A Blog Entry Is On Here Now

If you are reading my blog, I just want to say:  Thanks for giving birth to me, Mom.  I’m not sure anyone else would still be sticking with me. 

So….guess what Mom?  I read a whole novel!  When I should have been sleeping in case somebody got hungry at a time of day when only college students should be eating. 

And not just any novel.  A Big Thick Book worthy of being called epic.  Thanks to (former?) Blog Reader Friend Courtney, I thoroughly enjoyed Seven Types of Ambiguity by Elliot Perlman.  I loved the way the story came together, told by six narrators.  It reminded me of Jonathan Franzen’s writing style, but I didn’t hate every single character quite as much. 

This is the kind of book I am talking about, people.  I mean, person (Mom).  Please recommend some equally fantastic books so I can read them.  Instead of washing and sterilizing bottles, doing laundry, grocery shopping, making lunch, being on time for work, re-stocking the diaper drawer, refilling the wipes caddy, putting away toys, changing the sheets, packing for daycare, filling out the daycare form, labeling clothes, unloading and reloading the diaper bag and making a to-do list with all of these items.

My Somebody doing some
(very) light reading on her own.

Bookworm Can Always Find a Way to Alienate Dwindling Readership By Insulting Twilight

In true Bookworm fashion, as soon as I find a new writer I like I quickly overdose on their whole collection.  So as soon as I read the final, impressive sentence of Freedom by Jonathan Franzen I ran to my favorite local used bookstore to refuel on depressing reads.  Cue The Corrections.

My Official Review is:  It was fine.  Although it followed Franzen’s pattern – well developed, unlikeable characters – for some reason I didn’t love The Corrections.  This could be a classic case of overdosing on one writer too quickly.  Did I learn nothing from my Twilight series binge?

Of course I didn’t.  No one has ever learned anything from Twilight.

Bookworm Does Not Wish To Be Judged By Camel Hair Blazer; Admits Cover Judging Is Wrong

This is the perfectly harmless
cover I have been judging.

I have been guilty of judging a book by its cover.  At least that’s what I think I did.  I always had a negative impression of Freedom by Jonathan Franzen.  For some reason I assumed it was a book for hipsters to display on shelves whether they read it or not.  Perhaps that is because I saw it featured in an iPad ad.  Or maybe it was the bird on the cover.  Either way I associated it with gluten allergies and bands I’ve never heard of, Things That Make Me Roll My Eyes. (I’m known to wear a camel hair blazer on occasion.)

Bottom line – I was dead wrong.  I loved this book.  It was a Big Thick Book with rich character development that reminded me a bit of a Tom Wolfe read.  The characters were interesting and complex, and Franzen definitely had a unique writing style.  I love the way the story was put together; it was sort of a book within a book since a main character – Patty – ‘wrote’ portions as if it was her autobiography.  Plus – and I know this is an annoying thing to say – I loved the last sentence.  It struck such a perfect chord, and boy do I love a book with closure versus leaving you hanging.  (I like specifics, Tony Soprano!  What exactly happened?)

This was a much needed book obsession after a couple of duds in a row.  It was the kind of book that I gazed at longingly before heading to work in the morning.  (Yes, I’m that lame.  Note camel hair blazer reference above. It looks sharp!)