I'm sad to say that I haven't finished a single book this month. I've been busy busy busy. At least I can tell you about what I've started.
The People of the Book, by Geraldine Brooks
My book group's October pick. This is the third book in a row with a past/present story structure. How interesting. At least this one is not about World War II, though it does span a lot of the history of Jewish persecution. The story traces the history of a particular book, and tells the stories of the hands it has passed through. It reminds me a bit of that book about the violin - The Red Violin? I think it was made into a movie. I'm enjoying this read, particularly because it is a lot lighter than the last two books we read. Our selections tend to be on the gloomier end of the spectrum, so it is night to have a lighter one once in a while. I'm finding the main character to be annoying, which is dampening my enjoyment. Next month we are reading Ann Patchett's State of Wonder, which I'm really looking forward to.
Will Write for Food, by Dianne Jacob
I picked this up from the library when I was researching freelance writing. I like food. I like to write about food. I think it has some good information in it, though it was published in 2005 and the publishing industry has been in a lot of flux since then. I need to start skimming some sections if I'm going to read the bits I really want to know before I need to turn it back in.
The Unexpected Son, by Shobhan Bantwal
Whenever I travel to Canada or England, I make a point of stopping in a bookstore and seeing what's new. The publishing industries are different, and I find the quality of books published and promoted in the British countries to be higher than American bestsellers. I've found some really good books in the bookstore in the London airport, for example. I've been disappointed to see that in the last few years there has been more and more overlap with the US bestseller list. When I was in Canada in June, it wasn't until we were on our way to our gate in the Victoria airport that I realized we hadn't gone into a bookstore on our visit. We were walking past one and I detoured past the display in front, but we really didn't have time to stop. This book, the unexpected Son, was one of the books on the display so I was excited to see it in my library's new books section. It is about an Indian woman who has been living in the US for most of her life when she finds out she has a living son who she thought had died at birth. I can't tell you any more because I've only read the cover and the prologue so far...
I haven't started that epic about Dublin that I mentioned last month. It is still sitting here on my coffee table. And I only bought two books this month. Which puts me, what, one more behind? No, two, because all three of the above came from the library. Ah, I miss having time to read!
I have read a few magazines this month: Recent issues of Whole Living, Kiwi, Yes! (two issues), an ancient copy of Writer's Digest I found while cleaning the living room, and I have the October Martha Stewart at the table where I settle after the baby goes to bed. I'm looking forward to some time with that one tonight.
It is raining today and I'm making banana bread this afternoon. The house is warm and smells wonderful. If it weren't for the busy little baby crawling around my feet I would be curled up with a book.
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