Month: July 2008

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What I’m reading . . .

I finished (yesterday morning) A Week in October by Elizabeth Subercaseaux. (ISBN-13: 978-1-59051-288-3, Other Press LLC, August 2008) Wow, a very unusual book and what an ending! I thought I was ready for almost anything (given that the blurb on the back cover of the Advance Reader’s Copy said, in part, “This extraordinary tale of erotic tension, deception and resilience walks the line of suspense from page on to the unexpected, haunting ending that ponders the mysteries of a woman’s heart, where truth is a lie and a lie is truth (emphasis mine).” But, in fact, I was caught completely off guard. I’ve been looking for more information about how to contact the author, but nothing’s available yet. I would like to get it in the original Spanish (Una Semana en Octubre) to loan around to people. It was just so GOOD. Very mesmerizing.

Also, just finished last night, Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen. (ISBN-13: 978-1-56512-560-5) Another Wow . . . I’m reading it for the Second Saturday Book Club at the LaGrange Public Library, and I had originally planned to read it over the course of several days since I’ve been having a lot on my plate these weeks (it’s wedding season, and I’m a pianist) and not that much time to read. However, after the first day, I just couldn’t put it down. I was completely hooked. In fact, as I finished it, I wanted to go back and start it all over again. That’s always such a good sign.

So, I can’t believe that the only book that I’m actually in the midst of is The Crystal Cave by Mary Stewart. That’s what I get for double-booking (an interesting, and useful, term that I learned from Sara Nelson in her book So Many Books, So Little Time: A Year of Passionate Reading (ISBN: 0-399-15083-8). She provides various lists of book titles, which just means that her title is truer than ever. Never had a name before for what I’ve been doing for years, except it’s more like triple-booking, or worse.

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Another day NOT going as planned, sort of…

So, this morning I get up at 6:15, which is okay, and finish re-reading (more like “re-skimming”) The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency for the Second Saturday Book Club, which meets here at our local public library. I head out the door, and it’s cloudy out. Really cloudy. Rainy cloudy. I’m-wondering-if-I-should-take-an-umbrella cloudy. But, hey, I can park right in front of the building, so off I head.

I get there at 8:55, and so, with five minutes to spare, I naturally take out my knitting. And just two minutes later, it starts to rain. And rain. And rain. Like buckets dumping from the sky. The door opens, and in the time it takes me to run up to the door (not even fifty yards), I’m WET! I get inside, and I can’t even wipe off my glasses, because the hem of my dress is too wet. That’s when I find out that the club doesn’t begin until 11:00 this morning! So I’ve got two hours to kill, and I don’t have my jump drive with me, so I can’t update my sites on LibraryThing and Shelfari. It’s still coming down, so there’s no way I’m going home.

But I’m dry enough now to sit here, though, and do this. At least for a few more minutes.

Last night, I started reading A Week in October by Elizabeth Subercaseaux. It’s a review copy for me to review for LibraryThing. Very interesting, so far. I made myself stop after two chapters. Of course, I’m still not done with While Christ and His Saints Slept, and Am I a Normal Parent? and The Crystal Cave. Double-booked? And then some.

More later, maybe. Depends on the weather.

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