Death in Holy Orders

Thought I wasn't reading, did you? Say it ain't so! I've been a book fiend the last 2 months! Very behind on my reviews, but I'm fixing to fix that.

Finished Death in Holy Orders by P.D. James in only 1 day. I can't help it: mystery novels are captivating. No overwrought love stories, no "my parents put my through a horrible childhood, & all I got was this lousy t-shirt" memoir flashbacks, and no excruciating historical minutiae chronicling forgotten events. The best ones are just a rollicking good story. And P.D. James' Death in Holy Orders is just that, and it features an erudite cast of characters in a setting of isolated and breathtaking scenery to boot. James' literary talents sometim...more I can't help it: mystery novels are captivating. No overwrought love stories, no "my parents put my through a horrible childhood, & all I got was this lousy t-shirt" memoir flashbacks, and no excruciating historical minutiae chronicling forgotten events. The best ones are just a rollicking good story. Death in Holy Orders is just that, and it features an erudite cast of characters in a setting of isolated and breathtaking scenery to boot. James' literary talents sometimes outshine her storytelling abilities (some of her foreshadowing is somewhat heavy-handed), but I enjoyed this British crime drama, particularly the portrayal of the Church of England as a character in its own right. I'd definitely read her again: 4/5 stars. BookCrossing'ed April 2 - BCID: 611-7980377

So, that's book #14 in 2010, and I've already read #15-20. You'll just have to come back for those reviews!

Tags: book challenge, books, reading, PD James

Your Jar is Open

I finished two books this week, so you get double your money on reviews!

First up, The Secret Life of Bees, by Sue Monk Kidd. One of the few books that, for me, lived up to the hype, despite my initial misgivings. I've seen it reviewed as "one of those books my mother reads", which makes me think maybe I'm older than I realize. But this coming-of-age novel about a 14-year old girl learning about identity and community set against the stark realism of the deep south of 1964 was a quick and affirming read. Themes of forgiveness, love, and humor - the chick-lit triad - abound, but in a good way. Even though my friend Dante, the bookstore owner, poo-pooed it as something a guy would never pick up, I still liked it. Bookcrossing'ed 4/22/10 - BCID: 551-7942396

And then we come to Mr. Paradise. So, this is the Elmore Leonard that all the fuss is about? Not that it was a bad read, and I can see the draw for screenwriters wanting to put it on the big screen - plenty of dark, all-too-human characters, motives, & settings to exploit in a grainy way, paired with oh-so-spare writing. But really just a quickie, a noir nooner of a story. Bookcrossing'ed 4/23/10 - BCID: 478-7961370

These books bring me to 13 of the 52 books and 5,419 of the 25,000 words I've set myself as a reading goal this year. That's 22 and 25 percent, respectively - a little behind for coming up on 1/3 of the year under our belts. (Jeez, already? How did that happen?)

Tags: books, reading, book review

I Even Read About Knitting

Last week Cole came home from his favorite thrift store with this 30 cent purchase in hand for me: The Friday Night Knitting Club by Kate Jacobs, saying "I hope you haven't read it yet!" He takes good care of me, no?

The first and ubiquitous knit-knovel: woman opens yarn store to support herself & her new baby, strong women come into their lives through the yarn store, life turns around for woman, happy ending for all. Or maybe not.

I have to agree with my friend BlondeChicken: I mostly read it because, as a knitter, I felt like I “should,” but I actually enjoyed it more than I expected. It could have used a good editing, but there were some “moments of real emotion” in it, as Tara said.

A quick & easy read, it would be the perfect vacay reading. Curious to see how the movies compares.

Tags: reading, books, knitting, review

Pile o' Books

Visited my local indie bookstore over the weekend, & they sent me home with a PILE of review copies for my very own reading pleasure! Thought to myself: "that's blog-worthy", so here we are.

Sped right through this one immediately. The Mapping of Love and Death is the 7th Maisie Dobbs mystery by Jaqueline Winspear, and although I'm new to the genre, they're growing on me. This one takes place in and around London between the two World Wars, and, despite my initial coldness toward it, I was eventually hooked.

My main criticism: it seemed somewhat formulaic. Possibly a coincidence, or maybe typical of the genre, but I found the cadence, characterizations, & plot development to be strongly reminiscent of the Inspector Lynley mysteries by Elizabeth George. Still, a pleasant read, and, as someone with a degree in geography, I particularly enjoyed the surveying theme. If you're in Humboldt, keep your eyes open: this tome is travelling! Yep, I sent it out into the world via BookCrossing.

With its 352 pages, finishing this brings my total to 4,461 - that's 18% of my 25,000 page goal for the year.

Wanna see the lineup on my nightstand? Here's the list of the rest of the books I received; you can expect to see me review them in the not-too-distant future.

• In a Dark Wood by Marcel Moring (that's what I'm reading now)
• Where's My Wand? by Eric Poole
• The Lost Summer of Louisa May Alcott by Kelly O'Connor McNees
  
• Who Fears Death by Nnedi Okorafor
• My Name is Memory by Ann Brashares
• The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake by Aimee Bender
• The Last Stand by Nathaniel Philbrick
• One More Theory About Happiness by Paul Guest

I told you it's a pile! There's one more advance reader's copy coming my way: Gabriel Garcia Marquez's Clandestine in Chile: The Adventures of Miguel Littin. I requested a copy through the LibraryThing Early Reviewers group, & was lucky enough to score one. I'm a big Marquez fan, so have high expectations.

Tags: books, reading

Reading Challenge Update

I finished another book last week, but never got around to blogging it, silly Velma that I am.

When I was at Sit 'n' Knit at YARN in Eureka last Sunday, Sunni & Saremy & I got talking about dark memoirs. When they heard how much I enjoyed Augusten Burroughs' Running with Scissors, they both said I needed to read The Glass Castle, by Jeannette Walls. Sunni had a copy for me to borrow, & I finished it in under 3 days.

Written in a play-by-play documentation of events style, the reader is offered little in the way of insight into the emotional effects of growing up in a family where independence is valued over safety and where poverty and neglect reached appalling lows, but ...mIt is a bare-all memoir from a woman who survived the caprices of a big dreamin', booze-addled but brilliant father & a possibly bipolar "adventure addict" artistic mother who preferred painting to providing for her children.

Written in a play-by-play documentation of events style, the reader is offered little in the way of insight into the emotional effects of growing up in a family where independence is valued over safety and where poverty and neglect reached appalling lows, but also a family of extraordinary intellect and resilience. Life with the Walls' was, apparently, never dull.

Hopefully Walls will proffer a sequel describing what marks such a childhood left on her. No wonder this woman is now a gossip columnist.

A page-turner that I thoroughly enjoyed, if for no other reason than it reminded me how lucky I am. Dark but entertaining. I gave it a 4/5 stars.

Up next: The Mapping of Love and Death, a mystery by Jacqueline Winspear.

Tags: books, reading, Glass Castle

Just a Quickie

I'm so behind on blogging, just got caught up in the excitement that was the last few days of Ravelympics, including a day of dyeing & finishing my blanket square over the weekend. So this isn't a big post, but I wanted to quick jot down a review of the book I read between the 24th & the 27th: Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister by Gregory Maguire.

My new favorite author! How playful with words Maguire is.

I appreciate the return of fairy tales told in the dark tradition, a la Grimm. Maguire's characters were deftly drawn, his setting historically rich, and his plot twists delightfully surprising.

All in all, a worthy re-tooling of a classic. Quite a pleasant read! Looking forward to reading the preceding volume, Wicked. But not right away. I'm starting The Glass Castle, a memoir YARN's Sunni loaned me. Later tonight I'm going to tuck in with a lemon bar, my new book, and the heating pad. Ahhh...

(In case you are keeping track, this is book #8 of 2010, and my page total now stands at 3,821. Only 21,179 to go!)

Tags: reading, books

7 Down, 45 To Go

Finished another book last night, word nerd-ian readers: Hornet Flight by Ken Follett. A WWII historical fiction novel told from the perspective of Danish Nazi-resistors, it was a quick and pleasant read, if not as engaging as Pillars or World Without End.

The characters are fairly predictable & one-dimensional, but the period was obviously a compelling era, providing an interesting backdrop for their story lines. The most intriguing aspect for me was reading about the Danish Resistance, a movement I was completely unaware of. That, & I thoroughly enjoyed the way that an airplane, a beat-up DeHaviland Hornet Moth, was both the literal & literary device that carried the story along.

I give it a 2.5/5 stars.

As for my pages read & books read goals, this puts me at 14% and 13%, respectively. Seven books down, 45 to go!

Tags: reading, books

The Word

I like words. Have I mentioned that I like words? I do, I like words. Here are some of my favorites from my recently renewed bibliophile obsession ('N' next to a word indicates that it is new to me). Thanks to Merriam-Webster.com for the definitions.

specious
bollard (N)
assiduous
eponymous
salubrious
casuistry (N)
perspicacity
hieratic (N)
gaol (N)
ribald
sardonic
malodorous
peripatetic
sobriquet
ersatz
stertorous (N)
plus fours (N)
secateurs (N)
insouciance
querulous
agrimony (N)
apoplectic
frangible
exigent
abnegate
mirabile dictus (N)

Finished World Without End over the weekend. Nice little read (well, not little; over 1000 pages!), although I'd forgotten how debauchery-filled Ken Follett's books are. Maybe a little more history & a little less bodice ripping next time, Mr. Follett? Now I'm slogging the rest of the way through The Black Book; only about 200 more pages to go...

This jumps me up to 4 of 52 books (8%) and 2,327 (9%) completion on my 25,000 page goal for the year! Go me!

Tags: books, reading

It's Good to Have Goals

Decided to set myself reading goals for 2010: 25,000 pages, 52 books. That's only an average of 481 pages/book; that's do-able, right? Needed a joiners push, so I'm signing on for 2010 Pages Read Challenge at Secret Dreamworld of a Bookaholic. The Rules:

1) Pick a number of pages you'll be attempting to read in 2010. It doesn't matter whether your goal is 10,000 or 100,000.

2) Write a blog post about it in which you will keep track of your page count.

3) Comment here with your goal number and a link to your blog post (if you have one) to be added to the list of participants.

4) The challenge starts January 1, 2010 and ends December 31, 2010. Only pages read after the new year has begun count in for the challenge, but any and every page you read counts for this challenge.

5) As usual: Have fun!

And I've installed handy-dandy widgets for those of you playing at home to follow my progress! (Thanks to the folks at NaNoWriMo for creating & sharing them.) They're in my right sidebar, waaay down near the bottom, but here they are, all updated with my January reading totals and everything. I'll try to keep 'em up to date. Finished in January: Second Chance Pass by Robyn Carr (romance - oops!), blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking by Malcolm Gladwell non-fiction/psychology), & With No One as Witness by Elizabeth George (mystery). I'm already a bit behind, with only 3 books and 1,300 pages read in January; I need to average 2, 083 pages & 4.3 books every month to finish.

1,313 / 25,000
pages read in 2010.
5% done!

3 / 52
books read in 2010.
6% done!

Just below the counters is another widget, showing what books I'm currently reading. Right now I'm engrossed in World Without End, by Ken Follett. The sequel to his epic novel Pillars of the Earth, it is set in 14th century England around the goings-on in the fictional town of Kingsbridge, a cathedral village. I enjoyed Pillars, and this too is a pleasant read (I enjoy historic fiction), but I don't remember it being such a bodice-ripper.

You can follow my reading progress at Goodreads.com; my currently reading shelf, my read in 2010 shelf, and my profile.

Tags: reading, books