The Road by Cormac McCarthy

I know I say this sometimes here, but it's really no wonder that this book won the Pulitzer. It has presented a lot of unanswered questions in my mind. This book is thought provoking in so many ways. You want to know what happened to the world, but we never find out. It's left up to the imagination of the reader. I like how McCarthy doesn't spell it all out for the reader--it does make you think.

The relationship between father and son is fascinating and so real. I found myself feeling scared while reading this book because the little boy is scared of what they will encounter as they travel the road to the south for winter. I was scared along with him. The landscape is godforsaken and they never know if they are meeting "good" people or "bad" people.

Thanks for the recommendation Emily!

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone

I love HP! I had an itch to read something familiar and something fiction. I forgot how much of a main character Neville is in #1. I mostly remember the movies even though the books are much better and of course have a lot more detail! It was fun reading the first one again after having read #7 last summer and knowing Harry's fate.


Emily told me about a book she was reading called "The Road" by Cormac McCarthey ("All the Pretty Horses" and "No Country for Old Men"). I picked it up from the library last week and started it a couple of nights ago. It's about a man and his son traveling a road in (I'm assuming) America after some kind of apocalypse. I don't know what's really happened and I'm sure it will come together or be revealed in bits and pieces, but it is a fascinating story. It kind of has elements of sci-fi to it.

The Tender Bar (ctd)

I just finished reading "The Tender Bar" by JR M (whatever his last name is...).

I enjoyed this book much more than I thought I would. I have been reading more non-fiction lately and I was ready for some fiction, but did check this book out of the library. It was delightful! Well ok, maybe getting drunk night after night is not a delightful thing, but the way JR talked about his relationships with people and his struggles growing up--it was a refreshing style. On some level I think he makes any reader relate to his own journey through life. I want to go to Manhasset NY and find where the old Publicans bar used to be. (It's something else now.) Thanks Sarah for a good pick for book club! :)

The Tender Bar and also Shopoholic and Sister

The book that Sarah chose for book club is called "The Tender Bar" by JR Moehringer (sp?). It's a memoir about a boy growing up in Long Island w/o a dad. His surrogate dad is the guys at the bar. It's an easy read, but I'm afraid that I might not get it finished before book club next Sat night.

I've been listening to more books on CD lately. It really does pass away the 1/2 hour commute for me. I've recently listed to "The Body Farm" by Patricia Cornwell and "Hard Truth" by Nevada Barr. These are two books that I've read before, but I wanted to listen to again.

I'm listening to "Shopoholic and Sister" by Sophie Kinsella now. This is the 4th book int he Shopoholic series. It starts with "Confessions of a Shopoholic" then goes to "Shopoholic Takes Manhattan" and then "Shopoholic Ties The Knot". Becky Bloomwood is the main character and sometimes she grates on my nerves, but she always manages to redeem herself in the end. This book has made me belly laugh out loud and then cry too. I can't wait to see how it ends. These books are the light reads you need in between the heavy ones! :)

Hi Fellow Readers!
I started "The Pillars of the Earth" by Ken Follett in mid-March. I am intimidated by the number of pages in this book--a whopping 1000 pages. I am about 200+ into the book and while the story is good, I'm finding that I have to force myself to read it at the moment. So...

I'm moving on to "Three Cups of Tea" by Greg Mortenson. This book came highly recommended to me by friend Emily. It's nonfiction about a man, Greg Mortenson, who is climbing the mountain K2 in Pakistan. He gets lost and finds himself in this village of people. He sees the need for a school and so begins his mission in life. I am told that this is a very inspiring story and am so far enjoying this book.

My book club met last night and discussed "Eat, Pray, Love" It was a fruitful discussion in which we talked about talking with God, meditation, love and first kisses, food and much more.

Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert

I finished Eat Pray Love last week and have been meaning to write about it, but you know how it is when you get busy... This book was really good and I really enjoyed the Italy and the Bali part. I'll admit that I was losing interest in the middle (India) part, but I really did enjoy this book. If you haven't heard about it, you need to check it out. A woman in her mid 30s goes through a terrible divorce and gets a book advance in order to travel around the world. I know, nice, huh? She re-connects with herself with the backdrop of Italy (pleasure), India (meditation/soul), and Indonesia or Bali to be exact (the common ground between pleasure and the soul). It was very easy to read--style was great. I'm anxious to see what everyone in my book club has to say about this book. :)

I'm currently reading "The Pillars of the Earth" by Ken Follett (at a whopping 980 some pages it's going to take me awhile to get through this one!). It's excellent so far.

The Boleyn Inheritance by Philippa Gregory

This is the sequel to "The Other Boleyn Girl" by Philippa Gregory. The story continues from TOBG and explores Henry VIII's relationships with his next two wives: Anne of Cleves and Katherine Howard. This was a fun story, but quite long (over 500 pages). Gregory's writing is easy to read and follow. I liked that she explored these three women (I forgot to mention Jane Boleyn who was Anne Boleyn's sister-in-law) and talked about how mad some of them were. It was a fun read, too bad I wasn't at the beach for the last half of the book.