Well, since I was on vacation last week, I did little reading, but a LOT of listening. While reading in the car (and we drove over 3500 miles last week!) is problematical for me, listening to books on CD is AWESOME!!!!
First we listened to Three to Get Deadly by Janet Evanovich. This one is the 3rd in the Stephanie Plum detective series. And while I could do with a little less talking about her lust for a cop guy she's known since grade school, overall it was very entertaining, with some pretty good secondary characters. I just loved her grandmother and the ex-prostitute-trying-to clean-up-her-act, Lula. The physical description of Lula alone made us laugh out loud. I won't necessarily rush out to read the next one, but if it's on the shelf by the library checkout, I'd give it a try. And I'd definitely listen to another one on a vacation trip.
Then we listened to 1776 by David McCullough. Thumbs up, way up, from both PapaC and me on this one. Examining just one year of the Revolutionary War was an interesting take. And by delving into the letters from people on both sides McCullough makes you understand how near a thing the success of the Revolution was. Without a few fortuitous snowstorms and miscommunications, the outcome could have been radically different. He doesn't paint Washington as a demi-god, but he does give him the props he deserves for being the personal force that he was. Without someone like him for people to rally around, the whole thing would have been mere philosophical talk and blather. Very, very good. Highly recommended. So highly, in fact, that I've pulled another of his books out of my stacks to read next.
Up on the nightstand? Cosmas, or the Love of God by Pierre de Calan, which is my book club selection for the month. Then another McCullough book, The Path Between the Seas: The Creation of the Panama Canal.
Oh, and I'm still dipping into Knox's The Belief of Catholics.
How 'bout you?
I just finished The Autoimmune Epidemic. Long on anecdotes and short on advice. But interesting.
Now I'm reading Joanna Trollope's Second Honeymoon. I'm not sure how I missed this one as I tend to request them from the library as soon as they're released. Like all her novels, it's a very good read.
Up next is Jhumpa Lahiri's Unaccustomed Earth, her latest collection of short stories.
I've really liked Lahiri's work. I'll have to check out the latest stories!
I also want to read some of Annie Proulx's Wyoming short stories, since I just got back from there.