Talk Healthy

I'm reading Dr. Zhivago, but I don't think it'll last. Anyone read it? It's not exactly slow, things do happen, but I don't know, I think it's something about the writing style. Or maybe the translation. It seems so... flat. Cold. I don't know how to explain. At one point one character shoots another and I almost missed it! I had to go back a few paragraphs to check if I had understood it correctly. There was just so little emotion involved. Also, the fact that he calls each character by 3 different names is insane! I was so lost in the beginning I almost gave up. There's a list of characters in the beginning with all 3 names for each, and I have to consult it constantly. Very annoying. But I still haven't given up on it. Every night I say "ok, just a few more pages" and I got to page 180, so it can't be that bad. We'll see.

Your turn.

I've haven't read it ... I keep thinking I should read all those great Russian authors, but I never get around to it.

Right now I'm reading Catching Fire, the second book in the Hunger Games trilogy. It's very good so far.

I remember when I read Anna Karenina I was confused by all the names, too. It's weird in Russia, I think. I never tried Dr. Zhivago though. I think the movie would be bad enough! I keep meaning to see the movie one of these days.

I started reading "Saturday" by Ian McEwan. So far it's really good. The prose is a little more flowery than I tend to like, but the plot is interesting and I'm really quite into it.

Spudd, my mom said she couldn't even watch the movie, it was so boring! That should have warned me. Bah. Yeah, I'm really thinking Dr. Z. and I don't have a future together. Oh, by the way, let me know what you think of Saturday. I like his Atonement, but I was bored to tears by A Child in Time. It was way too literary for my taste. What can I say, I tend to enjoy slightly crappier literature.

Oh my god, you guys ... Catching Fire was SO good. But why, oh why, didn't anyone warn me not to start reading these books until the third one was out?! Waiting for the ending will be AGONIZING!

I know, Beverly! I'm already on the waiting list at the library for when the third one comes out. There are well over 100 people on the list for it. They are really good books, for sure--so glad you've enjoyed them so far!

Beverly wrote:Oh my god, you guys ... Catching Fire was SO good. But why, oh why, didn't anyone warn me not to start reading these books until the third one was out?! Waiting for the ending will be AGONIZING!

I know. I'm dying for the third book to come out. I think I whipped through the first two in about 3 days because I couldn't put them down.

I just finished reading "The Politician" by Andrew Young. He's the John Edwards staffer that tried to say that he was the father of John Edwards mistresses baby. The book is really interesting to hear the behind the scenes stuff and this is the second book that I've read that portrays Elizabeth Edwards as a complete psycho.

I lent a coworker Hunger Games this morning. Hope she likes it. I saw on the scholastic website that you can preorder the third one now. I'm also anxiously awaiting the next Sookie book in May.

I'm reading the Kim Harrison "hollows" series right now. Witches, pixies, vampires. No where near as good as the Sookie books, but entertaining. I'm on the 5th one now. I accidentally picked up the wrong one (book 7 instead of 5) and read a major spoiler in the first sentence.

I read A Thousand Acres when it came out. I thought it was good, but not Pulitzer-worthy. I never saw the movie.

Right now I'm reading The Almost Moon by Alice Sebold. Good so far, but even just fifty pages in I can tell it's going to be gut-wrenching.

Beverly, I gave up on The Almost Moon right about where you are! I was like, "It's been 50 pages of cleaning poop off her dead mother. I think I can pass." I was bummed because I loved The Lovely Bones.

I'm reading Handle with Care by Jodi Picoult. I said I wouldn't read anything else by her, but damn! She sucked me in. I hope the ending's decent.

I just finished a wonderful book called the Lace Reader by Brunonia Barry. I highly recommend it!

I'm almost done with Marie Antoinette by Antonia Fraser. The end is dragging a bit. I have The Swan Thieves waiting for me at the library, I'm hoping to pick it up today.

Just finished "Saturday". It was pretty good, but I thought the ending was a bit.. too literary. Most of it, though, was really gripping and a good read.

I finished up The Almost Moon this evening. Rachael and Blush, I thought it was okay. Not great, but not terrible, either. I've never read The Lovely Bones, though (as the mother of an adolescent daughter, I'm not sure I could stand it), so I didn't have any expectations about her writing.

I recently finished "The Book of Dahlia" by Elisa Albert and wasn't overly impressed with it. It grew on me the more I read, but it wasn't a favorite of mine by any means.

I haven't started anything new yet, other than a couple wedding planning books.

Is the Nanny Returns a sequel to the Nanny Diaries? That book sucked, so I can't imagine the sequel being any good.

I started reading a book called "Knitting Yarns and Spinning Tales", it's a collection of non-fiction stories about knitting.

Oh man, The Nanny Diaries sucked. I can't imagine the sequel to that.

I finished Handle with Care by Jodi Picoult. It was her usual stuff, totally formulaic, melodramatic, but incredibly gripping. There was sort of a twist at the end, but it didn't piss me off as much as My Sister's Keeper did. Maybe because I was already expecting it. And it was so, so sad.

Now I just started this: http://www.amazon.com/Weight-Silence-He ... 136&sr=1-1. Anyone read it? I'm only on page 15 or so, but I like it so far. But apparently it involves bad things happening to children again. My next book HAS to be lighter than that.

I've just been reading "The Hollows" series by Kim Harrison (witches, vampires, fires). I'm on the 6th book. They are big books - 450 pages or so each, not short ones like the Charlaine Harris Sookie books.

I finished my knitting short stories book... meh. I wouldn't recommend it.

Now I started "To Kill a Mockingbird". So far (28 pages in) I'm loving it. The first few pages were a drag but now it's picked up speed.