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I wish!! #3 had her tonsils and adenoids out yesterday so I have to be a good mom and take care of her since daddy is busy with youngsters with special needs playing baseball tonight. Fair warning that I'm doubtful tonight will produce good sleep since I have to set the alarm to give #3 her meds during the night still. Sigh. Maybe tomorrow night.
I still can't really get into a book because I'm still next on the one hold. I think I need to start writing down the date I first see I'm #1 of whatever on the hold list so I can see how long I really am waiting and prove to myself it hasn't been 3 months like it feels like but really only a week or so. tee hee
Oh girlfriend, go find yourself something to read -- anything! Get a travel log. You are getting punchy.
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Originally Posted by DawnMTL
You bet right.
Aw, shucks, you guys!
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Originally Posted by strawberrykiki
Finally reading the Kite Runner. I've had to put it down a few times and cry and I hardly ever cry!
It's all good, Kiki, go with those feelings. Get it out. Dive back in when you're done, and take a large glass of water -- stay hydrated.
Okay, I can play with the cool kids here again! I was beginning to question whether I really like to read, since I would start a page or two of a book and immediately hate it, usually due to the writing, occasionally the plot.
Finished Reconstructing Amelia by Kimberly McCreight. Kind of liked it. It's been described as Gone Girl meets Gossip Girl. Not my usually thing. A bit of a mystery: a single mom explores whether her high school daughter committed suicide or whether she was killed. It's told in alternating voices, mom and Amelia (flashbacks). Not the wondrous writing of Gone Girl, but adequate. And of course, since it's about teens, some of their stuff is a little insipid compared to what the adults were up to in Gone Girl. But it held my interest.
But what I absolutely am loving, 30 pages in, is The Woman Upstairs by Claire Messud. Couldn't get through The Emperor's Children, but this is superb. It's about an elementary school teacher who hasn't followed her dreams and passions, but then finds a new lease on life through her new student and his exotic and impressive family. The writing is exquisite and the intellectual honesty of the book is astounding. The protagonist voices some of the same thoughts and conclusions I've had about life, social relationships, success, art, humanity...and was afraid to admit. Move over Jonathan Franzen and Lionel Shriver; I have a new beloved author. Anyone else read this?
But what I absolutely am loving, 30 pages in, is The Woman Upstairs by Claire Messud. ... The writing is exquisite and the intellectual honesty of the book is astounding. The protagonist voices some of the same thoughts and conclusions I've had about life, social relationships, success, art, humanity...and was afraid to admit. Move over Jonathan Franzen and Lionel Shriver; I have a new beloved author. Anyone else read this?
No, but you've got me intrigued. Great write up. Thanks.
Just started Sugar Nation, not bad so far but still in the first couple chapters which are more background information on the author and the start of his writing this book journey.
Location: Montreal -> CT -> MA -> Montreal -> Ottawa
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Originally Posted by jazzcat22
But what I absolutely am loving, 30 pages in, is The Woman Upstairs by Claire Messud. Couldn't get through The Emperor's Children, but this is superb. It's about an elementary school teacher who hasn't followed her dreams and passions, but then finds a new lease on life through her new student and his exotic and impressive family. The writing is exquisite and the intellectual honesty of the book is astounding. The protagonist voices some of the same thoughts and conclusions I've had about life, social relationships, success, art, humanity...and was afraid to admit. Move over Jonathan Franzen and Lionel Shriver; I have a new beloved author. Anyone else read this?
Funny. I felt the opposite about Claire Messud's two books that you mentioned. The only reason that I finished The Woman Upstairs is because reviewers said that there was a shock at the end. (There is.) I didn't love the story and I found that the writing style that I enjoyed so much in her previous books just wasn't there for this one.
I wrote about it on this thread between May 23 and May 27 (I just looked).
I'm happy that you're enjoying it, though. I guess when you can relate to a character, it brings you further into the story than I was able to get.
Room by Emma Donoghue. This is the best book and page turner I have read in a long time. I literally could not put it down. The subject might disturb some people because it is about a kidnapping like Jaycee Dugard. But this is fiction and narrated by a five year old boy who has been born into captivity. He and his mother live in an 11 x11 room and that's all he knows...for awhile.
This book made me laugh as well as cry, I highly recommend this book.
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Aw, shucks, you guys! 