About a month ago, I got so desperate to read a book that I started digging through the garage to look for books that I had yet to unpack (typed in a whisper: from our move over 1 year ago). The first box of books that I stumbled upon was full of high school yearbooks -- that wasn't going to do. The second box of books had law school text books. Yes, I decided, that will do. I love reading case law -- really, I do. So, I chose my Minnesota Family Case Law book and started reading a case from the early 1900's that was chock-full of jurisdictional confusion and Supreme Court interpretational joy. I loved it. (sigh) But this fun was only good for so long and I vowed that I needed to go get a library card.
The next day, Brynn and I went to the library. She loved it -- it's now a special treat when she gets to go there and she gets all hyper and giddy. I love that she can't wait until we get home to read books, and that she always wants to sit on the bench outside the entrance and read a couple books before we get in the car to go home.
The first book I chose to read was about that time traveller. Enough said.
On our last trip there, I didn't have anything specific in mind. I wandered the shelves while keeping an eye on Brynn who was in puzzle heaven with another little girl. Nothing was jumping out at me -- and then I saw the golden circle and the angels started singing. Yes, Oprah had endorsed a book!! (Not a Pulitzer you sillies!!) Oprah has rarely led me astray, so I picked it up and claimed my daughter who was now loudly proclaiming "SEE!! THERE'S MY MOMMY!!" to the other little girl.
So, this is what I'm reading. I'm trying so very hard to read it. I've been at it for a good 2 weeks now and I'm on page 100-something. This is sooooooooooo slow and ... out of my element that I'm having problems getting involved in it. It has to do with 4 random people living in India during an uprising in the 1940s-1970s and there's a lot of talk about the caste system and sewing. LOTS of sewing. I feel as if I could make a dress, or at the very least a nightgown after all this talk of sewing machines and measurements.
I will finish this book, even if I forget to renew it and incur lots of overdue fines. I keep hoping that this book will be like another of Oprah's Gold Seals that I had a terrible time getting involved with.
Here's The Poisonwood Bible. Again, the first 100-150 pages were so dagnabit slow that I think I started and stopped this book at least twice. (Just like a couple of Toni Morrison's books. I have NEVER finished Song of Solomon).
However, there was some turning point in this book and the last half of the book just flew by. I loved it. I decided that this was one of my favorite books. As I have the "Book Details Memory Lapse" Disease, I am not able to remember exactly what this book was about ... but it was good. I do remember that it is VERY important to take all of your malaria pills and not stick them on the wall under your bed.
Some of my other favorite books are:
1. James Frey Books. I know Oprah disavowwed him, but the books still rock.
2. Wally Lamb Books. I don't know how Oprah feels about him. I think she likes him. I LURVE him. I can easily read, or want to read, any of his 500+ page books in a weekend.
3. I have read 2 John Grisham books in my life, and have LURVED* one and LIKED A LOT the other one.
First the LURVE: The Testament. It's about a billionairre and a will and a journey into the Patanal in South America.
The LIKED A LOT: The Innocent Man. This is a true story. I bet you can't tell what it's about?? It's like reading an episode of Dateline. I enjoyed it.
*LURVE is a more emphatic version of Love. ex: I Love regular Coca-Cola, but I LURVE Red Bull.
(I can't format this post to save my life!! I am not BFFs with Blogger today.)
I just wrote you a really long, funny comment. It was full of wit and banter. Then, as I am using TelegaWoman's computer, I had to sign her out and I lost said comment. So...here it in bullet points:
ReplyDelete- I also suffer from "Book Detail Memory Lapse" Disease. So much so that I have been known to be halfway through a book and realize I have read it before.
- I also struggled with the first half and flew through the second half of The Poisonwood Bible.
- Have you read Three Cups of Tea? I ask as it is another book that I struggled through the very beginning and then could NOT put down.
- I think TelegaWoman would suggest Water for Elephants. It's another good one.
-I realize you weren't looking for book suggestions. However, when people talk about books, I can't help it.
I appreciate book suggestions :) I'm hoping that i can read them someday... i still have a good 200+ pages left of the nonsense. Last night I learned about sleeping in a ghetto in India where you have to step over the exposed sewer pools, and if the board gives out, you will land in the shizzy, a la Slumdog Millionaire style.
ReplyDelete1st: I LURVE the word 'lurve'. Ever since I saw Annie Hall a few years ago I have lurved that word, and I lurve that you lurve it too!!! hee hee...
ReplyDelete2nd: How on EARTH do you find time to read? I am stymied by the towering pile of Parents mags sitting on my endtable, let alone the library full of novels (despite Asha's desperate please to go check out more "Walter the Farting Dog" books). Only time I ever get to read is on a plane, and I never go anywhere. I miss it. I dislike being illiterate. Teach me your ways, mastah.
Dear Shanna Shenanigans: I am only on my second post-Brandon book (i'm not counting the family law case law i read), and i generally only get to read about 30-45 minutes a night. I do this when the kids are in bed, my tv shows are being dvr'd, the kids toys remain ALL over the floor, and the dinner dishes are still in the sink. I like reading more than cleaning, and I've decided that I need to do more of what I like and less of the stuff that I don't. Jeremy can do that stuff (holding back a laugh).
ReplyDelete