Thursday, April 17, 2014

Lit: Uniquely Portable Magic

Congratulations to Donna Tartt on winning the Pulitzer Prize for The Goldfinch. The Omaha Bookworms just finished The Goldfinch for discussion on Tuesday. We split it up into two months and had two great discussions about it. My parents even phoned in to join in the discussion this week as both of them have read it. Even those who didn't love the book had an appreciation for Tartt's skill as a writer.

"Soon I knew, the night sky would turn dark blue; the first tender, chilly gleam of April daylight would steal into the room. Garbage trucks would roar and grumble down the street; spring songbirds would start singing in the park; alarm clocks would be join go off in bedrooms all over the city. Guys hanging off the backs of trucks would toss fat whacking bundles of the Times and the Daily News to the sidewalks outside the newsstand. Mothers and dads all over the city would be shuffling around wild-haired in underwear and bathrobes, putting on the coffee, plugging in the toaster, waking their kids up for school."

I don't suppose it would be possible to convince Tartt after this win that maybe a few dozen pages worth of the book could have been cut without losing anything. Still, it's well worth reading. I meant to get my review up this week but, seriously, I'm still mulling it over.

Have any of you heard of Paperblog or perhaps you've been approached to contribute? I'm trying to figure out exactly what the benefits/drawbacks would be of contributing and who reads it. Is it meant to be something akin to Flipboard or Reddit? 

Nobel-prize winning author Gabriel Garcia Marquez died today at age 87. I suppose it's time to forgive him for Love In The Time Of Cholera. Although, I suppose John Cusack and Kate Beckinsale should share in the blame for obsessing over it in the movie "Serendipity" and convincing me I had to read it. Have you read any of his books? I suppose I should give Marquez another chance and read One Hundred Years of Solitude.

I see that Julia Glass has a new book out (And The Dark Sacred Night). Please don't everyone start raving about and convince me to give Glass yet another chance. Because you know I'm a sucker for a book everyone is raving about but Glass' books just never work for me.

In discussing our book selection for next month, the Bookworms toyed with reading Grapes of Wrath in honor of its 75th anniversary. Almost everyone had previously read it but most were up for a reread. I have, amazingly, never read it. Have you? I have loved the Steinbeck I have read (no, I take that back, I most certainly did not enjoy The Pearl) but I won't be reading Grapes of Wrath with the Bookworms because one member begged us please to not make her read it again. We are nothing if not accommodating.

I finally got back to the library book sale today and picked up seven "new" audio books, as well as an M. C. Beaton book and Kim Wright's Love In Mid Air (on Mari's recommendation). I raced to finish The Warden on the way home today so I can start a new book tomorrow. But so many choices - mystery, literary, magical realism, nonfiction - I don't know where to start. After so many classics in a row, I'm definitely looking forward to reading something more recent!

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