Blogapalooza

I know, I know. Bad blogger. I don't know if anyone reads this anymore though so it decreases the motivation a bit...well, Scott SAYS he reads it, but we'll see.

I'm just going to talk books now because it's summer and summer = cottage and cottage = reading. Generally light reading and nothing too heavy so I can almost feel myself getting dumber. I can start getting smarter again in September.

I finished the Evans series by Rhys Bowen. That is: Evanly Choirs, Evans Above, Evan Can Wait, Evan Help Us, Evans Gate, Evan Blessed, Evan Only Knows and...I think there was another one but the library doesn't save books you've taken out. It was a nice, light mystery series about a constable in a small town in Wales and was full of quirky, small town residents that are quirky enough to be fun but realistic enough that you don't roll your eyes. There's the additional humor that the churches across the street from each other in town always put opposing biblical passages or such things on their signs. Such as "Faith without work is dead" and "You will be saved by your faith". It's also fun because half of the town has the same name and they refer to them all as "Evans-the-post" or "Evans-the-law" or "something else-the-something else". I thought this would get annoying but it was funny. The murders stop them from being REALLY light but they're a very quick, light read.

I've been meaning to read She's Come Undone by Wally Lamb for a long time and finally got around to it. What a disappointment. I'd heard great things about it and other than some interesting whale imagery, it wasn't great. It was mostly depressing. As in, "I'm having a great weekend at the cottage and it's beautiful out and now I want to do nothing but be miserable" depressing. Maybe there was a whole lot of meaning that I didn't get out of it but as much as I like thinking, I don't want to have to search for meaning.

Little Earthquakes by Jennifer Weiner was surprisingly the opposite. I really didn't enjoy Good in Bed by her but I did enjoy In Her Shoes so I was intrigued. This one was about 4 soon-to-be mothers who quickly become new mothers and deals with some of the crap they all have to deal with. They only become friends because they all attend the same prenatal yoga class and one goes into labor immediately after so the others help her as the husband is out of town. There are a bunch of "the grass is greener" and "you don't really know somebody until you walk a mile in their shoes" messages but it was an enjoyable read.

Next, Hypocrite in a Pouffy, White Dress by Susan Jane Gilman. It was somewhat autobiographical and entertaining as she looks somewhat critically at herself growing up. I didn't really expect it to be about her life when I picked it up (don't remember how I heard about it) so that caught me off guard and it took a little while to get into. Once she hits her teens, you can definitely empathize. Oddly enough, the part about her being a hypocrite in a pouffy white dress is barely mentioned and when it is, it's at the end of the book so the title is somewhat misleading although her reflections laugh at how hypocritical she was occassionally growing up.

I also read The Shop on Blossom Street by Debbie Macomber. It had a knitting pattern at the beginning which was kind of fun and I believe it's a part of a series. It's about a woman who starts a yarn store and offers knitting classes. Again, the 4 unlikely candidates become friends. The characters are fairly one dimensional and the plot is somewhat predictable. Did I enjoy it? Yes. Would I have enjoyed it in the winter when there's less to distract me? Probably not, but I'm not sure.

Right now I'm reading How to Be Good by Nick Hornby, Taming of the Shrew by some old guy and I'm on my first re-read of the last Harry Potter. But it deserves its own post.