Book-y Things

I'm happy to report that Garion and I have nearly survived our week together, and things have settled down nicely. We only have one more weekend to get through, but we've got a visit to Grandma and Grandpa's house planned, so I think we'll make it.

You might recall that I am, in theory, participating in the Book a Month challenge. You might also have noticed that I haven't posted on that topic since May. Here's my excuse: it's summer and I want to read what I want to read. Yes, I know, you've heard it before. This is my half-hearted shot at compliance for June and and July. June's theme was "Knowledge." I intended to read In God's Name: An Investigation Into the Murder of Pope John Paul I by David Yallop. This book was recommended to me by my Mom and since it's non-fiction, I kind of thought it fit the June theme nicely. The problem with this book is that it's depressing. It posits, quite convincingly, that Pope John Paul I (the immediate predecessor of Pope John Paul II) was murdered, probably by other higher-ups in the church who didn't like his liberal ideas on birth control, women as clergy, etc., and who were also not happy that JP was wising up to some very unethical money practices in the church. This is depressing because: (1) I think Pope John Paul I was totally my kind of guy, the kind of pope I think the church needs to pry it out of narrow-minded rut; and (2) the leaders of the institution to whom you turn for spiritual guidance are not supposed to be knocking people off just because they disagree with them. Anyway, I didn't finish the book because I was just getting more and more depressed.

July's theme is "Independence." I haven't really chosen a book specifically for July, but right now I'm reading Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson. After getting lost on a K2 expedition, Mortenson is nursed back to health by people in a remote village on the India/Pakistan border. He sees their tremendous need and decides to repay their generosity by building a school. That's as far as I've gotten, but I'm enjoying the book immensely and it's topic is much more enjoyable and uplifting than pope-icide.

So what have I been doing while not living up to my Book a Month obligations? I've been wiling away most of the summer reading Diana Gabaldon's The Outlander, Dragonfly in Amber, and Voyager. These are completely addicting, wildly entertaining, and reasonably well written. Escapism at its best.

Also, lest you think I've forgotten the Short Stack: this week's theme, courtesy of the Washington Post, is "Five Novels So Cold You'll Forget the Heat." Let me see if I can come up with five:

(1) Snow Falling on Cedars by David Guterson. Here's the Amazon description which nicely sums up the book, and I'm too lazy to write myself:
Set on an island in the straits north of Puget Sound, in Washington, where everyone is either a fisherman or a berry farmer, the story is nominally about a murder trial. But since it's set in the 1950s, lingering memories of World War II, internment camps and racism helps fuel suspicion of a Japanese-American fisherman, a lifelong resident of the islands. It's a great story, but the primary pleasure of the book is Guterson's renderings of the people and the place.
Also, the book takes place in winter and it's really, really cold.

(2) The Brief History of the Dead by Kevin Brockmeier. This book imagines a life after death where after you die, you live in a sort of city of the dead where you stay as long as someone alive still remembers you. The book jumps between this city and Antarctica (which is really, really cold), where we watch the struggles of Laura, who by a weird turn of events becomes the last living human. This is a really good, thought provoking (but not in a way that makes your head hurt) book.

(3) The Mitten by Jan Brett. I have read this book probably a thousand times in the last five years. Because I love it? No. Because I am some body's mom and I cannot get his literature preferences out of my head. This book stars Nicky who goes out to play on a snowy day, loses his mitten (despite a warning from his Babba not to--typical boy), and unlikely shenanigans ensue.

(4) The Farseer Trilogy by Robin Hobb. This is a long, epic series of fantasy novels that, along with two other related trilogies, totally absorbed my reading life toward the end of 2005 and early 2006. A few years ago, I wouldn't cop to reading fantasy novels to anyone outside my immediate family. But since I've already confessed to you that I've read this book, you might as well have the whole story. Anyway, this trilogy makes the list because, although the books span several years and seasons, I think the author evokes winter and all its frigid harshness particularly well.

(5) Cryptonmicon by Neal Stephen. Just kidding! I associate this book most with sweltering jungles so it definitely doesn't qualify for the list. I just can't come up with a fifth book right now.

Your turn, I'm ready--hit me with your icy blasts of cold, chilly reads for the summer heat!