Thursday, August 21, 2008

A new "chapter" on "Books I'm Reading, Books I Love"


I downloaded an e-book from our public library the other day. I have enjoyed it soooooo much. I've been putting it on CDs and listening to it each day on my commute. It's called Cold Sassy Tree by Olive Ann Burns, and it's about a scandal that takes place in the little town of Cold Sassy, Georgia back in the early 1900s. The book is written from the point of view of Will Tweedy, a 14 year old boy, whose grandmother had passed away a couple weeks earlier, and his grandfather has shocked the town by marring a woman half his age (with his wife not yet "cold in the grave"!!) It's so funny and full of real-life-small-town drama, and I am enjoying it so very much. It makes me laugh out loud, which is so nice when you're driving in bumper-to-bumper rush hour traffic! The man who is reading the book has a great voice - very expressive and just perfect for the characters in the book.

Back in the day (I was younger and more energetic and working nights with time to kill during the days) I volunteered at a radio station for the blind and visually impaired. Volunteers read the daily newspaper, current magazines, current novels and classics...you name it, and the station also provided various music formats as well. I was on the 10am to noon "shift" two days a week, and a team of three of us read The Commercial Appeal (our daily newspaper). I really enjoyed doing that, and would like to do it again sometime. Anyway, I always thought that would be a pretty good job -- reading books for a living. Wonder how one goes about getting a gig like that......? :-)

I just finished a couple Belva Plain books. I've read most all of her
s, but there were two on my shelf that I'd not read yet: Secrets and Random Winds. Her books seem to always be such sagas, spanning generations, and the characters seem to be so real, flaws and all. By the time you finish, you feel like you're intimately familiar with the family and their lives. She's a great writer.

I'm in the middle of the latest John Grisham book, The Appeal, and I'm enjoying it a lot. I love Grisham's legal thrillers. I haven't been as enthusiastic about his other books, like A Painted House. I think he should stick to the legal genre, because he does it so well.

As always, there are bunches of books "in the wings," just waiting to be read. I've got one called These Is My Words: The Diary of Sarah Agnes Prine, 1881 - 1901. It looks really good, and I already have the sequel to it, Sarah's Quilt. So, I think they'll be next on my list.

Haven't been sleeping well. I guess just too much on my mind. But maybe I'll try to get back to bed and catch another hour or two before I have to get up and "hit the day running".......


5 comments:

Gary ("Old Dude") said...

You make those books sound very interesting to read, and I being an avid reader (and obviously a prolific babbler blogger), I invariably have a number of books in work around the place. Started one this morning while doing the Weekly "Fluff N Fold", titled "Polar Shift", written by Clive Cussler.in summary it is a plot about global anarchy, and threat to life on the planet. Good escapist reading (lol)

Patty said...

Steve loves Clive Cussler books, Gary. I think he's read Polar Shift, but am not absolutely sure... He especially loves all the Dirk Pitt novels.

Vikki said...

Clive cussler is a real favorite around these parts, but I have to admit I didn't even make it through the first one. Not my thang as they say.
Now I'm completely with you on John Grisham, not only on how good the law books are but on his sticking with it. It's like Robin Cook sticking to medical. Of course the last one of his I read, ... well let's just say he should have rethought it...giggle

Patty said...

I read one of Steve's "Dirk Pitt" books, and it was really good! One of these days I wouldn't mind just plowing straight thru them. Did you see the movie Sahara with Matthew McConaughey? It was based on a Cussler (Dirk Pitt) book. I loved it. But then I LOVE Matthew McConaughey. :-)

Vikki said...

Yep did see the movie and liked it pretty good. But just couldn't get through the first book. Cindy has all of them that are out on PB so far, and she and mom have read them through at least 2x. They are just too far off for me. Maybe if I hadn't tried reading the first one... I don't know.

I'm with you about Matthew McConaughey. That is one Sexy Texan!

 
/* Use this with templates/template-twocol.html */