Rosie with a Reason

Just finished Rosie.  I think I mentioned it in my last post - it was the book on the bottom of the stack...but it was unopened.  Once I opened it, I read it straight through.

My mother and I have been visiting various book sales and getting great prices.  The last sale I got ten books for ten bucks.  Can't beat that!  Well, actually you can.  See, if you go to the Falmouth Library Sale - uh, wait, should I be telling my secret? - on the very last day, it's a buck for a bag of books!

I am such a nerd.

So I picked this book out at the Presbyterian Church Rummage Sale - Charlie thought it was a rubbage sale, hehe - because it was by Anne Lamott.  After reading the first few pages I made it a book mark.  On it I wrote: I think I wrote this book the day I was born.

Really I related less and less the further I got into the book but it was still an enjoyable read.  To me it had a To Kill a Mockingbird type feel.  Glad I picked it, this time based on its name Rosie.  My car is named Rosie, Charlie's favorite guinea pig is named Rosie...so it was only natural.  Duh.

I Slipped

So I was reading Memoirs of a Geisha, but then the library called and said my book came in.  Not so neatly stacked on my night stand are the following books:

Another Life Altogether by Elaine Beale
Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden
Unless by Carol Shields
Rosie by Anne Lamott

I know exactly how this happens.  Why is a different story...

I was telling my mom the other day...books seem to come into my life in a particular order.  They follow specific themes. (Oh, on the table on the other side of my bed I have The Maeve Binchy Writers' Club by Maeve Binchy)

However it happens, it does.  In fact, think I need to add a few more to the stack.

The one titled Unless is very interesting.  Once I read a bit of it, the title made more sense.  The kind of sense it should make if you really thought about it when you handled it during buy or put back decision process.  Which apparently, I hadn't. 

My point being, I have not yet been hooked.  Plenty of titles, yet no inspiration to read on.

The search continues...for that most perfect book.

Slowly Reading, But Not Reading Slowly

So I am reading Memoirs of a Geisha and I am really enjoying it but for some reason I am slowly reading it.  As in I read a few pages, set it down, then return to it, and read a few more pages.

In the meantime I have finished two books.  The first was The History of Love which I thought was good, possibly great but not quite.  I loved the character and some of his quirky behavior.  Loved the detailed descriptions of old men.  Wasn't so fond of the young girl character - but it is a book I would like to revisit, though who knows if I ever really will.

Then yesterday I finished reading The Walk. Now that was a quick read.  Twenty-four hours earlierI had never heard of the book before, much less cracked it open.  I came across this one while searching the Cape Cod Online Book Catalogue.  My search was new releases.  I must have liked the cover, of course, and the blurb attracted me.  A destitute guy walks away from his former life finding hope along the way.  Or something like that.  It's what I would call a soft novel.  It tells you a story about someone who has hit bottom - he then goes on a journey - his was not metaphorical - and comes out a better man, or in this case a changed man because of the lessons he learned along the way.  Good, not heavy, feel good, up to interpretation.

Guess now it's back to Geisha.

Chow.

hmm

So I am supposed to be reading Memoirs of a Geisha, but I find myself reading The History of Love. Somehow its blue green cover and so simple title drew me in.

I know.

I am a marketer's dream. I really should work for a publisher - got a knack for what will be hot. And I'm usually right. Just saying.

The cover of Geisha is just so -- mainstream. I'll read it, only I'm not there yet.

Enjoying the trip with a quirky old guy whose got a soft spot for love. (Not sure if anyone's gonna save him - but I'll take the ride.)

Another GREAT Read...Finally

So - after thinking I never would find another book as good as the last, I did. The name? Still Alice. It's a book that I wouldn't expect to like had I just read an abstract. But that's not what happened.

This past summer while on the Cape, I found a cool little bookstore on Main Street. In it, I found the book. I'm afraid to admit - I do judge a book by its cover. Always do. And think I've admitted this on more than one occassion.

The particular cover I am speaking of is white and blue and has a simple blue butterfly. So I picked it up, flipped to page 22 and read, read a few endorsements, perused the back cover. Hmm. But ultimately put it back.

Then a few weeks later, the author of Still Alice was having a book talk at Highfield Hall. Mmmm, again I thought. Still no action.

Then, while back in Tampa, the book again crossed my mind - I saw it and purchased it, then recommended it to my book club - though no one seemed all that interested.

Just this past weekend I zipped right through it - too fast - but last night I began again. You see the story is told by an unreliable narrator - one that suffers from Alzheimer's - Early Onset Alzheimer's, a curse worse than cancer the narrator proclaims. I found myself enthralled in it all.

So tonight - instead of being sad that I have come to the end of yet another great read and now must face the night alone again - I will re-read! Something I have not yet been inspired to do - at least not once right after the first. (Re-reading 1st period, 2nd period, then again 4th period doesn't count when you're teaching Shakespeare in High School - though I do find often syntax inverted.)

Need a Good Read

I was on a roll there for a long while. Book after book I read - all the way through. But now I seem to be at a standstill. I have the same number of books littering my nightstand only the one on top is not the one I go to on a regular basis. I find my mind wandering. I'll walk to my office - stand before the open doors of my oversized book case and shake my head. Nothing.

Not a thing entices me.

So I go back to the pile and I shuffle.

One of my favorite and least favorite things at once is finding a book I so relate to that it envelopes me. By day three I've nearly devoured it. And within a week, I'm done. Sad. Alone. At the end. The end of another magnificient read. But what next? Reread? I rarely do - unless it's for school.

Then the search beings again. The search for the perfect read. Characters I relate to, a plot that inspires me, a cadence that hums to me.

It's a tall order - but eventually I do find it again. Until - another end.

Easy on the Eyes

Just finished reading Easy on the Eyes by Jane Porter last night. It is book number two for the Endless Summer Girlfriends Book Club, an online book club created by my friend from high school. Facebook strikes again.

Reading is sometimes a problem for me as I tend to put books aside, read several at a time, and lose interest fairly soon. If a book doesn't grab me in the first fifty or so pages - well it gets shuffled to the bottom of the stack - not unlike that game we played as kids where one hand slaps on top of the other hand, then the bottom hand is slid out and smacked on top.

Got the book as the deadline was growing near - discussion was to be on Thursday - ...tbc