and Physics: A Novel of the Voynich Mystery by Enrique Joven is a strange amalgamation of fiction and history, just about as eccentric as you might expect when you're dealing with a novel written by an engineer with a doctorate in physics. So far, I'm enjoying it, but then I'm pretty geeky – a story with a lot of historical facts and speculation and not much action is perfectly OK with me.

The other book I'm involved in at the moment is Brimstone, by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child. I'm reading it for the Suspense-Thriller Challenge, and it's pretty much the exact opposite of the Joven book – plenty of action and spine-tingling goings-on. It's the first Preston-Child book I've read (although I did read Preston's Blasphemy earlier this year), and I've been a little surprised at how much I'm liking it. At nearly five hundred pages, it's something of a chunkster, but I think it's going to be a pretty fast read. It's a little bit like "CSI meets The X-Files", so it's right down my literary alley.

Now I guess I better get back to my books. But first I think I'll spend a little time looking in on other Salon posts, checking up on everybody's reading news and looking for "new finds" for my TBR list. Now isn't that a great way to spend a Sunday evening?

5 comments:

  1. I did the Read-a-Thon and didn't manage to do all 24 hours, but that seems to be pretty okay! Hope you find some good books to stick on your TBR list. =)

    - Meghan @ Medieval Bookworm

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  2. Ha ha, I've never even considered doing the read-a-thon, much as I like the idea of it. On the other hand, "a story with a lot of historical facts and speculation and not much action" sounds like something I'd love. I will definitely check it out.

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  3. If I ever DO do the readathon, I'm sure I won't even come close to lasting 24 hours.

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  4. Their book Relic is quite good, and, if I am not mistaken, is the first in the Prendergast series. The movie based on the novel isn't too bad either. Give the book a try if you like Brimstone all the way through.

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  5. sounds like a fantastic way to spend a Sunday :-)

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