It's Typical

Seems I've been gone for a while again.  I have a habit of doing that....I start something and I'm all gung ho and then I get distracted.  I still have the intentions of doing what i set out to do, I think about doing it but.....somehow I don't get it done.  It's the story of my life really.  There have always been too many choices, too many interesting things to do, too many people to meet, too many jobs that sound fun, too many drinks to try, too many places to visit, too many books to read......and I start them all, at least in my mind, it's the finishing things that's tough.

That said, lets try again....

What's your passage?

Do you have a favorite passage from a book? Something that you connected with or that touched you in some way?  I have many but here is one of my favorites. 

Nobody took me away, Mother.  My hand never slipped from your grasp.  That wasn't how it went down.  I was more like a car you'd parked while drunk, then couldn't remember where you'd left it. You looked away for seventeen years and when you looked back I was a woman you didn't recognize.  So now I was supposed to feel pity for you and those other women who'd lost their own children during a holdup, a murder a fiesta of greed?  Save your poet's sympathy and find some better believer.  Just because a poet said something didn't mean it was true, only that it sounded good.........

From White Oleander
by Janet Fitch

...By the way

I did manage to read one book and start another in between my last week post and this one.  If you are a crime/mystery story fan I recommend the Prey series by John Sandford.  Lucas Davenport never fails to entertain me.  It's an escape to the familiar grounds of Minneapolis/St. Paul. Storm Front was a quick read that kept you turning the pages.  Maybe not his most intense book but action packed just the same.  All the old favorite characters were there including Virgil Flowers from his new branch off series. (although he did get his start in the Prey books Virgil is making a name for himself as the lead character in his own series....loves those too)

Now I'm on to House Rules, which I'm reading for book club.  I need to wrap it up though so I can sink my teeth into The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets Nest.....immediately upon arrival. (it better not disappoint now after all this waiting!)

Today's the Day!!

Today is the day I've been waiting for for months. The release date for the final installment of the Millennium Series.  The book has been pre-ordered so now I have to wait for it to ship.....a fatal error on my part as I would have gladly taken the day off to sit home and read it!  I can't remember the last time I was so excited about a book release! What a great week it is going to be as I've also already gotten my tickets for the Sex in the City 2 movie for opening night.....ah.....it's gonna be a great summer!

It's a new day.....

So -  I have been totally out of the habit of posting. That is not to say I haven't been reading!
I've read several books including The Help, The Double Bind, Worst Case & have re-read In the Gloaming & started rereading The Great Gatsby.

 I have continued to purchase (as well as download FREE books with my Nook) at a completely ridiculous pace, wondering when I'll ever have time to actually consume them all.  In fact, after work, I will be driving to Barnes and Noble to purchase the latest John Sandford book and am waiting with great anticipation for The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets Nest which comes out next Tuesday. Both of which I will need to sit down and read immediately, without regard for whatever else I have already started.  -Sigh-

With spring in the air I guess I got sidetracked from my writing but I will make an effort to make updates & get back into my summer reading groove!

In the mean time, I would love to hear what you've been reading! Anything that's a must read?

The List!

Well, here is The List, or at least the start of it.  I know a few of you are still working on yours.  I will continue to add to it & update it as I get more in.  Thank you for participating. It was really fun to see the results.  Top 25 are in orange.  I just thought I would include the rest of the votes because it's interesting. Thanks again!  Keep sending them in!

#1 - Gone With the Wind


The Great Gatsby
To Kill a Mockingbird
Harry Potter Series
Wuthering Heights
Little House on the Prairie Series
The Kite Runner
The Godfather
The Complete work of Wlm Shakespeare
Twilight Series
White Oleander
The Lovely Bones
Charlotte's Web
Pride & Prejudice
Catcher in the Rye
Loving Frank
Sarah's Key
If You Give a Mouse a Cookie
Lord of the Rings
The Bible
The Picture of Dorian Gray
Angry Housewives Eating Bon Bons
I Know this Much is True
Jane Eyre
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
The Color Purple
A Clockwork Orange
The Grapes of Wrath
Drangonlance
Memoires of a Geisha
Sea Glass
East of Eden
Of Mice & Men
The Shack
Artemis Fowl Series
The Little Prince
The Chronicles of Narnia
The DaVinci Code
Welcome to the Great Mysterious
A Time to Kill
The Space Trilogy
My Sisters Keeper
The Host
Winnie the Pooh
The Dark is Rising
The Tenth Circle
The Wind in the Willow
Where the Red Fern Grows
She's Come Undone
The Diary of Anne Frank
The Grinch who Stole Christmas
Grimm's Fairy Tales
The Hobbit
1984
Frankenstein
The Prince of Tides
The Vampire Chronicles
Body Surfing
Bridges of Madison County
The Diggingest Dog
A Canticle for Liebowitz
Plain Truth
The Last Lecture
Dracula
Little Women
The Lion the Witch & the Wardrobe
Bel Canto
Lord of the Flies
The Wizard of Oz
Bury My Hearth at Wounded Knee
Confessions of a Shopaholic
The BFG
The Millennium Series
Atonement
Old Yeller
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
The Time Machine
Don Quixote
The Song of Solomon
Zoya

In The Gloaming

I've been thinking about a short story I read a while back called "In the Gloaming".
It was the story about a mothers last few days spent with her son who was dying of AIDS. It was an amazing, heart wrenching story. One that has haunted me for years.

I looked for my copy of this story over the weekend & can't find it. I wanted to reread it as it was on my mind. It was in a bigger book of short stories, "The Best Short Stories of 1994" that I had bought for my grandma as a gift one year. When she passed away I knew I wanted to have that book. I'm sure my grandma probably skipped that particular story as it wouldn't have been a subject she would have liked. Dealing with AIDS would have been something you wouldn't talk about and like so many people of her generation, was just something they didn't understand.

Christopher Reeve made an HBO movie out of this back in the mid 90's. Glenn Close, Bridget Fonda, David Strathairn, Whoopie Goldberg & Robert Shawn Leanard were all in it. I loved the movie adaptation as well. It was well acted and moving. I highly recommend seeing it but I warn you now, have tissue handy.

I use to read a lot of short stories. I'm not sure when I quit or why. After reflecting on this story over the last few days though I've decided it's time to start reading them again. In doing a little research for this post I noticed that this story made it into John Updikes "Best Short Stories of the Century", I think that will be a good place for me to start.

Do you have a favorite short story?

In the Gloaming 5 out of 5 stars.