Fall into Reading 2010Status Report

About five weeks into the challenge, I've read five of the 26 books on my Fall into Reading list:

• Any Bitter Thing by Monica Wood


• The Declaration by Gemma Malley


• Hex Hall by Rachel Hawkins


• I Am the Messenger by Markus Zusak


• The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane by Katherine Howe

Host Katrina has posted some reading questions for challenge participants to answer. I offer a few of my thoughts:

What do you think is the biggest obstacle to your reading? What prevents you from reading as much as you’d like?

"Not enough time" is certainly the simple, though not complete answer. Time is indeed a significant factor, as illustrated by the fact that I read 30 books this year from January through June (an average of five per month) but since completing a five-year work commitment on June 30, I've read another 43 books (almost 11 per month). I know that I could read more, however, if I spent less time on Facebook. I also struggle with what I call "the book blogger's dilemma" - that is, finding the proper balance between reading books and blogging about them.

Do you eat/drink while reading? If so, do you have some favorite reading snacks?

Although I don't always eat or drink while reading, I do enjoy combining food and books. My favorite reading snack is microwave popcorn. I also enjoy reading while I eat a meal. In the last several months - since I have more time mid-day than I used to have - I've been having lunch every few weeks at Cafe Zupas or Paradise Bakery with a book.

When you read a book, do you read everything? In other words, do you read the dedication, the acknowledgements, the foreword, the afterword, the prologue, the epilogue, the appendix, etc.? Or do you just read the "meat" of the book? Or is your approach somewhere in between?

I read everything! Two recent reads with lots of "extras" were the non-fiction young adult history Claudette Colvin: Twice Toward Justice and the novel The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane.

The Postmistress by Sarah Blake

Published in 2010. 326 pages.


I wanted to love this book. A historical fiction novel. Set during World War II. With not just one but three female protagonists. Each revealing part of the story from her own perspective. The Postmistress had all the elements of a great read! Alas ...

The book started slow for me, but I kept going because it was both a Book Buddies pick and a Salt Lake County Reader's Choice nominee. I kept hoping that something would happen that would captivate me - or at least let me see what the author was trying to tell her readers. Unfortunately, that never happened - even as I neared the end and just "knew" that I would finally be happy with the tale. The more I hoped for the book to come together in a way that I'd find satisfying, the more irritated I got ... and then I just got crabby.

• If I had read "he leaned in to light her cigarette" one more time, I would have screamed.


• What was with the weird, unrelated scenes of sexuality and discussions of women's reproductive health issues?


• The plot was not cohesive. There were several "short stories" that I quite enjoyed, but as a novel it just didn't come together.


• Even the title misrepresents the content, as "the postmistress" is only one of three female protagonists.

For a more thoughtful and positive review, check out Dawn's thoughts at She Is Too Food of Books.

What's On Your Nightstand?

Hosted by 5 Minutes for Books
Right now - just in time for Halloween - I'm finishing up The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane by Katherine Howe. It is a Salt Lake County Library Reader's Choice nominee, and it will also be the November/December read for my long-time book club.

North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell is the next pick for my "book lunch girls" meeting, so it is on my nightstand, as is The Lacuna by Barbara Kingsolver, which is the Book Buddies selection for November.

In the next few weeks I'm hoping to read two non-fiction books on women's issues to complete the Women Unbound challenge by November 30. The two I'll likely read:

• The Curse of the Good Girl by Rachel Simmons


• Girl Sleuth: Nancy Drew and the Women Who Created Her by Melanie Rehak

I'll also be continuing work on my Fall into Reading list all through November and into December. (Since I've only read four of the 26 books so far, I've got a long way to go!) Among the titles I'm most excited to read in the next few weeks:

• The Compound by S. A. Bodeen


• Deception by Jonathan Kellerman


• If You Come Softly by Jacqueline Woodson


• Losing Faith by Denise Jaden

Check out what other people have
on their nightstands here.

Buster Midnight's Cafe by Sandra Dallas

Published in 1990. 277 pages.


I've been wanting to read Sandra Dallas for a long time, so I was eager to get to this one - her first novel - for the October meeting with my "book lunch girls." I finished it this rainy Saturday morning while wrapped in a blanket in bed.

I think I started the book with a misconception. My friend Sue, who picked this month's book, had said we needed some lighter reading than we'd had recently, and she called the narrator "hilarious." My fourteen-year-old daughter, who read the book before I got to it, also said the book was "funny." As I started reading, however, although I found the characters to be fun and quirky - especially the names of Effa Commander and Whippy Bird, I wasn't finding the story to be at all funny. Poverty, prostitution, cancer, even boxing, are not light topics. Even the theme of friendship is one that I find more meaningful than light-hearted. (I looked up "light-hearted" in the dictionary: "Not being burdened by trouble, worry, or care; happy and carefree.") While friendship can, at times, be happy and carefree, I prefer relationships that are occasionally burdened by trouble, worry, and care - and the friendship of May Anna, Effa, and Whippy is certainly one with burdens.

I was about halfway through the book when I decided that it wasn't a light-hearted book and that I should just continue reading it through my personal worldview. Once that happened, I enjoyed the book a whole lot more. The power of friendship to sustain people through war, loss, and death. The ability of friends to come together to support and strengthen one another. The importance of assuming the best of those we love and seeing the good in them. Those are all themes I found in the novel. Dallas does a good job of exploring them through the lives and relationships of fun, quirky characters with an interesting and compelling storyline. I look forward to reading more of her work!

There is one aspect of the book that really bugged me. Effa Commander, the narrator of the story, frequently uses bad grammar - especially "me and ..." as the subject of a sentence. I understand that this was supposed to give the reader a sense of who Effa is, and while I accept that she is uneducated and unpretentious, her use of words in other ways is so beautiful and so effective that these instances of bad grammar grated on my nerves.

Have you read any of Sandra Dallas' books? Which one would you recommend I read next?

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Drums, Girls & Dangerous Pieby Jordan Sonnenblick

Published in 2004. 273 pages.

Heart-breaking. Humorous.
Heart-warming. Honest.

You have to love it when the doctor lays all this horrific stuff on you and then tells you not to worry. It's like saying, "Here's thirty-seven pounds of assorted chocolates. Try not to think about food, though." Or "Look! There's Renee Albert in a bikini. But please try to keep your mind on algebraic functions." [page 235]

Author Jordan Sonnenblick's website.

2005 ALA Teens' Top Ten.

Sequel - After Ever After (2010).
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Good Picks for Book Clubs

As the member of several book clubs, past and present, I was interested by the Top Ten Discussion Books list compiled by Reading Group Guides. I have read eight of the ten, all with a book club of one kind or another:

1. The Help by Kathryn Stockett (I read this one on my own at the end of 2009, and it made the list of my favorite books of the year. It was also a pick of the Book Buddies online book group this year.)
2. Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen (I read this one with my long-time book club in January and posted a review.)
3. The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini (I read this one with my long-time book club, back in October 2006 before I started book blogging. I did post a few thoughts on my "other" blog. In January 2007, another book club I met with briefly read the book, but the discussion was less than satisfying for me, as I explained here, and I stopped attending this book club.)
4. The Glass Castle by Jeanette Walls (This was a pick for my long-time book club in 2006, and in January 2009 I re-read it with my church women's group book club, which is now defunct, and posted a review.)
5. Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert (This was the "book club" read for my annual women's retreat in June 2008. I started it there and continued reading it through the summer.)
6. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows (I read this with my "book lunch girls" in February 2009 and posted a review. Then in June this was the "book club" read for my annual women's retreat.)
7. The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd (I first read this one with my long-time book club in the summer of 2005. My church women's group book club read it in January 2007, and I posted a few thoughts.)
8. Sarah’s Key by Tatiana de Rosnay (I haven't read this one yet, although my mom recommended it to me not too long ago.)
9. Snow Flower and the Secret Fan by Lisa See (I read this one with my long-time book club in May 2009 and posted a few thoughts about it.)
10. The Red Tent by Anita Diamant (This one has been on my to-read list for several years, but I've not yet read it.)

As a fan of young adult and children's novels, I was also interested in the Top 10 Young Adults/Kids Books list. Of these, I've read eight, many of them with a reading group:

1. The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie (I read this one on my own at the end of 2009 and posted a review.)
2. Because of Winn-Dixie by Kate DiCamillo (Although I read two of DiCamillo's other books in a mother-daughter book club - The Tale of Despereaux and The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane - this one remains on my to-read list.)
3. The Book Thief by Markus Zusak (I read this with the "book lunch girls" early in 2009 and posted a review. It was also the 2008 Salt Lake County "One County, One Book.")
4. The Boy in the Striped Pajamas by John Boyne (I read this one with the Book Buddies in November 2007 and posted a review.)
5. The Giver by Lois Lowry (I've never discussed this all-time favorite with a group but have always wanted to. I posted a few thoughts on re-reading in January 2008.)
6. The Golden Compass by Phillip Pullman (I've not read this one yet.)
7. The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman (I read this one with the "book lunch girls" in the summer of 2009 and posted a few thoughts.)
8. Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling (I read The Deathly Hallows - the seventh book of the series - during the summer of 2007 and posted my review. My church women's group book club met to discuss it shortly thereafter. I read all the other books in the series on my own, pre-book blog.)
9. The Hunger Games series by Suzanne Collins (I picked The Hunger Games for both the "book lunch girls" and my long-time book club in the summer of 2009, and I posted some discussion questions. I've since read the other two books in the trilogy on my own.)
10. Twilight series by Stephenie Meyer (I chose Twilight for my long-time book club in June 2007 and posted a few thoughts and some discussion questions. My church women's group book club met to discuss Twilight a few months later. I read the rest of the series along with my daughters, including a formal discussion of New Moon at a lunch outing.)

What books have you enjoyed reading and discussing with a book group?

13 Little Blue Envelopesby Maureen Johnson

Published in 2005. 321 pages.


First line: As a rule, Ginny Blackstone tried to go unnoticed - something that was more or less impossible with thirty pounds (she'd weighed it) of purple-and-green backpack hanging from her back.

Brief summary (from the Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data): When seventeen-year-old Ginny receives a packet of mysterious envelopes from her favorite aunt, she leaves New Jersey to criss-cross Europe on a sort of scavenger hunt that transforms her life.

Why I read this book: I've been hearing good things about young adult novelist Maureen Johnson's work for a while, but I hadn't read any of her books until now. Tricia of Library Queue had recommended 13 Little Blue Envelopes to me as a short, quick read published in 2005, as I worked to finish the Countdown Challenge. (Tricia's review is here.)

A few random thoughts: Very nice read, particularly good for the Read-a-Thon! Ginny had her very own personal, miniature version of The Amazing Race - and, like the racers I admire most, learned more about herself in the process. I especially loved hearing about her adventures in Amsterdam and Copenhagen because, although I've never been there myself, I did recognize much of it from the photos and souvenirs that my sisters and I compiled into a scrapbook for my parents from their trip there a few years ago.

Something notable: 13 Little Blue Envelopes was an ALA Teens' Top Ten for 2006 (as was Peeps, which I also recently read.)

For more fun: Check out Maureen Johnson's website, including some FAQs about 13 Little Blue Envelopes. (I'm also now following Johnson on Twitter.) A sequel to 13 Little Blue Envelopes, titled The Last Little Blue Envelope, is scheduled for publication next spring.

From the peanut gallery: My 14-year-old book-loving daughter says, "I thought Suite Scarlett was cute, so I want to read this one."

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We Have a Winner

As promised, I have randomly selected (using random.org) one lucky person from those who left a comment on my review of The Day the Falls Stood Still and will be passing along my copy to her.

And the book goes to . . . . Sue!
(Sue, I'll get the book to you shortly.)