I read lots of books. Strike that. I go through spells of reading lots of books. Then I stop and can’t bare the thought of reading and can just barely manage to look at pictures in magazines.I have 3 library cards. When I go, I usually pick out 5-20 books depending on my mood. I realize I’m not going to read them all within 2 weeks. Bentley reminds me that I’m setting unreasonable expectations when I come out with an arm full. I think I just like to have them in my apartment. What I love about library books is that you don’t have to read them all. You can start to read it and say, “YuK! No.”
When you buy a book, at full price, you are making a commitment of time and money and can only hope it’s going to your next great read and you are going to read it. Period. Many times I have been disappointed. When I’m in a book store I start to feel the crazy vibe and I want them all. There are times I have to stop, put them back and make notes of what I would have liked to buy and find it at the library instead… if I can remember.
I usually go to the library with 1 book or author in mind. I do the little hunt on the computer and I’m disappointed 2 out of 3 times. Then I just walk the isles and let the books jump out at me.
Another issue is when I read a book and a few years later much of it’s lost in my dementia. I start a book just to realize by chapter 3 that I know the ending. It got so bad with Patricia Cornwell that I have just given up. I’m done with her and really I can’t handle any more serial killers hunting her anyway.
I have tried to catalog the books I read so I can remember authors I like, make notes about books so I can remember them and so I can stop checking out or buying the same book again. It would also been nice to keep up with the books I have in my apartment to read verses the books I want to read so I stop having duplicate copies.
My friend Raphaël is always making suggestions, which I appreciate. He believes it his responsibility to assist me in building my culture and character since I’m one of those Americans that can get sucked into the Twilight series, and how sad is that. So he sends me lists and prioritizes them. He has also been known to buy me books – science fiction, classics, mystery, etc. He knows I’ve missed out on some good stuff due to not going to college, living in US and being overwhelmed by pop culture, my disinterest in researching new authors/books, and sometimes just plain ignorance. He is really good about picking the ones I will like. You know the one where the woman is not completely sane, has too much testosterone and superhero strength (mental and/or physical). He likes to set the stage to get me interested. Like “No Name” by Wilkie Collins. He knew that I would love Magdalen and her crazy self and the fact that this book was not well received in its time because at that time people didn’t enjoy reading about women that were independent in spirit or evil in nature. He was right, I loved it.
If you are thinking, “What does she mean because she is American, etc.”. Don’t get me wrong, Raphaël loves the American authors and much of the culture. It is a fact though that he has turned me on to some authors that are just not as well known here and I need help.
One of the Raphaël suggestions I read freaked me out and then I had to watch the movie and yep it was good but scary, icky, nasty – Perfume: the story of a murder, by Patrick Suskind. To pick a word: disturbing. But I liked it. Jean-Christophe Grange is another author I like that I would have never known about. I’m not suggesting anyone run out and pick them up since I must warn you that Raphaël loves incredibly disturbing books. He tries to keep it light for my benefit but his stomach is stronger than mine.
His most recent suggestion is Stones Fall (Iain Pears). I receive an e-mail from Random House telling me about this book. I go and find this book in the library. It took me a month, but I leave the library feeling all proud that I am 90% sure I found the book he was talking about b/c I forgot my note with the name and author.
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Here is the e-mail exchange:
Nov 2, 2009 - Raphaël: You have received an email from a friend about a Random House book!
Their message is:Currently reading this and loving it.
Title: Stone's Fall
Author: Iain PearsCategory
Fiction - Historical; Fiction - Mystery & Detective; Fiction
December 12, 2009 - Kelly: I think I got it. I found it at the library - I'll start it this week so I'll let you know when I make some progress.
December 12, 2009 - Raphael: You think you've got it? There's a simple way to be sure: check the cover. If you can read "Stone's Fall" on it, then that's it.Anyway, I finished it a couple of weeks ago, and it's a stunning piece. The plot is absolutely air tight.
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Yes his sarcasm does not go unnoticed.
I found an old file from years ago when I tried to do little book reviews. Now looking back at them I can only laugh. Yep, it helped me to remember the books. I’m going to share a few of the reviews. I only share the endings on the following because seriously, do not read these books. This is for entertainment purposes only:
Watermelon (?)
Claire’s husband, James tells her right after she gives birth that he loves Denise and is leaving her. So she has the nervous breakdown and heads home to Dublin to stay with family. Meets a guy named Adam and eventually does name her daughter… Kate, after her grandmother. After she sleeps with Adam, James comes to visit. Lots of internal, female on the edge, monologue. It’s called watermelon b/c she wore a green overall outfit when she was pregnant and looked like a watermelon. She started exercising and drank mainly vodka for 2 months and so she did lose her baby weight. This one pretty much hurt. I don’t know why I didn’t just stop and I’m not sure how a book named Watermelon ever ended up in my home.
Tulip Fever (Deborah Moggach)
Sophia is married to an old guy that wants a son. He hires a painter to do her portrait and she falls in love with the artist. They decide they can run away together with the promise of selling a huge tulip bulb. It was a time period in Holland that tulip bulbs were the rage and very expensive. Great news, they gave their bulb to a guy to sale for the $. Bad news, he got drunk and ate it. Yep, he thought it was an onion and come on now, really, he was drunk and hungry. It had a side story about the maid having an affair and in the end there was a baby for the old man to raise. Someone got what he wanted. Ok this one was not that bad but I hate books (and movies) with bad and/or disappointing endings, no matter how good they may be.
Shutter Island (Dennis Lebane)
Teddy and Chuck are U.S. Marshalls on an island investigating a mental institution. Weird stuff going on and a bit scary, it’s like you start to hear the music and feel like someone is going to jump out at you. Teddy realizes something is terribly wrong and that he and Chuck need to get off the island. The escape plans are in full throttle when Teddy realizes Chuck isn’t who he says he is and then Chuck disappears. It’s hard to know who is crazy the doctors or Teddy. I guess one interesting thing about the book is you really don’t have a clue until it ends. So, it was great that you didn’t know till the end that he is a psyche patient and they are roll playing, trying to get him to remember his wife killed his kids and then he killed her. Ohh, Just that. He remembers for a short time and they think they’ve got him in reality, but the very last he goes back to wondering how he and his partner Chuck are getting off the island.
Don’t you just love when you invest in a book and then get to the end and turn the last page and think, “Really.” By reading the little reviews above, you can see why I like to have others read, screen, and research on my behalf. I get distracted by the pretty book covers.
When you read a lot you are going to read some great stuff and some really bad stuff. At what point in the story do you just stop and say ENOUGH? I obviously don’t know but I’ll keep on trying.
Maybe I’ll share some book reviews on the ones I love in a future entry. Wouldn’t that be peachy?
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