Summer Reading

First of all sorry no pictures. My scanner died. I did add links so you can see them on Amazon.

Well, it's been eclectic through the move. I had to turn in my library books and pack my books so I've just been reading whatever was around. I have read several things in the last couple of days. First, I discovered Anita Brookner and I read her Hotel du Lac. I really enjoyed her writing style although it was not a light summer read. It was a little more thought provoking. The book is from the perspective of a female writer who is weighing the options of being in love or being comfortable. It won a booker.

Ok, then I got to Pam and Earl's in Olathe and I started reading off of their shelves. I read 2 REALLY REALLY good books that you are going to want to run out and borrow right away. First is Water for Elephants. I have been reluctant to read this book because I assumed it would have a sad ending. It seems like contemporary fiction tends to have sad endings right now just because it's popular. Well this one has a great ending AND an exciting story to get you there.

The other book I have been reading at Pam and Earl's is Drop Dead my Lovely. It is just hilarious. A hermity book seller is reading Sam Spade novels when a stack of books hits him in the head and he wakes up believing he is a private eye. And the way he talks is so funny. Everyone thinks he's a nut case. Here's a little teaser for you:

"You're kidding with that suit, right?"
Oh, yeah. She also had opinions.
Which is generally jake with me. I'm not going to bust a clavicle patting myself on the back for it, but it so happens I approve of women having ideas of their own. When you consider the fact that women are the only minority that outnumber men, it makes the whole package easier to swallow.
I'd put an ad in the Village Voice for a part-time receptionist and she'd shown up before the press run was dry. Turned out she was an actress--yeah, I know: who isn't?--in need of a day gig between classes, auditions, and nervous breakdowns. Or is it nervous breaks-down? Court martial, attorney general, time immemorial, Nutty Buddy--some words are like people. The get perverse in the plural. From times immemorial, after courts martial, attorneys general traditionally enjoy Nuttys Buddy and have nervous breaks-down.
"I'm dead serious," I said. "It so happens I take great care with my appearance. And everything else, angel."
"Um...Pete."
There it was. That "um." I'd been hearing it all my life. The party of the second part was about to pop some frequently asked questions. "What? You're on the air, kid."
"Seriously. What's up with you?"
"Come again, doll?"
"That. The way you talk. With all these 'dolls' and 'angels.' And these zoot-suity clothes. And the hat. This whole hard-boiled thing. Are you serious or what?"
"Yeah, people ask me that all the time."
"So? What do you say?"
" I say I'm just a guy trying to stay clean in a dirty world. I'm a professional, and I wear what the professionals wear. Anybody who doesn't like it can send an e-mail to their congressman."
Stephanie suddenly looked sly. She said, one con artist to another, "Come on, Pete. You can tell me. This is a put-on, right?"
"Lady," I said, "you're looking at a man who doesn't do put-ons. Why? In self-defense. Because life as we know it is a put-on. The more you learn about the world, the more they change it into something else while you're in bed reading The New Yorker. The more convinced you are that you know the score, the bigger the pie they're baking to hit you in the face with out on the street. All a mug can do in a world like this is be a deliberate as possible. In everything."

The whole book is this great. Also, he is the worst P.I. I have ever read about. Love it!