reading challenge update & conclusion

2 hours, 244 pages
The Journals of Eleanor Druse
This was a tv-tie in and I hoped it would have redeeming value in spite of that. It did not. It was actually worse for being one, I think, because on TV people can run around being insensitive in the name of investigation and get away with it because we are not deeply involved in their thoughts. In a novel, however, where you get passages where the protagonist is plotting how to get a suicide note away from a mourning victim (for example) this just leads to thinking that the protagonist is a horrible and odious person. And perhaps she was intended to be anyway, but, ugh. No redeeming value.

2.25 hours, 327 pages
The Good Thief
I liked this. It was fun. You know when they call movies "rollicking"? This was the sort of adventure they mean. Orphans and theives and criminals and lies and mysteries.

2.25 hours, 230 pages
Two-Part Invention by Madeleine L'Engle
This was pretty fascinating. It's her chronicle of her marriage, starting with the early years and then interleaving with the ending, as her husband dies of cancer. Aside from A Wrinkle in Time I never knew that much about L'Engle, so her spirituality here surprises me a bit, and at the same time reading about how she struggled with rejections and to find writing time and to make ends meet is not something I imagined either, from someone I perceive to be a big, famous author.

I still have about an hour left in my 48 but I think I'm pretty much done. It's been an interesting challenge. Reading is usually my procrastination, but apparently if you tell me I must read, I will fine *other* things that need to be done. I'm also a bit surprised by my reading speed -- I thought I had slowed down some with age but it still seems to be about 100 pages per hour. Nothing the start and stop times is also interesting, how when I sit around reading I apparently fall into a pattern of reading for 45 minutes then doing something else for 15 and coming back to read some more.

So, I spent 13.25 hours reading, 1290 pages, 5 books.

today's reading

1 hour, another 100 pages
finished A Carnivore's Inquiry
The ending of this was quite inevitable, but also disturbing. There's a certain genre of unreliable narrator books that are always quite poorly done, in the end. This is definitely the best of that genre.

3.75 hours, 437 pages
The Perfect Man by Naeem Murr
This is the story of five friends in Missouri in the 1950s. One of them, Raj, is from India, but they are all outsiders in their own ways, despite having strong familial ties to the community. It was a good read, and a fairly fast read for its length, but I'm not really sure how much I liked it. I also don't know why it's called The Perfect Man, and this makes me feel rather dumb.

reading challenge update 1

2 hours, 196 pages
A Carnivore's Inquiry
I'm not finished with this one but am getting sleepy so stopped to update. This book is interesting. It plays out along the lines of the typical young woman coming of age kind of thing, kind of reminding me of The Dive from Clausen's Pier, except everyone in this book is using each other. The major difference here is that there is a thread of cannibalism that weaves through everything that happens. It's very strange and mildly spooky. I am hoping for a payoff. We shall see.

reading!

I'm doing the 48 Hour Book Challenge @ MotherReader

I'm going to get started now, and will be posting stuff about books for the next 48 hours!

I got my books today. Author's copies. I was a little scared to open the box. So amazing, though. So amazing.

Then, in the spirit of getting organized and finishing up the things I usually do at new year's, I went through my book journal. I read a shocking number of books last year. More than I read the year I was unemployed. No wonder I didn't get much (else) done last year.

Every year I make a list of my favorite books I read during the year. Here's the list for 2008. A bit late.

Love Walked In - Marisa de los Santos
Ballet Shoes / Circus Shoes - Noel Streatfeild
Life as We Knew It / The Dead & the Gone - Susan Beth Pfeffer
Josie & Jack - Kelly Braffett
Fingersmith - Sarah Waters
Couch World - Cathy Yardley
Dramarama - E Lockhart
Sweethearts - Sara Zarr
Geek Love - Katherine Dunn
Ten Cents a Dance - Christine Fletcher
Perfect You - Elizabeth Scott
I Wanna Be Your Joey Ramone - S Kuehnert
Lock & Key - Sarah Dessen

I swear I did read books by men. And books that weren't YA and chicklit. But that is what I like, apparently.

this made my day

I got a good review for Life on the Move from Fallen Angel Reviews!

Perfect timing to cap off 2008.

Happy new year, everyone!

GoodReads

I joined Goodreads ages ago and then just gradually drifted away from using the site. Yesterday, somehow, I came across a group on there called "What's the Name of that Book???"

I have a not-so-secret love for forgotten book finder threads and boards. I love the odd, half-remembered descriptions. And I love solving other peoples' mysteries! There were two on Goodreads that I was sure of and able to answer.

Anyway. I'm going to go acquaint myself with all the new goodies the site has to offer. Here's my profile, and I applied to their authors' program (whee!) so I should be able to add an excerpt soon!