I can't even remember

I've read so many books since last posting that I can't even remember them. Or maybe it's because so many of them were Terrible that I don't remember them? Regardless, I'm going to stop apologizing for the infrequent posts of late because, well, I'm not actually sorry.

I will now present to you the blog post equivalent of a mash-up wherein I tell you what I've read (and can remember) in the last month or so.

A Reliable Wife
Meh. Saucy but in a creepy, bummed-me-out kind of way.








All that Matters
Ha! Turns out the free section of the library where you don't have to check the books out (you can literally just take them and return them on the honor system) is free FOR A REASON. Why I finished this book I'm not sure. Maybe because I was expecting some steamy lovin' at the end? Expectations not met. Leading me to:





The Accidental Wedding
Good Saucy. I mean, it's bad of course. But good.








To Catch a Bride
Bad Saucy.








The Kid
Funny and smart. Inappropriate but in the best of ways. Classic Dan Savage and in novel form!







The Human Stain
My first Phillip Roth experience. The title grosses me out still, but I was very impressed with the prose. It was a thinking book. I mean, not as complex as "The Accidental Wedding" but still... That said, I had to stop in the middle (something I hate doing) because I realized our next book club was meeting soon and I hadn't started our next read! So I've now moved onto:




Parrot and Olivier in America and hope that by the time I finish it, I will still feel some motivation to return to The Human Stain.

The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie

It feels like it's been ages since I really loved a book. You know, the kind of book that comes along once or twice a year - the one that makes it hard to tolerate any activity other than reading because you must know what happens next. This book didn't quite reach that level of love for me, but I did find myself surprisingly sucked in. More so than I have in a while.

The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie features an 11 year old Brit named Flavia deLuce who is pretty much completely unbelievable in her Doogie Howserness but is nonetheless charming and so smartly written that I bought into her reality anyways. She lives on a remote English estate post WWII with her sad, widowed father and two snooty older sisters. She's a solitary aspiring chemist that keeps mostly to an old science lab located in one of the far off wings of her family estate, making poisons to use on her sisters.

When a dead jack snipe with a stamp on its beak appears on her doorstop she's intrigued. But when she finds a dead body in the cucumber patch the following morning, she launches into a mini murder mystery adventure.

I really quite liked this book and think I might pick up the next "Flavia deLuce mystery" soonish.

Twenties Girl

Wow. So many embarrassing things to say - where to start? First, I paid for this book. Second, I bought it because I confused Sophie Kinsella (the author) with Marian Keyes (an old favorite chick lit author of mine). Third I continued to think I was reading a Marian Keyes book the entire time I read the book. Which lead me to frequently think things like, "Wow Marian this book is TERRIBLE! What's happened to you? I mean, This Charming Man wasn't that good, but it was a hell of a lot more entertaining than THIS!"

It wasn't until I finished the entire book (which in my defense only took 2 days) that I saw an ad for a new book in the Shopaholic series on the last page. And I was all, "Huh? Why is there an ad for Shopaholic when this book is by.... oh.... WHAT?" So yeah, I'm a bozo. But so is Sophie Kinsella because this book is about a girl who gets visited by the ghost of her great aunt Sadie and they have weird and not terribly hilarious hijinks involving finding a missing necklace that is VERY important and really?

Waiting

My desire to write thoughtful and humorous reviews has (temporarily, I hope) left me. I haven't become the ultimate cliche of a new mother - I'm still reading! I just don't feel much enthusiasm for sitting down at the end of the day to write about it. Waiting was a book club pick and while I'm glad to have read it, I struggled with liking the characters and got kind of sick of the ... waiting. The book takes place in communist China and follows a guy (I can't remember his name) who lives in the big city while his wife - through an arranged marriage - lives back in their small town raising their daughter. He falls for another, more modern woman and for 18 years he visits his wife and asks for a divorce. This was a story of waiting and while a fascinating look at China in the 60s, 70s and 80s, the characters annoyed and the drawn out waiting drove me a bit bananas. Waiting has never really been my forte though.

Death in Holy Orders

A well written mystery that I think might have sequels? It's lacking a bit in believability and I thought the mystery was a tad too easy to solve before the big reveal. I like a mystery that sort of blows your mind when solved and this one didn't really do that, but I was still hooked by the twists and turns it took to get you there.

The book follows Detective Dalgleish (who I believe can be followed in many other mysteries by the same author) as he investigates the death of a young ordinand studying at a small theological college located on the edge of a cliff (which I mention mostly because I felt like the cliffs themselves became a character in the book). The murder suspects are the staff, religious students and priests at the college. More deaths ensue, and the mystery is wrapped up rather nicely at the end. It was a good read but the plot felt a little old-timey, murder she wrote style. Which made sense when I read the author profile - at the age of 80, she's apparently known as Britain's Queen of crime.

Faithful Place

Tana French fans will not be disappointed. Well. Actually, they might be a TINY bit disappointed. The story isn't quit as gripping (as her first two novels), and the mystery is a shade less creepy and well... mysterious than the first two books in this quasi-series, but it's still smart, funny and addictive.

I actually own this now, so if any of you fans out there want to borrow, let me know!

Brown Bear Brown Bear What Do You See?

Bedtime story time.