Reading One Amazing Thing

One Amazing Thing, by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni

 

 

This book is a series of vignettes from the lives of strangers trapped by an earthquake. To distract themselves from their grim situation, they each tell a story -- a defining momoment from their life. I enjoyed these snapshots into the lives of such very different people. And I liked that through these stories, we're reminded that while we may not have anything in common on the surface, at heart we are all human beings with shared emotional experiences. Love, loss, family, hope, despair, success, failure. The writing was lovely as well. It's a short book, but deep, and fully engrossing.

Bottom line: worthwhile reading.

Reading romance

I recently went on a mini romance-reading binge, sandwiching Kristan Higgins' Somebody to Love between the first two books in Nora Roberts' new Inn at Boonsboro trilogy. All three books were enjoyable: exactly what I expected and exactly what I was in the mood for. It was interesting reading all three so close together, because of course comparisons between the two authors were bound to be made, since they were all contemporary romances. Nora Roberts isn't an author I read a lot of, but I was intrigued by the setting of her new trilogy -- a small Virginia town and a family who was refurbishing an old Civil War-era building. What made it even more intriguing was learning that the inn and the town are real places. Now I want to take a literary road trip! I stuck around for the second book because of this charming setting and the likeable characters (including a ghost!). I'll be honest -- I do grow tired of Roberts' writing style after a while. Her characters are all a bit...too much, if you know what I mean. Pair that with some pretty unnatural dialogue and I start to get eye strain from the eye rolling. But, all that said, I did enjoy the books and will probably pick up the third.

Kristan Higgins on the other hand, gives me a much more well-rounded package. Great charcters, charming setting and great dialogue. Her books take themselves a little less seriously, and therefore have more of a sense of humor. But they're funny without being silly. I think I've read most of Higgins' novels, and this latest one is possibly my favorite. A riches-to-rags single mom and author of a ridiculously cheesy children's book series spends the summer in a tiny Maine town flipping a junky house -- the only thing that wasn't taken when her dad was arrested in an insider trading scheme. Her dad's newly unemployed long-time lawyer returns to his carpentry roots to help her fix the house up and get it ready to sell, despite the fact that Parker has never made a secret of her disdain for James. It's a summer of personal growth and relationship-building. And with a hot guy running around shirtless doing manual labor......what do YOU think is going to happen?

Bottom line: you can't go wrong with any of these romances, with top points going to Somebody to Love.

Too many choices

I'm in a pickle. I have too many things I want to pick up and read, and it's making my brain hurt. I'm still working my way through the Experiment in Terror books -- but they're dark and creepy and twisted. I need to break up all that grittiness with something else a little LESS. So what do I choose? Romance? Fantasy? The book that's been languishing on my kindle or the ARC that's already come out? Sigh. Someone just put a book in my hand already!


Oh, and I'm fully aware that this is not a bad problem to have. :)

Reading -- The Silver Linings Playbook

The Silver Linings Playbook  by Matthew Quick is the story of a man who is recovering from what appears to be a pretty severe mental breakdown. We don't get all the details spelled out to us until the end of the book, although the forshadowing gave me a pretty good idea of what had happened. Pat Peoples is trying his best to be kind, not right. To figure out how to relate once again to friends and family who are clearly not telling him everything about his situation and his slippery memories. And to figure out how to win back his wife. It's the story of two broken and dysfunctional people becoming friends -- and becoming better because of it. It's about the Philedelphia Eagles and that team's obsessed fans. It's about Pat's parents and their complicated and somewhat dysfunctional relationship. But, the title really sums it up best -- it's a story about finding the silver lining. About how life can beat the crap out of you, but it can also be really great too. I also appreciated that this book could have been cheesy but wasn't. There was some nice resolution, but not every story or relationship was fully resolved. For example, Pat's dad -- easily the most emotionally dysfunctional person in the book -- was still kind of a jerk at the end of the book. But the book was realistic in that it read like a snapshot of a person's life. Life doesn't play out in succinct little vignettes where every single loose end wraps up at one time.

Bottom line: read it if you like realistic fiction that recognizes the existence of silver linings. (no one said I wasn't cheesy!)

I heart romance

As read in the book summary:

"...when Mac, who can heal physical injuries with sex,...."

[face palm] the beauties of paranormal romance.

a funny

I was reading a review on GoodReads and came across this gem:

"The worst book I couldn't put down; the best book I've ever wanted to set on fire."

I think we've all read a book or two like that, no?

Fun at the reference desk

My primary duty at the public library where I work is adult outreach -- I provide readers advisory services and deliver library materials to homebound adults and residents of various retirement, assisted living, and nursing facilities. In addition to the activities surrounding that work, I also periodicaly work at our general reference and local history reference desks.

I really enjoy working the reference desks. Sure, some days are more challenging than others and some patrons are more challenging than others. But what I love are the fun questions -- the phone call from a lady asking me about beschemel sauce, polenta and hericort vert. And how to pronounce "that word that means fiscal cliff? The one they use on C-span and in the Huffington Post?" (for the record: the word is sequestration). I also live being able to help people do simple things like post an add for a car on craigslist. A car that "runs like a sewing machine, with a booming sound system and good tires."

Not every reference interaction is positive, so it's nice to notice the ones that are.