Sunday, January 23, 2011

Book a Day



I finished a book a day last week. All were nice solid reads. Nothing that's going on my Best of 2011 list (the two best reads were rereads and therefore not eligible), but nothing I wish I'd abandoned at chapter one either.

Here are my seven Very Quick Reviews:

Anna and the French Kiss...Anna is forced by her parents to spend her final high school year at a school in Paris. Oh poor Anna. The miseries of adolescents these days. She meets a clever and cute boy (those are always the best) but he seems to be taken. Sigh. Still, they can be friends. Very good friends.

My Reading Life by Pat Conroy...On the cover, the author's name is significantly larger than the title. This is important, fellow readers. Alarms always go off in my head when I see the author's name displayed in type that is significantly larger than that of the title. Silly me, I had assumed this was a new Conroy book. Wrong. It's a collection of recycled essays that are (mostly) about Conroy's reading life. Lots of nice pieces.

Paris to the Moon by Adam Gopnik...I loved this book when I first read it about ten years ago. This time, not only was I murmuring, "Oh, lucky ducks, this family is in Paris," but I was also gushing, "Yes, yes, I went there, too!"

The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster...A reread, a happy reread. You must bear in mind that I adore silly wordplay and this book is the King of Silly Wordplay.

The Devil in the White City...I don't like scary books and this book has the subplot of a mass murderer with the kinds of gruesome details that give me bad dreams. I must honestly say that I raced through the scary parts as fast as I could and spent most of my time relishing the parts about the world's fair. The world's fair was a very cool idea. Do we still have these world's fairs?

Table of Contents...Short chapters of interviews with authors about the writing process and what motivates the authors to write and, best of all, favorite recipes of the authors. I was surprised to see that most of the recipes were very elaborate; the recipes are probably more fun to read about than to actually cook. Thank you to the publishers for sending me a copy of this book.

One Day by David Nicholls...A novel that is getting a lot of buzz these days as it is being made into a movie. Our main characters, our contemporary Harry and Sally if you will, meet in college and continue to bump into one another as the years pass. Dexter, our Harry, spends way too much time pursuing drugs and women for my taste, and Emma, our Sally, falls into writing and fame and fortune way too easily for my belief system to accept, but, other than these flaws, it's a nice little read.

That's it. A lovely reading week. What did you finish this week?

15 comments:

  1. Huh. I'm interested to read DEVIL IN THE WHITE CITY and I appreciate your thoughts. You reacted to ONE DAY the way I think I will, too, so I'll probably pass on that one. Sounds like you've had some good books lately!

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  2. I just finished one this week. Hunger by Knut Hamsun. I've been reading lots of books in translation this year. This own is a Swedish classic.

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  3. I enjoy reading what my favorite authors find good reads...sometimes I like the same things, sometimes not. To me, tis an interesting look into the person. I love people.

    Happy Sunday!
    ~

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  4. Short reviews are a nice idea! Gets the TBR pile down faster!
    Book Bird Dog

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  5. I also am interested in Devil in the White City, but haven't gotten to it yet. Mabye sometime this year.

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  6. Some interesting reads. I've got Pat Conroy's book in my TBR stack.

    Mason
    Thoughts in Progress

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  7. A book a day?! I am in awe :)

    I would like to read Pat Conroy's book because I love to read books that discuss reading habits. I am ashamed to say that I have not yet read one of his novels, although I recently purchased The Prince of Tides at the library book sale.

    Paris to the Moon sounds absolutely delightful and I am adding it to my wish list immediately.

    I think the title Table of Contents, as well as the subject matter, is rather unique and I would like to at least borrow this from the library to see what it is like.

    LOVE the short review format.

    I hope you have another great reading week!

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  8. I haven't read any of the books you've read though One Day is on my nightstand. I'm reading The Warmth of Other Suns right now. You're so right about it. It's a fantastic book! Maybe I'll try to read one book a day this week! Have a great week!

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  9. A book a day for a week! I could only ever do that with picture books.... I'm very keen to read Paris to the Moon. I finished two books this week(pretty good for me)- The Phantom Tollbooth, as well as Roald Dahl's Matilda.

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  10. I love Phantom Tollbooth! What a fun nostalgic read. I haven't read Devil in the White City but did read Thunderstruck. It was very good.
    Have fun reading this week!
    Jaimie

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  11. I read Conroy's book a month or so ago, and liked it; I didn't realize that those essays were recycled.

    I would love to read about the World's Fair, but the gruesome mass murder stuff is a deal breaker for me :(
    Hope you have a similarly good reading week this week!

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  12. Oh, Devil in the White City sounds intriguing!

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  13. I just read Anna and the French Kiss as well, and I really liked it. Those clever and cute boys get me every time! :-)

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  14. The Devil in the White City is actually one of my favorite reads of the past couple of years - I was absolutely fascinated by both stories and amazed at how advanced and forward-thinking the World's Fair was. H.H. Holmes was definitely freaky - rumor has it that they will be making a movie soon and that Leonardo Dicaprio will play Holmes. Freaky, huh?

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  15. Wow, congratulations on a phenomenal reading week for you!

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