As opposed to last year’s Christmas vacation, I got a lot less reading
(however a lot more scrapping) done this year. The two I managed to read
are Twilight
and Breakdown
Lane. So let’s talk about Twilight. I’d read about this one on
multiple blogs and thought that there would be no way I’d like it since
I don’t generally read young adult novels and I definitely don’t read
anything about vampires. Ever. I really mean ever. Yet I loved this
book. It was a lightweight, easy read. Well enough written that it
didn’t bother me the story was a perfect fit for my mood. I’d sort of
hate to admit it, but I did really enjoy reading this book.
I picked up Breakdown Lane because when I
absolutely hated Twelve times Blessed, Kim and Cheryl told me to read
this one instead. And, man, they were right. I absolutely adored this
book. It was depressing as shit. Really, really depressing. And I was so
very sick so it only exacerbated my grief. But it was so much better
written than the other book that it’s hard to believe it was the same
writer. The book left me with a lot of thoughts but that’s for another day.
I’ve also read a few scrapping books but that’s for another day. I
really need some good fiction. Any ideas?
Yeah, it was depressing but it was fabulous.
On my vacation this year, I read Wicked by Maguire. It’s the story of the Wicked Witch of the West (Wizard of Oz). Forced myself through it. But I also read Joseph Finder. I first read The Company Man and then went on to find what else he had written. Killer Instinct is AMAzing. Quick read. Well written. Intense plot. I finally got through Richard North Patterson, Exile, which was really, really good just too enormous to carry around. But the best read…the absolute best was Baldacci’s The Camel Club. Now I’ve got to get the sequel.
Some of my favorites last year were non-fiction but read like fiction. All three of Anne Lamott’s on faith, Kingsolver’s Animal Vegetable Miracle, Grabhorn’s Excuse Me, Your Life is Waiting, the popular Eat Pray Love, Williamson’s A Woman’s Worth and Cameron’s Floor Sample. I have enjoyed everyhing I have read by Chris Bohjalian. Dennis McFarland came highly recommended. All is Vanity by Christina Schwartz was pretty darn good. The Black Englishman by Carolyne Slaughter. Goodnight Nobody by Jennifer Weiner (much better than her previous books). And Buddha by Deepak Chopra made me think alot after reading it (and I’m not a huge fan of Chopra). That’s all I can summon up!
I am reading Julia Alvarez’s Saving the World right now – quite good. My favorites of hers are How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents and Yo! If you haven’t read those two I highly recommend them.