Story time

I went through a reading slump recently. It just seemed to take me forever to get through a volume - of my own choosing of course. But now I leaped through a few light reads to get back into a nice rhythm. No heavy non-fiction at the moment.
Recent books include - Tethers End by Margery Allingham, Second Horseman by Kyle Mills, School of Essential Ingredients, The Sidewalk Artist, The Scarlet Pimpernel, and now Oliver Twist.

I know the characters from the musical we performed in high school, but not the book, oddly enough. Like his other books, David Copperfield comes to mind, it takes a few pages to get used to the style, the extended sentences and wordiness, but there are fewer characters to sort out. But what strikes me most right now, about one third through the book, is the very black and white-ness. I get the class thing - you just did not cross the class lines. BUT Dickens is painting a very stark picture of morality. If you did one crime, petty or major, your soul was painted dark forever by society. Perhaps this will evolve as the story unfolds. We will see how much room Dickens allows for forgiveness and redemption on an individual level.

adrenaline rushes

The big-time thriller is not a reading genre that I want to cultivate, but I did get sucked in recently to Kyle Mills's work. It started with a review that I read of Fade. I picked it up (cheap), buzzed through it and passed it on, but it was an exciting trip. Next is Second Horseman.

The Slavs and their detectives are usually so dour and dreary. Per Wahloo and Maj Sjowall - sooo depressing. I liked Smilla's Sense of Snow but Hoeg hasn't really come up with anything since that has caught my attention. But - I have recently caught up with the Reykjavik mysteries by Arnaldur Indridason. Started with Jar City and then I found a whole slew at BookCloseouts.

I have been getting a lot of my reading direction these from Powell's Daily Dose. When I have no time for browsing online or in the store, this daily email has taken me down some unexpected paths.

and the stack keeps growing

as the tired old saying goes, "so many books, so little time"

Recent months have included some memorable, some not, some that are just plain fun.
Fun includes Wanda Hickey's Night of Golden Memories by Jean Shepherd. Shepherd is the comic mind behind the classic movie "A Christmas Story" or as Anissa and I refer to it "Ralphie." He was a radio, cabaret personality for years, so this begs to be read aloud, or at least to imagine it being read aloud. Although it is a memoir written as an adult looking back, he views this as a child and teenager, with little reference to the world situation at the time, only as it applied to him and his world. And even though his memory is selective, the detail and tone are painfully and sweetly on target - funny for those who remember that vanished innocent world, and even those who experience only through the movies or these pages.

Meanwhile I have started reading Knucklehead - another memoir written for gr 4-7. It, too, is best read aloud, between fits of laughter. What else could you expect from the creator of "The Stinky Cheese Man"?