June Reads in Review

Remember when I returned from England and I said I was hoping to write about my June reads within a few days? Well, that moment of insanity passed quickly. I was so terribly far behind (about 12 or 13 reviews' worth) that it took me a while to get to the point that I could post links to all my reviews.

Now, July is almost over and still I'm a smidgen behind, partly because I haven't been feeling tip-top (hence my absence, for the past few days). But, at least I'm done with June.

Your rear-view mirror view was taken from our rental Peugot as we traveled to Exmoor in England via a lovely, twisty scenic toll road. It was raining, as you can see, but the rain came and went. It was a very pleasant day trip. On to June's reads (with links to my reviews).

June Reads:

67. Proust's Overcoat - Lorenzo Foschini

68. The Art of Racing in the Rain - Garth Stein

69. You Know When the Men are Gone - Siobhan Fallon

70. Regeneration - Pat Barker

71. The Hunchback of Neiman Marcus - Sonya Sones

72. The Revenge of the Radioactive Lady - Elizabeth Stuckey-French

73. Lost in Shangri-La by Michael Zuckoff

74. Dog Tales - Susy Flory

75. The Soldier's Wife - Margaret Leroy

76. My Dear I Wanted to Tell You - Louisa Young

77. After the Quake - Haruki Murikami

78. Casper the Commuting Cat - Susan Finden

I liked everything I read in June, but there were some stand-outs and some that were just so-so reads. My top reads were You Know When the Men Are Gone, My Dear I Wanted to Tell You and The Hunchback of Neiman Marcus with The Art of Racing in the Rain a close fourth . . . and only because I've managed to forget some details from that one -- I loved it when I read it, but for some reason it just didn't stick in my mind as expected. All four of those are books I highly recommend. Oops, forgot one. Regeneration was another that I found gripping, horrifying and fascinating. All five books are highly recommended.

Other books I thought were excellent but which weren't necessarily books I'd gush about are After the Quake (well, maybe a little gushing; I was pretty impressed), Proust's Overcoat, and The Soldier's Wife.

My so-so reads were Lost in Shangri-La, The Revenge of the Radioactive Lady, Dog Tales and Casper the Commuting Cat. So-so meaning I liked them but didn't fall in love with any of those 4 books. In the case of both the pet books, there were entertaining moments and times I thought bad pet behavior was allowed because of cuteness. I get that. There are things I let my cats get away with that I probably shouldn't. But, I thought Casper's owner had an attitude about the indoor/outdoor cat concept that was disturbing and I remember thinking I just don't get the cuteness of bad dog behavior when I was reading Dog Tales. Either way, I liked all those books but they were not among my favorites.

There weren't any books that I strongly disliked, although I made it pretty clear what I disliked in my reviews. So far, nobody has succeeded at shutting me up and apparently y'all like it that I speak my mind.

I've finished several books but not felt up to reviewing, in the past week. I can't say when I'll get over that. Sometimes, when I don't feel like writing, I just walk away for a few days. Usually, I post a picture or two. I am in a mood, so just be happy I've been quiet.

I just finished reading Divergent by Veronica Roth, yesterday. It's a dystopian YA that I bought at the salvage store and started reading in the car. I stopped reading everything else till I finished it. That was one gripping read. I really enjoyed it.

Right now, I'm re-reading Simon Van Booy's Everything Beautiful Began After, this time with Post-its handy. Today, an ARC of When She Woke by Hilary Jordan just arrived in the mail from Algonquin and I am finding it unputdownable. Yes, unputdownable is a real word. I feel kind of awful about the fact that I'm unable to talk myself into waiting to read When She Woke, now that I've noticed the October release date on the spine. Eeks and oh, well. I haven't touched The Beekeeper's Lament in a week, but I'll get back to it.

I unexpectedly ended up back in physical therapy, yesterday. Great, just what I need -- having to drive 60 miles, twice a week, in addition to my intense exercise class and everything else that's going on in my life (so many Big Decisions are being dangled, right now). But, apparently, I need work on my neck. I was starting to get daily migraines, again, and last time I went for regular PT it did help reduce the frequency. It's just all so bloody time-consuming!!! I miss finding the time to write and visit other bloggers. On the plus side, my neck does feel better, today, and I've lost 3% of my body fat during the time I've been working out in my exercise class, The Next Level. I'm still a cow, but I'm a slightly more muscular bovine creature. So, maybe there's hope.

But, I still feel like this . . .

And, I don't look nearly as cute as Fiona when I'm lying around.

©2011 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery and Babble or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.

Reading update and some other nonsense

This is going to be one of those rambling posts because I'm in kind of a bummery mood. I think the heat is getting to me. We'll start with the cuteness and move on to reading. This was so wrong of me. The cats are not allowed on the piano, lest their little claws inadvertently scratch the fine wood and my mother return to haunt me, but Isabel looked so cute that I had to snap some photos before making her get down:

My mother paid for this piano by working as an Avon rep, way back in the Seventies. I used to go along with her for her orders and deliveries, now and then, and although I was small I recall my favorite of her customers was the one with the talking parrot.

Reading update:

I woke up at 5AM on Saturday morning (not by choice -- I'd already stayed up rather a bit later than I should have) and finished reading Simon Van Booy's book, Everything Beautiful Began After. Be patient with me. It's so compelling and such a great story that even though I had the urge to mark practically every other line, I was too immersed to bother. So, I'm going to reread it -- probably next week -- before I review.

But, a few words about Everything Beautiful Began After: It seems to be a love triangle, at first, and it begins a little slowly. Apart from the beauty of his writing, you may even be tempted to think it's not going to be anything special. And, then Simon yanks the rug out from you and turns the story on its head. Suddenly, what you thought was a love triangle becomes a story of grief and hope. It's almost a tapestry -- about love and death and friendship, the fleeting nature of life and how much every single moment counts. Everything Beautiful Began After is awe-inspiring, uplifting, authentic, hopeful, beautiful. It's everything I hoped Simon's first novel would be. Prepare to have your heart broken and then put back together with sparkles and rainbows. Everything Beautiful Began After is a book you simply must read.

Onward . . .

After I closed Simon's book, I gave myself a day to ponder and then decided there was absolutely no way any book could hold a candle to EBBA, so I chose something so completely opposite and fast-paced that I wouldn't end up constantly comparing. My next read was a YA sci-fi, Gone by Michael Grant. In Gone, there are disappearing adults, a strange dome-like enclosure over town, talking coyotes and other strange animal mutations, kids with special powers. It's a little bit Stephen King, a little bit William Golding. The way the children react to the absence of adults hints at Lord of the Flies and, of course, you can't help thinking about King's Under the Dome, although I haven't yet gotten around to reading Under the Dome and, therefore, can't compare.

I finished Gone, last night, and I have a copy of the next book in the series but obligations will keep me from reading it for a while. Instead, I've moved on to a tour book, Face to Face with God by Jim Maxim, and Shadow of a Quarter Moon by Eileen Clymer Schwhab. I'll add both to my sidebar in a bit.

Just walked in the door:

Hunting Unicorns by Bella Pollen - I loved The Summer of the Bear so much that I promptly ordered another of her books. I won't get to it for a while, but that's only if I behave myself. It's very tempting.

My sidebar has just continued to become more intimidating, so I'm going to attempt to start tackling reviews in whatever manner I can, this week. Hopefully, my exercise class won't hit me quite as hard as it did last week, but I will tell you this . . . Two of the girls in my class just finished "Boot Camp," another exercise regime that's known to be quite tough. They told me the class we're attending,"The Next Level," is harder. Goodness.

Might as well end with a photo from our vacation. This picture was taken on our trip west to Exmoor:

We had the option of paying a couple pounds to take a scenic byway or taking a free road. We chose the scenic byway. At times you could see thousand-foot plummets to the sea, at other times it appeared that Robin Hood was likely to come bounding out of the forest. Definitely a detour worth taking, but not for the faint of heart.

©2011 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other thanBookfoolery and Babble or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Emailbookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.