61 Hours and Mr. Playboy

Posted on January 18, 2011 by pagesofjulia

Ack! So sorry it’s taken me this long! See what a three-day weekend does for me? No, I didn’t mean it, don’t take them away. It was a GREAT three-day weekend. Yesterday was a stellar day on the mountain bike trails up north (didn’t see another soul!) followed by a sushi pig-out with the Husband, ahhhhh, lovely.

So I just had a hard time catching up today, and I’m sorry this post is so late. I do have things to tell you.

I finished Lee Child’s 61 Hours this weekend, and it was everything I want a Lee Child/Jack Reacher book to be. It was fast-paced and exciting and suspenseful, with a good mystery that I solved myself this time (although I doubted in the final moments, I confess). Reacher was a superman and I was impressed and it was great fun. BUT! I was totally dissatisfied with the ending. It was far too up-in-the-air; I need greater satisfaction than that, greater resolution. I don’t think people read page-turner head-bashing mysteries to be left up in the air; I think we like conclusion! Without spoiling, I hope, let’s say it leaves Reacher’s fate decidedly in question. Luckily I know that the next Reacher book is already out, so either he survives or is reincarnated. That saves Child from some of my frustration. But really, if he were reading this: Mr. Child, you do such a good job. Next time do go ahead and tell us what happened! Ah well, this will just get me into the next one all that quicker. Perhaps this was his aim all along.

Next I started reading Mr. Playboy: Hugh Hefner and the American Dream by Steven Watts. This one has a due date at the big library where I don’t work, so I thought I’d go ahead and get started. Also, it’s a bit of a brick – close to 600 pages, only 450ish of which is the book itself (lots of notes, not a bad sign with a biography).

And it was easy to get into! I observed in last Friday’s book beginning that it had a strong start; seemed readable (what a drag to have to force oneself to follow really dry nonfiction, you know what I’m talking about) and also seemed to approach the subject in the way I was hoping. I’m reading a Hefner biography because I find him a fascinating character: complex, and polarizing, and prolific in his influences. I’m pretty clear that I do admire him, but I know he’s complicated and suspect that not everything about him is admirable. So, I’m looking for a biography to help me understand these complexities.

And I think I’ve found it! First of all, it does turn out to be a very readable book. I sat down and got through 125ish pages in one sitting, which means that by the second sitting I’m more than a third of the way through this brick. That’s an endorsement. I also appreciate Watts’ approach; he’s working to place Hefner in the larger forces guiding the US and all the ways in which our culture was changing during Hefner’s youth. I’m still dealing with the early years of Playboy magazine, barely scraping 1960, so there’s plenty to come. We’re getting to know a number of the characters in his life and in the Playboy commercial empire. I find it plenty entertaining. I like learning about Hefner’s intricacies and contradictions. If you’re looking for a Hefner biography I would recommend this one so far.

It’s a beautiful day because I got up and rode my bike before work this morning. Here’s to pleasurable reading and rain-free mornings to ride. 🙂 I’ll be back more reliably to you tomorrow; til then, enjoy!

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Have You Read These Books?

Posted on January 15, 2011 by pagesofjulia

I am responding to Danielle’s post at A Work in Progress entitled Have You Read These Books? She tells us about Michael Dirda’s Book by Book: “In a chapter on the pleasures of learning, he lists books he calls ‘patterning works’. These are not necessarily obvious classics, but he says that these are the books later authors regularly build on. ‘Know these well, and nearly all of world literature will be an open book to you.'” What a fun concept, hm? She’s listed the books for us, so I don’t have to read Book by Book to play along 🙂 (unless I want to). So I wanted to list which ones *I* have read, as Danielle did:

The Bible (Old and New Testament–King James Version): Heck no. Raised by atheists and am the same. I’ve always thought I should, for this very reason: literature and culture reference it so frequently that I should know what the heck is going on. I DID however have a book when I was kid called Children’s Bible Stories, for this very purpose: to prepare me for The Bible In Pop Culture. My mother bought it from some door-to-door sales people and my father was scandalized. Then when I suffered my very bad wreck in 2007, my best friend brought me some flowers and a Bible – not to proselytize but, again, because I’d told him about my goal of reading it one day for the sake of cultural and literary references. My mother, this time, was scandalized. I still have not read it.

Bulfinch’s Mythology (or any other accounts of the Greek, Roman, and Norse myths): Haven’t read Bulfinch, but have read the Greeks pretty exhaustively from many sources. Roman and Norse, no.

Homer, The Iliad and The Odyssey: over and over. Love them.

Plutarch, Lives of the Noble Grecians and Romans: No, I read some Plutarch but not this…

Dante, Inferno: I don’t think I finished it.

The Arabian Nights: no

Thomas Malory, Le Morte d’Arthur (tales of King Arthur and his knights): I know I read The Once and Future King and I think I’ve read some other tales but not Malory. I’m vague on this.

Shakespeare’s major plays, especially Hamlet, Henry IV, Part One, King Lear, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, The Tempest: yes. I’m pretty solid on Shakespeare.

Cervantes, Don Quixote: No, it’s always been a goal, though.

Daniel Defoe, Robinson Crusoe: Yes

Jonathan Swift, Gulliver’s Travels: Yes

The fairy tales of the Brothers Grimm and Hans Christian Andersen: No, I don’t guess I have. I have vague knowledge of them…

Any substantial collection of the world’s major folktales: No

Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice: absolutely, several times

Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland: Yes several times.

Arthur Conan Doyle, The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes: Recently in fact.

I faired only okay on this test. But it gives me some good ideas! Maybe this is the year for Don Quixote, for example. That would go towards the Classics Challenge.

Thanks Danielle for the great idea!

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a collection of destinations for you

Posted on January 14, 2011 by pagesofjulia

Today I wanted to share with you how I start my day, and where it takes me. Maybe you’ll come along.

When I get to the library in the morning, one of the things I try to do as it fits into other necessary morning tasks, is read my Shelf Awareness email. This is a daily digest for booksellers (or, in my case, librarians) with bookish news. A lot of the news regards the bookselling industry specifically – how Barnes and Noble and Borders are doing, profiles of small or family-owned book stores, market trends, and whatnot. These items are not terribly interesting to me, usually, but I skim them and am sometimes interested. I read it, more, for the book reviews and interesting links. Generally, bookish trends are of interest to me and help me do my job. It does pay for me to know what people want to buy because I buy the books for my library and obviously I try to provide what people are wanting these days. If you’re interested in the emails, you can sign up here.

Today, for example, I learned from Shelf Awareness of the renaming of the Boscobel Aerodrome in Orcabessa, Jamaica as the Ian Fleming International Airport. Ian Fleming wrote the James Bond books, reportedly at a “scenic retreat” nearby. That’s a fun fact.

I also found this teaser: “the Guardian asked readers to check their literary balances with a ‘banking in literature’ quiz”, and I thought, oh boy a literary quiz! but it turned out to be quite specifically a quiz about banking in literature, which turns out to be something in which I am not an expert, so that was kind of a flop, for me personally. Maybe you’ll do better.

But then I found Tom the Dancing Bug’s classix comix version of the Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (Corrected to reflect modern sensibilities). If you’re reading my reading blog you’re probably the sort of person who is also aware of the general furor regarding NewSouth‘s republication of Mark Twain’s The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn without use of the n-word or “injun”. I will say very briefly that I am scandalized and strongly against this move, for the oft-cited reasons that a) we respect Mark Twain for his original genius and no one should be re-writing him, b) he put those words in on PURPOSE for goodness sake and with a purpose, which included satire and the bringing to our attention that these words are and were overused and wrong, and c) that the use of these very words always incites discussion (as evidenced by this recent furor), which is a good thing. YES these words are offensive, and this offense is still relevent; that’s why we still need Mark Twain’s work as he originally, thoughtfully created it. So. See the above cartoon for what I think is a very clever satire of the republication.

Next, Shelf Awareness tells me that David Nicholls’ book One Day is moving forward and being made into a movie, which was predicted from the very start. I read this book when a patron loaned it to me, and I enjoyed it fine, although I definitely agreed with Publishers Weekly’s view that it was made for the screen. I don’t watch a lot of movies (largely because the Husband doesn’t like to) but I do like Anne Hathaway, who’s in this one, so I may find a way to see it (without the Husband).

Something else I got out of today’s Shelf Awareness email – and this is a little embarrassing – but when I followed the above link to that ‘banking in literature’ quiz, I found mention of Watership Down as “bucolic children’s fiction”, which didn’t sound familiar to me. I mean, I know the name Watership Down (by Richard Adams), but didn’t think it was a children’s book; I think I had it crossed up in my head with Fahrenheit 451 or Slaughterhouse 5 or something. So I had to go look up Watership Down, and it sounds lovely (and also it turns out that at least somebody on wikipedia agrees with my vague impression that it’s highly allegorical), and now I am determined to read this book because it sounds great. So there you go, after clicking several links and looking things up, I have a new book TBR, and I guess that’s part of what Shelf Awareness is all about.

Finally, in my blog explorations, I came across a really, really delightful post today from author Sharon Kay Penman, in which she discusses historical accuracy, her dedication to it (hear hear! something I blogged about earlier), her responsibility to us readers, and some specific challenges. For example, the personalities she writes about, from the Middle Ages, have significantly different values from ours, regarding women’s rights, animal cruelty, conduct in warfare, etc. I highly recommend taking a few minutes to read this post from an author I deeply respect. (Sharon Kay Penman–>)

You’ve just taken a tour through my morning ramblings on the interwebs; hope you’ve found something interesting. 🙂 What do you play with on the internet to find bookish news or tidbits?

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WWW Wednesdays

Posted on January 12, 2011 by pagesofjulia

Weekly meme hosted by MizB at Should Be Reading.

To play along, just answer the following three (3) questions…

• What are you currently reading?
• What did you recently finish reading?
• What do you think you’ll read next?

What are you currently reading?

I just started Lee Child’s 61 Hours and it’s as great as his others that I’ve read!

What did you recently finish reading?

I’ve recently finished two Audrey Niffenegger novels in a row: The Time Traveler’s Wife followed closely by Her Fearful Symmetry. I much preferred the first.

What do you think you’ll read next?

Well, I have Mr. Playboy: Hugh Hefner and the American Dream, by Steven Watts, waiting for me on my desk at home. It’s a library book (from the public library, not my library), so it has a deadline attached to it. That should definitely come up soon. I dabble in The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien and This Book is Overdue! by Marilyn Johnson here and there; I pick them up and put them down around the house. Perhaps one of those will get full-time treatment one day. But it’s always a crapshoot to see what I’ll read next! I’m still interested in Emma Donoghue’s Room, too, but I’m not sure I can stomach the maternalism at this moment (see an earlier post).

I have to confess I’m not feeling strongly motivated to read anything particular right now, so Lee Child and the like are suiting me just fine. Things are fixin’ to get a little crazier, too: it’s time to start training in earnest for our annual mountain bike trip to Terlingua, TX in February, and the spring race season; and I start a class in Database Searching next week. Fingers crossed that I can keep up with it all and still keep in touch with you! I’m optimistic, though. Even if nothing else, I have my lunch breaks, a glorious hour of uninterrupted reading, ahh. And road trips to races provide some reading time if the Husband-Driver allows me to zone out. 🙂 He’s really very good to me.

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catching up: Niffenegger weekend

Posted on January 10, 2011 by pagesofjulia

Hello there. Sorry I’m slow to cover my weekend’s reading for you. Here I am now!

This was a fun weekend because the Husband did a marathon mountain bike race while I watched and supported for a change. He did much better than he had hoped, and seemed to do it pretty easily too, so I’m very proud. I had a good time watching a number of friends do very well, in fact.

I also managed to finish Audrey Niffenegger’s The Time Traveler’s Wife and then Her Fearful Symmetry (finished today at lunch), so it’s been a Niffenegger-heavy weekend. I didn’t intend to read two of hers in row, but was already reading and enjoying Time Traveler when a library patron brought me her personal (autographed) copy of Symmetry, to borrow – thereby making me feel like I should read it next…

So first things first. The Time Traveler’s Wife was very enjoyable! I felt like it had a little lighter feel to it earlier in the book, then gets a little more thoughtful, dark, contemplative, and frightening later in the book. This is actually appropriate, for Clare’s point of view, since she takes her time-traveling husband lightly when she’s younger, only realizing risks & dangers as she grows older. When she is an adult and understands all the implications, things become very frightening indeed. I found all the emotions and reactions pretty human, and was very absorbed in the characters. I also found the novel’s implied questions, about fate, sequence, causality, responsibility, forgiveness, and other issues of humanity, to be compelling. The time-travel construct worked well for me. I was impressed by a beautiful, romantic story with believable characters. I was also impressed with some of the emotional scenes Niffenegger managed to “paint” for us, like the dream sequences on pages 373-4.

And, I found myself crying. Again! Something strange must be happening to me. At least I can say it’s NOT my biological clock 🙂 because I continue to be just a little impatient with all the maternal stuff in several books I’ve been reading over the last several months: The Time Traveler’s Wife, Audrey Niffenegger; Still Missing, Chevy Stevens; Look Again, Lisa Scottoline; I’d Know You Anywhere, Laura Lippman; My Sister’s Keeper, Jodi Picoult – just off the top of my head. I’m a bit fed-up with motherhood and maternity as themes, and have decided to purposefully avoid (in the near future at least) Emma Donoghue’s Room, which I’ve been interested in for months now, because it sits pretty squarely on those themes.

I give this one a strong rating and am glad I finally picked it up.

With some hesitation, then, I picked up Niffenegger’s Her Fearful Symmetry as my next read. I hesitated because I rarely read the same author, or even theme or style or subject matter, back-to-back. I don’t even think I can remember reading back-to-back in a series. I guess I just feel like my brain likes a break, a palate-cleanser if you will. So with slight trepidation I began the next book; and I think I was right to be a bit nervous, because the first book ends with a death and a partner mourning, and the second book begins with a death and a partner mourning, and really never gets much happier than that. No, they’re not serial, just continue a similar tone.

Plot synopsis: Twins Valentina and Julia do not know their mother’s twin sister Elspeth until they inherit Elspeth’s London flat. There are two conditions: they must inhabit the flat for a year before they can sell; and their parents cannot set foot in it. Upon arriving in London, these ethereal, deeply attached young girls meet their interesting neighbors: Martin is an endearing but very sick obsessive-compulsive; and Robert was Elspeth’s lover, and is having quite a bit of trouble “letting go” her memory. They also get to know their mysterious aunt.

The melancholic, obsessive grief that starts this book doesn’t really let up. Perhaps I simply wasn’t in the mood to be made to feel this way, but I didn’t *love* this book as much as I did Time Traveler. I think it was almost every bit as well-crafted, and the emotions (while disturbing) still rang true; but it was just a bit too creepy. I won’t go any further for fear of spoiling, but this was a creepy book. To be fair, I had trouble putting it down; I think it was well done. But it didn’t feel as good. I think The Time Traveler’s Wife accomplished a feat: it took me through a range of emotions and life stages and, if it didn’t tie things up in a happy cozy way, at least it tied things up in a way that felt very complete. Her Fearful Symmetry, on the other hand, explored dark emotions rather deeply without a great deal of light. The paranormal aspects in the first book were a quirky vehicle through which to experience emotions and relationships and ask interesting questions. The latter read more like a ghost story (more and more so as the story develops), with an ending that was a little Poe-like in its creepiness.

I preferred the first, obviously, although if you were a bit more open to the ghost-story aspect, you might like the second better than I did. I believe even objectively, though, the first was a greater achievement. Or maybe I just shouldn’t overindulge in Niffenegger, hm?

I’ve heard a fair amount about her recent graphic novel, The Night Bookmobile, as well. Librarians and libraries and books play an important role in Niffenegger’s work in general (Henry from The Time Traveler’s Wife is a librarian; Elspeth from Her Fearful Symmetry is a bookseller), and the starring role in this latest. But the consensus amongst the library groups I hear from seems to be that her treatment of the librarian in The Night Bookmobile is downright and absolutely creepy. They don’t seem to like it. Again, maybe we just need to be looking for a ghost story? Or is there really something “wrong” with these stories? Presumably there are readers out there who love them. Any thoughts?

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one book ends, and… book beginnings on Friday

Posted on January 7, 2011 by pagesofjulia

So I finished The Unputdownable last night. I was hard pressed not to take it to our favorite local Italian restaurant and read while I ate! But I was with the Husband of course and that would have been rude.

A perfect expression of Reacher to share with you: “…the irony of his life was that although he had covered most of the earth’s surface, one time or another, he felt he hadn’t seen much. A lifetime in the service was like rushing down a narrow corridor, eyes fixed firmly to the front. There was [sic] all kinds of enticing stuff off to the sides, which you rushed past and ignored. Now he wanted to take the side trips. He wanted a crazy zigzag, any direction he felt like, any old time he wanted.”

More compliments to Mr. Child, who sprung a real surprise on us very late in the book. Wow! Actually I recall Connelly having used a similar villain once upon a time; but it caught me well off-balance and was a great finish. Another solid Reacher novel. I’m a fan.

Now for our book beginnings. Again, this meme is hosted by Katy at A Few More Pages. Today we have The Time Traveler’s Wife by Audrey Niffenegger. Now, I realize this is not a new book (originally published 2003), and was a bestseller years ago, and I’m way behind, so I apologize if this is old news to you; but I don’t tend to read a whole lot of newly-released books, so deal with it. (Partly because there are so many very good not-new books I’m trying to read; partly because I don’t care all that much how new a book is; and partly because I work in a library where my patrons really badly want the new books and I think I’d be a bad person if I took those out.)

Sorry for rambling. Without further ado, we begin with the Prologue:

“CLARE: It’s hard being left behind. I wait for Henry, not knowing where he is, wondering if he’s okay. It’s hard to be the one who stays.”

I guess I already knew what the book was about in a vague way, so this start doesn’t shock or grab me so much; it’s a reasonable beginning to what I think the book is about. But I have to give credit; I wasn’t expecting to very much like this book, for whatever reason. Maybe I thought it was too pop-lit and I’m a snob or something. But in the first 50 pages or so I got interested in what was going to happen next. I’m intrigued by the logistical concerns about Henry suddenly appearing naked in unidentified times and places. I’m intrigued by Clare knowing the future, kind of, but also not. So that’s on the list for the weekend.

Another note today on future reads… I think I definitely have my eyes peeled for Tana French’s first book, In the Woods. My friend Valerie says I should definitely read it before The Likeness, because they share a lot of characters. I was thinking about French this morning because I heard Dropkick Murphys in the car doing “Young Willie McBride” and it took me right into the Irish setting, with a mournful tone… it made me want more of Tana French because I enjoyed Faithful Place so much. So stay tuned for that one…

This weekend I’ll be traveling with the Husband to a race that he’s racing but I’m not (gasp, this will only be my second time to support him from the sidelines!) and I’m taking plenty of reading material with me. I still haven’t finished reading the last Playboy magazine (January – great articles in this issue folks) and I have the latest issues of both American Libraries and Texas Library Journal waiting on me, too. Niffenegger will come along as well, and maybe I’ll have a lot to write about on Monday! Will be away from the interwebs til then, though, so hopefully this long post will keep you. This has turned into another WWW Wednesday post, in fact, about what I just finished, what I’m reading, and what’s up next. 🙂 Enjoy your weekend, friends! Read something good and tell me about it.

Filed under: book beginnings, book reviews | Tagged: | 3 Comments »

enjoying Lee Child

Posted on January 6, 2011 by pagesofjulia

From Merriam-Webster Online:

un·put·down·able
adj \ˌən-ˌpu̇t-ˈdȧun-ə-bəl\
: unable to be set aside : riveting
First Known Use of UNPUTDOWNABLE: 1947

Lee Child, like Michael Connelly, defines “unputdownable” for me. I surface from these books gasping for air. I guess any really “good” book (any that YOU really like) is unputdownable in a way. But Child and Connelly both create such gripping plots! I love their bad-boy characters (even when they are a bit of a caricature, ahem Jack Reacher) and I just can’t wait to read what craziness they’re going to undertake next. I love it! Reacher is liable to do such nonsense, so off-the-cuff. And the plot surprises, and the people we learn to care about – I just can’t put these books down. I’m always in danger of staying up all night on a work night, or not hearing what the Husband just said.

My current selection, Running Blind by Lee Child, has a new-to-me twist to it: Reacher is temporarily settled, in house he inherited, with a settled girlfriend, both in New York. This is my 3rd in the Reacher series, and he’s normally got a toothbrush in his pocket at a maximum. (Sometimes he loses his toothbrush.) He’s a real bad-a$$ but has a good heart; one usually has to twist his arm but he does end up taking on problems that only sort of involve him, on the side of Right. In Running Blind, his girlfriend is the arm that gets twisted. So, girlfriends can be a liability.

Reacher is a retired MP (military policeman) and it’s this connection that gets him. Women from his military past are being murdered in a most unusual fashion, and the FBI (of all people! apparently the Bureau and the MP do NOT get along) need his help. I won’t say too much more, but Reacher does his usual busting of heads and other appendages. He’s unstoppable, a little bit of a superhero (thus my caricature comment), a small giant with big muscles, and skills in both hand-to-hand combat and gunplay that require a little suspension of disbelief. It’s definitely brain candy but I find it great fun, and there’s still a murder mystery going on too. In fact, the FBI in this case includes some profilers, and you might have noticed that I have an enthusiasm for them (thus my love of Criminal Minds on television and my interest in this book, also here). So, there’s some whodunit involved in the brain candy as well. Just my style!

Thank you Lee Child for the unputdownable book of the week. Think I’ll keep seeking his out.

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WWW Wednesdays

Posted on January 5, 2011 by pagesofjulia


Hosted by MizB at Should Be Reading.

To play along, just answer the following three (3) questions…

• What are you currently reading?
• What did you recently finish reading?
• What do you think you’ll read next?

What are you currently reading?

I’m currently reading Running Blind by Lee Child, simultaneous with The Time Traveler’s Wife by Audrey Niffenegger. That’s right, last night I was so disappointed to have left Running Blind at work that I had to start a new book while the Husband watched some television that I didn’t want to watch. And then I continued it during commercial breaks when Criminal Minds came on. 🙂

What did you recently finish reading?

I recently finished Frederica and Maisie Dobbs, as you know.

What do you think you’ll read next?

Always the hardest one to answer. I’m still tempted by Room, and The Count of Monte Cristo (reread), and frankly I’m feeling uninspired about The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo although I do expect to get around to it one of these days. But as you’ve perhaps noticed, I’m not terribly disciplined about what to read next, so stick around and we’ll all find out together!

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catching up: Frederica, Maisie Dobbs, and Running Blind

Posted on January 4, 2011 by pagesofjulia

Oh my, I’m so sorry! I’ve gotten behind. I didn’t know the holidays would throw me so hard; I really didn’t expect it; but they did. I owe you several book write-ups now!

First of all, over the holiday weekend for New Year’s I finished Georgette Heyer’s Frederica, and enjoyed it so thoroughly! The characters were so cleverly drawn, and the dialogue was so witty and fun, I just giggled and hated to put it down. I will definitely seek out more Heyer. Who knew what I was missing all these years? I have never considered myself a reader of romance, but I shall have to either amend this statement or somehow define romance around Ms. Heyer, which I don’t think the reading world will permit. My only complaint would be that it ended rather abruptly. You know, what we look for in romance is not surprise: we know from the beginning, more or less, who’s going to end up together. We don’t need to be surprised. We just need to sigh in satisfaction at the union being competently arrived at. And at the end of Frederica, when the appropriate couple finally couples, it’s sort of abrupt, brief, and not very well-described. I didn’t need graphic sex or anything, but I wish we’d gotten a bit more declarations of sentiment. Ah well. I’ll be back for more all the same. The witty banter throughout were the best part anyway, that and the “scrapes” of the younger Merrivilles.

Then I was home sick yesterday, and didn’t blog (ack!) but I *did* get to read a whole book cover to cover: Maisie Dobbs by Jacqueline Winspear. This is in thanks to Book Club Girl, who’s hosting the Maisie Dobbs Read-Along. I signed up for this challenge/read-along out of curiosity, not having encountered Maisie before, because she sounded interesting in the blurb provided. I figured I would sign on for just this first book and see how it goes. Well, I found Maisie delightful!

I really enjoyed the WWI history and the feeling for that time-and-place setting that was evoked. I actually cried a bit at some of the wartime farewells and hopeful loves and deaths – am I getting sappy in my old age or what?? – find myself crying a lot at books these days. I thought Maisie was remarkable for her poise and dignity in a number of strange situations, from childhood onwards. What a story of movement between classes in a time of change. The flashbacks and back-story on Maisie were some of my favorite parts. But I also enjoyed the up-to-date relationship she formed with Billy Beale, too. I hope he sticks around. I liked the characters and I look forward to more of them. So, I’ll be sticking with this read-along!

Today I was caught off-guard at lunchtime without a book, gasp, and picked up the nearest-to-hand Lee Child book: Running Blind. As you might have noticed before this, I’m becoming a fan of Jack Reacher. This one is right in line with Reacher’s vigilante loner style. See my Teaser Tuesday. Go Reacher!

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How to Start a New Year!

Posted on January 1, 2011 by pagesofjulia

I’m very excited today to be beginning 2011 with a reading challenge: Where Are You Reading? is hosted by Sheila over at Book Journey. (See my original post, if you like, here.) It involves reading a book set in each of the 50 United States, with bonus points for books set in other countries, too. Nonfiction or fiction count the same, and the definition of setting is up to me, with an honor-system understanding. I have all of 2011 to complete the reading of 50+ books. I don’t expect this to be too terribly hard but I’m not sure I’ve kept track of books read before, so it will be interesting to see. I don’t plan to pick and choose books by location, at least not at first; but we shall see in 9-10 months how poorly I’m doing! I’m sure I’ll be cherrypicking a few locations by the end of the year.

I will be keeping track of the books I read and “where” I’m reading at this map:


So! We start today with… the continuation of Frederica. The more I read, the more I enjoy! I would never in 2011 years have believed I would enjoy a romance this much. But really, Heyer’s writing style and sense of humor remind me rather much of Austen, and there are worse things! I love the dialogue. Thanks so much Amy for encouraging this!

I’m going to be MIA all day tomorrow, but look for me on Monday with Plans for the New Year. 🙂 Have a great start!

Filed under: book reviews, challenges | 2 Comments »

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