Tuesday, October 20, 2009

Reading bites

Well, it doesn't look like I'll actually finish another book any time soon. My attention span is getting worse and worse so I just keep starting books and then I feel like reading something different after all... so I start some more. Rather than let you think that I've fallen off the side of the Earth (again), I thought I'd at least let you know what I'm reading:

Everything is Illuminated by Jonathan Safran Foer - it's about an American man of Ukrainian origin who travels to the Ukraine to find the family who saved his own family from the Nazis. The best part of this book is the language - especially when the guy the American hires as translator is speaking. His use of English is fantastic - clearly learned from books and very, very unique. You have to get into the swing of the language but after you do, it's great. I'm over half-way and enjoying it, but it's sad of course so I'm not always in the mood to read it...

The Friday Night Knitting Club by Kate Jacobs - I picked this up one evening when I wanted to read, but I didn't want to read about Jews in World War II... This is simple chick-lit about a group of women who get together to knit every Friday evening. I'm just at the beginning, but from what I've read I don't expect the rest to be earth-shattering... but it's perfect for that half an hour of light reading before bedtime.

Anne of the Island by L.M. Montgomery - another book I'm reading in the evenings, but I'm reading it in Polish and I don't always feel like reading in Polish, so... it's going slowly. It doesn't matter though, because I already know I love Anne and no matter how slowly I re-read the books, it's still as great as it was the first time I read them.

The Secret Life of the Unborn Child by Dr Thomas Verny - I always try to have a non-fiction book going on top of all the fiction I read and nowadays a lot of the non-fiction is pregnancy or baby related... This one is very interesting in that it talks about the baby understanding more than we think while it's in the womb. It also says a lot of fascinating things about how a woman's emotions and thinking influence the baby - although the author tries not to make sweeping statements like 'if you're negative your child will be depressed forever', I do wonder if he'd like to make those statements if he could... I'm only about a third into it, so I'll report back! In any case, I like the thought of my little boy being aware in there.

The Buffy the Vampire Slayer Omnibus - comics telling stories that happened before season 1 of Buffy began. I finally ordered this and couldn't leave it for later so I'm slowly savoring... Looking at the amazing graphics is especially good when my brain doesn't want to concentrate too hard!

Magic for Beginners by Kelly Link - I have this in e-book format from the internet somewhere and just discovered that it isn't complete... as in it doesn't include all the stories that are in the print edition. Oh well, I'll read it anyway, the stories I've read so far are very strange so I haven't made up my mind about whether I'll want to read more anyway.

That's quite a lot going at the same time! Hopefully I'll manage to finish a few of these before October is over!!

8 comments:

Lezlie said...

Everything Is Illuminated always looks so good to me. Once these challenges are done, that may be one of the first I treat myself to.

I hope you're feeling well, aside from the attention span thing. :-)

Lezlie

Lydia said...

Oooh, you'll have to let me know your final opinion on "The Buffy the Vampire Slayer Omnibus". My copy of "Undead and Unwed" just arrived from Amazon after your recommendation. Looking forward to digging into it.

Ana S. said...

Everything is Illuminated is one of my favourite books! I'm so glad to hear you're enjoying it. It IS awfully sad, though :/ And oh, what a pity that the e-book of Magic for Beginners is incomplete!

joanna said...

Lezlie - i've heard nothing but rave reviews of it for years and I'm enjoying it although, not as much as I hoped I would. I guess that's what happens when anticipation gets in the way!

Lydia - If you love Buffy you need to get the Omnibus, I can already tell you, totally worth it.

Nymeth - it IS a pity, I wasn't expecting it to be incomplete!!

Kailana said...

I hate when I get bored and can't concentrate on anything! I hope that gets better for you soon!

Trish @ Love, Laughter, Insanity said...

LOL! That is a lot going on at one time. But I guess if you can manage to read a few pages of each in rotation then eventually you'll finish one!

Anonymous said...

I can't read more than one book at a time... but you seem to have some interesting ones out there.

joanna said...

Kailana - I hope so too! :-)

Trish - 'eventually' being the operative word... LOL

anothercookie - I go through phases, it's just that this particular phase is getting ridiculously out of control! :-)