Thursday, November 1, 2007

Fickle Reader

As if I'm not busy enough right now. As if reading three other books just wasn't quite filling me up. I was sitting in the breakroom at Barnes and Noble when I noticed an Advanced Reading Copy of Kim Sunee's Trail of Crumbs: Hunger, Love, and the Search for Home. Okay, food writing? I wondered. Flipped it over and saw that Frances Mayes of Under the Tuscan Sun called it "gorgeously written" and said that she was "awaiting Volume Two." Huh. I'm on page 61 of 372. (Math people, you probably can tell at a glance what percent of the book have I read--I prefer to open the book at the halfway point and eyeball it. I'm almost a half of a half. More like a third of a half. A sixth?) It's a memoir, and it's not exactly linear, which is nice. She has some lovely touches, and she includes recipes. Recipes I won't make because they either have meat in them or are more than I would want to deal with, but they're fun to read. Or if I skip the recipes, I'll be done that much sooner and can get back to Clapton (I really just want to hear about his side of his relationship with Pattie Boyd and his friendship with George). I don't know about The Giver, Insomniac. It sits. And sits. Oliv was going to read it with me, but she's got her own stack of books in various stages of love and neglect. We'll see. . .I am tucking in a story from Salinger here and there just for a quick hit, too. Salinger is so great at capturing a motion or an attitude of the body that also conveys emotion. And he's so darn funny. Shall we rate the stories as we go? Yes, I think we shall. Don, you readin' it yet? (****Great--***Good--**Fair).
A Perfect Day for Bananafish ****
Uncle Wiggily in Connecticut ***
Just before the War with the Eskimos**
The Laughing Man****
Down at the Dinghy**
For Esme--With Love and Squalor****
Pretty Mouth and Green My Eyes***
De Daumier-Smith's Blue Period***
Teddy****

13 comments:

Don said...

Not yet, but I'm just about to give up on the Charles Schulz bio. I know this may come as a shock to those who know me, but I find I just don't care about other people's lives.

Anonymous said...

Christine, I have many things just sitting and waiting, all in various stages of post-it-noted bookmark-y-ness ;) I feel your pain, sisterfriend.

Oh hey Don--guess what's being made into a movie? Julie & Julia! With Meryl Streep playing Julia Child, and yes, directed by Nora Ephron...just thought you'd love to hear that :) MWA HA HA!!!

Christine said...

Ha! Don will go it twice!

DRD, what's up with this movie of The Other Boleyn Girl? I'd better get reading my Gregory books. Where do I start?

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0467200/

Anonymous said...

No, no, no, Christine, don't get out your Gregory. It looks like you have more than enough to do and if it's even tangentially similar to the books, it's not going to be your kind of movie.
And Don, you gave up on Bill Watterson's recommend? You may not care about other people's lives, but if Bill Watterson says . . .
And Christine, you were the one who recommended The Giver to me (I loved it, I loved Gathering Blue, but I've never read Messenger). Is this a reread? DRD

Don said...

Sorry, just not interested in people mewling on about their lives.
It's the sociopath in me, I guess.

Don said...

Oh, and the Julie/Julia movie?
As Charlie Brown would say - AAAUUUUUGH!

Christine said...

Yes, DRD, I've read The Giver at least once before. This was to be a reread with Oliv for discussion with Insomniac and her bunch.

Are you sure about the Gregory book? The costumes look so nice. . .

Anonymous said...

Well . . . maybe if you watch it on mute with the fast forward button handy. I must admit, the costumes do look pretty cool. DRD

Anonymous said...

OK, so I'm really late posting here. Story of my life at the moment. It boggles me to hear of you multiple-book-worms; I'm a one-book-at-a-time person. I guess it's one way I can simplify my life - I haven't found many other ways! Of course I suppose I do read multiple books if you count the read-alouds to the kids and audio-books in the car.

Anyway, I just finished the Historian today. Not much action, more of a travelogue or kind of odyssey. The history was interesting but it was not what I expected from a Dracula story. As you suggested Christine, I might have to try Anne Rice.

Not to worry about the Giver Christine. We have just started Gathering Blue. Someone told me it was a sequel to the Giver but it most certainly is not. Lowry has said she will not write a sequel because she wants people to make up their own minds about the ending. If we enjoy Gathering Blue we'll probably read the Messenger next. But we have to squeeze The Golden Compass in there somewhere before we see the movie. I want to see what all the fuss is about....

Anonymous said...

Oh, you will love The Golden Compass. You will love His Dark Materials. Those books are right up your alley. If only there were ten thousand more Philip Pullmans in the world . . . DRD

Anonymous said...

How ever would you find the time to stalk them all? Or do you just figure your odds would be better? Never would I have pegged you to take the easy route... ;)

Anonymous said...

Stalk them all? Easy route? No, no, I'd be in a mental facility! But I still want there to be ten thousand of them. DRD

Anonymous said...

Well written article.