Because books are my friends

I’ve been on a dadgum reading binge here lately.  A book bonanza.  A literary spree.   A tome extravaganza.

(Bonanza is one of my most favorite words.  Sheep is another.)      

Here’s what my nose has been stuck in for the past couple months.

The Hunger Games trilogy by Suzanne Collins – The Hunger Games, Catching Fire, and Mockingjay.    My book club read the first one last summer, but I thought my time was more prudently spent reading Bringing Your Newborn Home.  (I was right.)  Also, the concept of these books is so incredibly strange, which is why I resisted reading them for some time.  (I was wrong to resist.)  Glad I finally gave in!  I enjoyed all three overall, but the third book was a bit disappointing.  It was as if Suzanne Collins was rushed to finish the series and couldn’t dwell on details like she did in the first two books.  Anyone else feel this way?  I am definitely looking forward to seeing the first movie next month!

The Language of Flowers by Vanessa Diffenbaugh.  This was December's book club selection, but I read it in January (story of my 2011 book club life).  The title of this book makes it sound like it might be vapid chick lit, but it is most definitely not.  Some parts were difficult to read (especially as a brand new mother), and it’s definitely not a light read…  It is, however, well-written with a quick-moving story line and a heroine that I desperately wanted to “win” in the end.  Two thumbs up.       

Bossypants by Tina Fey.  I laughed a few times, I was put off a few times, I really wanted to love it…. but it was just okay.  She gave a lot of detail about her stint as Sarah Palin on SNL, which was great.  However, I wanted that level of detail about… everything else.  I wanted to know about when she first realized she was funny, or when she met her husband, or what it was like the first time one of her skits made it onto SNL.  With exception of the Sarah Palin part, she told singular, seemingly random stories from different periods in her life.  And she revealed that she doesn’t like apple butter, which disappoints me endlessly.             

The 19^th Wife by David Ebershoff.  This is our current book club selection.  If you like semi-confusing and disturbing tales of polygamy, this is for you!  Otherwise, you might not love it.  (Feel free to guess in which camp I fall.) 

Cold Comfort Farm by Stella Gibbons.  This book was written in the thirties, and is a parody of rural farm life in England.  The vernacular was a bit difficult to decipher at first, but once the story gathers momentum WATCH OUT.  Y’all, it is fun-ny.  I feel like I could read it again and find more funny parts the second time around; it’s that kind of humor.  And it had a sweet ending.  I can’t wait ask Evelyn at some point in the future, Was it for this that I cowdled thee as a mommet?

I also started reading The Magician’s Nephew by C.S. Lewis, but I just couldn’t get into it.  Have any of y’all read The Chronicles of Narnia?  Perhaps I will give it another try later.  Y’all know I LOVE a good series (see: Sweet Valley Twins, Sweet Valley High, Babysitters Club, Little House on the Prairie, Twilight, The Hunger Games, The Lord of the Rings, and my most beloved of all - Harry Potter).

Next up on my reading schedule - Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jamie Ford and Bloodroot by Amy Greene. 

What have you been reading lately??  Inquiring minds want to know.