Recent reads

I got online specifically to write a blog entry, and two hours later, here I am. It's so easy to get lost on the Internet.

I'm trying to compile a Christmas book wish list, and I could use suggestions. Right now I'm 9 percent of the way (kindle terms) into Gone Girl, and I have high hopes. Thrillers/Mysteries aren't the genre I usually turn to, but my mom suggested I pick this up and I'm excited to read more.

I just finished The Language of Flowers, and it hit me so hard I wasn't sure I would be able to make it all the way through. I recommend choosing this one only if you have enough time to yourself to have a serious, gut-wrenching cry while you flip through the pages. It was hard to follow the book's main character, Victoria, through a series of tragedies to a very deep, dark and seemingly hopeless place, but thankfully, author Vanessa Diffenbaugh finds a way to bring her out of the ashes and dust us all off by the end.

Let's see, I also recently read the Nora Roberts Three Sisters Island trilogy for fun, and it was fun. I kind of had  the feeling when I was reading that I had read the stories before, like, when I was ten. Who knows.

Oh, and in the spirit of variety and pursuit of literary edification  I read Cannery Row by John Steinbeck and tried to be "a filter, not a sponge." (I've got to see the Perks of Being a Wallflower on screen -- a quick re-read when I heard it was coming out reminded me how much I loooove that book). But back to Steinbeck, I thought Cannery Row was actually a really timely piece to pick up now, with the economy still in the pits and the story staged in a small, working-class community during the Great Depression. I also bought Sweet Thursday on my kindle as a follow up but couldn't get into it.

I might try again after Gone Girl.