I know you’re just dying to hear which book I chose. So, I’ll put you out of your misery.
I spent twenty minutes trying to read “I Never Met My Mother”. Sorry, Cindy, but it’s true: I just haven’t gotten into it.
I’m sure the author’s story compels. In the first of about two hundred chapters (they’re short), she gets dragged out of her home town Moscow at the age of three months, loses her mother, is flung from one temporary placement to another, has to steal food, and ends up in an orphanage where she arranges, at the age of six, to have enough to eat by working in the kitchen.
I’m on chapter four, I think; maybe five. My emotions catapulted from one page to another, bandied about by the idea that this little child would be forcibly tossed in the street before the age of kindergarten attendance just for trading chores for extra bread. I’ve decided to put this book aside and find something equally inspiring but less depressing. Or maybe I’ll skip a few chapters; I already know she becomes a pro at making cream of wheat for 200 before she turns seven.
All of this prompted me to wonder: What do other people read? I’ve immersed myself in European crime fiction for the last decade with the occasional foray into current novels thanks to the Taggart women. I started reading a philosophy book this morning which my son had left on the coffee table but my head began to swim by the conclusion of the preface so I might not quite be ready for such heavy thinking. I’ve tried to discern why crime fiction apeals to me, especially the Scandinavians, with their tragically flawed heroes who bend the rules and drink too much vodka. Perhaps those qualities comfort me, confirming that I am not the only one whose life sometimes spirals out of control.
In any event, and I’m not complaining, I still have nothing readily available to read, so if you have any suggestions, holler. I got one by email (thanks, Katrina) but I’ll consider anything you have to offer. It’s summer reading list time, my friends. What’s on yours?
And please: Post your comments here, so others can benefit!
Corinne, I’m working on 2 books at once.
One is Laurie R. King’s “The Bones of Paris,” a suspense/mystery novel set in the era of Ernest Hemingway, Man Ray, Sylvia Beach, et al. They are characters in the story. King is also the author of a series of books featuring Mary Russell, who is married to Sherlock Holmes. They’re good, too.
The other is “Raising Steam”, the newest Discworld novel by Terry Pratchett. (If you don’t know Discworld, here’s a quick quote from Wikipedia: “Discworld is a comic fantasy book series written by the English writer Terry Pratchett, set on the fictional Discworld, a flat disc balanced on the backs of four elephants which, in turn, stand on the back of a giant turtle, Great A’Tuin. The books frequently parody, or take inspiration from, J. R. R. Tolkien, Robert E. Howard, H. P. Lovecraft and William Shakespeare, as well as mythology, folklore and fairy tales, often using them for satirical parallels with current cultural, political and scientific issues.”
I’m enjoying both books, and you might, too. I got them at the Plaza library.
Thanks, E!