Shadow of the Wind

Am not digging this book - have read 70 pages and am bored stiff by the narrator. Can't seem to invest myself in the storyline, although people have sworn by it. Maybe I am not in the right frame of mind for a gothic novel. Last night I started Evensong by Southern novelist Gail Godwin and already I am relieved by the switch up. Think I might actually finish this one...

wish I hadn't read...

The Double-Bind by Chris Bohjalian. Just spent two days on this book for a book club, and now I am in a serious funk. I can see why it is a bestseller: it's a psychological thriller, so once you start you kind of have to keep turning the page to find out how it ends. But to what end? Only low-grade nausea for me, and I really don't have time for that on my summer break. Ugh. I really detested this book. It is about a college student who is attacked while riding her bike one day and who ultimately loses her mind as a result of this trauma. If I had known this beforehand I would never have read it, but they don't give those kind of fun details on the back cover!

So now I am on to Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon. I never heard of anyone who didn't love this book (it is a book about books, after all) so it has to be a safe bet.

Ah, summer

I'm officially out from under the piles of exams, final essays on Wide Sargasso Sea, poetry projects, and tennis balls. School is out and life is good. I have not yet charted my summer reading plans (could there be a round #2 of Moby Dick in my future?) and am open to suggestions. I spent a luxurious and long-overdue hour in the bookstore today just soaking in all the possibilities. I came away with only two titles: The Double-Bind by Chris Bohjalian for my book club read, and The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky. I would not yet recommend the latter to anyone over 18 as I am reading it for a school project. My students are apparently crazy about it. I have some rereading to do, this I know (March, A Farewell to Arms, and A Prayer for Owen Meany). A fellow bookie recently suggested a new memoir called Trail of Crumbs which sounded good - author's name escapes me. The other one that caught my eye today in the bookstore was Salman Rushdie's new novel with something Florence as the title. Looks awesome. Yes, my vocab shrinks in June. Anyway, let me know if you've read it or can suggest something even better. I'm all ears.

P.S. - I loved The Glass Castle. Such a great American Dream memoir. I just had to be in the right frame of mind to read it.