What I'm reading...

I've read several books since I last posted under this category...

• The Hunger Games (Suzanne Collins) 
• Catching Fire (Suzanne Collins)  
• Mocking Jay (Suzanne Collins)  
• Open Ice (Jack Falla)  
• To Kill a Mocking Bird (Harper Lee)  
• Uglies (Scott Westerfeld)  
• Pretties (Scott Westerfeld)  
• Specials (Scott Westerfeld) 

All but Open Ice have something in common... I read them because of Keeper Boy. I started the Hunger Games trilogy when the movie The Hunger Games came out in theaters. I knew Keeper Boy wanted to see it, but I wanted to read the book first. So I did. In like two days. Immediately followed by the second and third book of the trilogy. I think I read the whole thing in less than a week. Granted, it's written as young adult fiction, thus it's a quick read anyway, but still. I couldn't put it down! I finished that trilogy just before we took our spring break trip as I didn't want to take a physical book with me. (We were packing light.)

I downloaded Open Ice to my Kindle and read that while we were gone. It's a collection of essays about ice hockey. Some were funny; some were poignant; some were informational. All were good.

About a month ago, Keeper Boy's English class started reading To Kill a Mocking Bird. He finished the book long before he needed to have it done for class. In fact, the last chapters of the book aren't due to be read until this week! But once he was done and had finished the assignments for the book, I decided to read it. As an English major, I've long been somewhat embarrassed by the fact that I've never read Harper Lee's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel. So I did. And it really was as good as everyone says it is. It's one I'll definitely go back and re-read again some day.

Once that was done, I was looking for a new book to read. I'm Still trying to get through Pride and Prejudice. It's been on my Kindle for MONTHS and I'm only 28% through the book. I just cannot get into it. At. All. I will finish it some day. I always finish books. But geez.

Late last week, I decided to peruse the "cloud" to see what books Keeper Boy has previously purchased and read that I could download to my Kindle. He has this thing for dystopian society literature, which I always said I didn't like. But I loved The Hunger Games, so I decided to take a chance on another trilogy he had read. And I found another trilogy that I couldn't put down. Over the weekend I read Scott Westerfeld's Uglies trilogy. The first book was definitely the strongest of the three, but I enjoyed them all. And I was thrilled to find out that he actually wrote a fourth book that takes place a few years after the third one ended. I will be downloading that very soon. Maybe even tonight!

He's got six or seven more books in "the cloud" that I didn't think I had any interest in... but now I'm not so sure. Perhaps I should give them a try!

What I'm reading...

Recently finished two books: Maine and Summer Rental. Both dealt with relationships among a group of women. Both were good summer reads and I would recommend them.

Maine, by J. Courtney Sullivan
Amazon.com description: In her best-selling debut, Commencement, J. Courtney Sullivan explored the complicated and contradictory landscape of female friendship. Now, in her highly anticipated second novel, Sullivan takes us into even richer territory, introducing four unforgettable women who have nothing in common but the fact that, like it or not, they’re family.

For the Kellehers, Maine is a place where children run in packs, showers are taken outdoors, and old Irish songs are sung around a piano. Their beachfront property, won on a barroom bet after the war, sits on three acres of sand and pine nestled between stretches of rocky coast, with one tree bearing the initials “A.H.” At the cottage, built by Kelleher hands, cocktail hour follows morning mass, nosy grandchildren snoop in drawers, and decades-old grudges simmer beneath the surface.

As three generations of Kelleher women descend on the property one summer, each brings her own hopes and fears. Maggie is thirty-two and pregnant, waiting for the perfect moment to tell her imperfect boyfriend the news; Ann Marie, a Kelleher by marriage, is channeling her domestic frustration into a dollhouse obsession and an ill-advised crush; Kathleen, the black sheep, never wanted to set foot in the cottage again; and Alice, the matriarch at the center of it all, would trade every floorboard for a chance to undo the events of one night, long ago.

By turns wickedly funny and achingly sad, Maine unveils the sibling rivalry, alcoholism, social climbing, and Catholic guilt at the center of one family, along with the abiding, often irrational love that keeps them coming back, every summer, to Maine and to each other.

Summer Rental, by Mary Kay Andrews
Amazon.com description: Sometimes, when you need a change in your life, the tide just happens to pull you in the right direction….

Ellis, Julia, and Dorie. Best friends since Catholic grade school, they now find themselves, in their mid-thirties, at the crossroads of life and love. Ellis, recently fired from a job she gave everything to, is rudderless and now beginning to question the choices she's made over the past decade of her life. Julia—whose caustic wit covers up her wounds--has a man who loves her and is offering her the world, but she can't hide from how deeply insecure she feels about her looks, her brains, her life. And Dorie has just been shockingly betrayed by the man she loved and trusted the most in the world…though this is just the tip of the iceberg of her problems and secrets. A month in North Carolina's Outer Banks is just what they each of them needs.

Ty Bazemore is their landlord, though he's hanging on to the rambling old beach house by a thin thread. After an inauspicious first meeting with Ellis, the two find themselves disturbingly attracted to one another, even as Ty is about to lose everything he's ever cared about.

Maryn Shackleford is a stranger, and a woman on the run. Maryn needs just a few things in life: no questions, a good hiding place, and a new identity. Show More

Five people questioning everything they ever thought they knew about life. Five people on a journey that will uncover their secrets and point them on the path to forgiveness. Five people who each need a sea change, and one month in a summer rental that might just give it to them.

Next up: some more serious fare... I just downloaded Pride and Prejudice to my iPad. I've never read it. And I downloaded The Scarlet Letter, which I've read several times, but it's one of my favorites.

What I'm reading...

Well, what I've recently read, really...

Two excellent books... both on eReaders. I'm so relevant. Ha!

ESPN: Those Guys Have all the Fun
by James Andrew Miller and Tom Shales

This is a really long book, told in an oral narrative style. Thousands of hours of interviews must've been conducted with all levels of people associated with ESPN -- both past and present. I found it absolutely fascinating. Hubby is reading it now.

Here's a description from amazon.com:
ESPN began as an outrageous gamble with a lineup that included Australian Rules Football, rodeo, and a rinky-dinky clip show called Sports Center. Today the empire stretches far beyond television into radio, magazines, mobile phones,the internet, video games and more, while ESPN's personalities have become global superstars to rival the sports icons they cover. Chris Berman, Robin Roberts, Keith Olbermann, Hannah Storm, Bill Simmons, Tony Kornheiser, Stuart Scott, Erin Andrews, Mike Ditka, Bob Knight, and scores of others speak openly about the games, shows, scandals, gambling addictions, bitter rivalries, and sudden suspensions that make up the network's soaring and stormy history. The result is a wild, smart, effervescent story of triumph, genius, ego, and the rise of an empire unlike any television had ever seen.


Before I Go to Sleep
by S. J. Watson

This book, too, was fascinating, but on a completely different level. A woman who has suffered trauma has amnesia. Each morning she wakes up and has no idea where she is, who the man in bed next to her is, and why she's 20+ years older than she should be. Her husband explains everything, and she can retain any information she gathers during the day; however, she loses it all as she sleeps each night. So she starts keeping a journal... and then she has no idea who she can trust in her life. I couldn't put it down.

Here's the description from amazon.com:
Every day Christine wakes up not knowing where she is. Her memories disappear every time she falls asleep. Her husband, Ben, is a stranger to her, and he's obligated to explain their life together on a daily basis--all the result of a mysterious accident that made Christine an amnesiac. With the encouragement of her doctor, Christine starts a journal to help jog her memory every day. One morning, she opens it and sees that she's written three unexpected and terrifying words: "Don't trust Ben." Suddenly everything her husband has told her falls under suspicion. What kind of accident caused her condition? Who can she trust? Why is Ben lying to her? And, for the reader: Can Christine’s story be trusted?

What I'm Reading...

Unbearable Lightness: A Story of Loss and Gain
By Portia de Rossi

Halfway through. Wow. She had a seemingly great thing going on when she was on Ally McBeal, but she in no way saw it that way. Anorexia and Bulimia are horrible, horrible diseases. Not to make light, but I am glad that I hate vomiting and being hungry... I don't think I could ever be in danger of drifting toward either disease.

From the front flap: "I didn't decide to become anorexic. It snuck up on me disguised as a healthy diet, a professional attitude. Being as thin as possible was a way to make the job of being an actress easier..."

What I'm Reading...

Sharp Objects
By Gillian Flynn

Halfway through. Not riveting, but good enough to keep me reading while I'm on the treadmill. I'm pretty sure I've already figured out the "whodunit."

Book jacket summary: "Fresh from a brief stay at a psych hospital, Camille Preaker's first assignment at her second-rate daily paper takes her reluctantly back to her home-town to cover the murders of two preteen girls. As she works to uncover the truth, Camille finds herself identifying with the young victims--a bit too strongly. Dogged by her own demons, Camille will have to confront what happened to her years before if she wants to survive this homecoming."
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Some of the other books I've read in the last six months:

Columbine
by Dave Cullen
[non-fiction] Fascinating; definitely recommend

Song Without Words
by Ann Packer
Didn't much like; don't quite get the hype

Seven Year Switch
by Claire Cook
Fluff, but an okay read; good for the beach

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
by Stieg Larsson
Excellent once you get past the first 40 pages... stick with it!

The Girl Who Played with Fire
by Stieg Larsson
2nd in the Millenium Trilogy; also excellent; page-turner from the get-go

The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest
by Stieg Larsson
Conclusion of the trilogy; another excellent page-turner

Heart of the Matter
by Emily Griffin
Complete fluff, but an okay read; good for the beach

House Rules
by Jodi Piccoult
Very good book about a teenager with Ausberger's and how his medical condition and his interest in crime scenes combine to create problems for he and his family

Twilight, New Moon, Eclipse, and Breaking Dawn
by Stephenie Meyer
Read the entire series again this summer because Keeper Boy was reading them. Loved them just as much the second time around!