Book Club or Bust!

My book club is now defunct.

It started slowly sliding off the hill when we began selecting vampire books-that-were-made-into-movies so we could all go see the movie together.

Then we just started going to the vampire movies and skipping the books altogether.

Then we started skipping the movies and meeting at winebars.

Every once in a blue moon I’ll get an email about a book suggestion and subsequent meet up at someone’s house, but because I don’t even live in that ‘hood anymore, I’ve kinda opted out.

But that’s not to say I haven’t been reading; Because I have.  I’ve been reading all the books I didn’t get a chance to read when they first came out because I had one of them-there JOBS everyone is always nattering on about.

[Well, and all the books I didn’t get a chance to read because I was slogging my way through five THOUSAND pages of Game of Thrones.  Here’s a friendly hint for you: There are actually FIVE books in that series, not four.  So when you get to the end of the fourth and nothing has been wrapped up and in fact 10 MILLION more characters and contenders-for-the-throne have been introduced, don’t be surprised.  Don’t be surprised when it’s that way at the end of the FIFTH book either.  Clearly there will be ten MORE books that eventually I’ll be too old to read or remember anything about.]

So, in no particular order are the books I’ve read recently.  Along with a few insightful comments about them:

  • Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn.  Wack.  Totally wack.  And no I don’t want to read any more of her books because I’m sure it would be more of the same.  Doesn’t the husband ALWAYS do it?  Uh…nope.
  • The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern.  It starts to make you think that magicians might actually BE magic and not just DOING magic.  Either way, I sure hope Le Cirque des Rêves is coming to Denver soon!  In fact, I sent an email to the address listed on the proprietor’s business card, but the reply indicated it’s against their policy to disclose information about upcoming locations.  See??  Magic might actually EXIST!
  • The Language of Flowers by Vanessa Diffenbaugh.  So sad.  But uplifting at the end.  But sad most of the time.  But some happy parts.  Very few though because the main character is so flawed.  But that part about the Victorian language of flowers was way interesting.  Also?  I may now want to adopt a dozen children from foster care.      
  • The Beautiful Mystery by Louise Penny.  It’s one of the Chief Inspector Gamache series.  I love him as a main character.  But I suppose everyone else does too.  If you were looking for a sex scandal at the monastery, you’ll be severely disappointed.  But Gamache’s second-in-command does fall off the deep-end, so there is that.
  • The Paris Wife by Paula McLain.  It should actually have been called “A Doormat in Paris.”  And as a side note?  Ernest Hemingway was a total a$$.

Finally, I’ve just begun reading Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese.  I’m starting to get that sinking feeling in my stomach.  The one that means I will hate this book but continue to read it anyway, and then be sad for the rest of my life that I did.  This is exactly the same way I felt about The Kite Runner and Little Bee.  I feel like the whole thing is just gonna be a HUGE boo-hoo fest that will linger long after the borrowed library book has expired and disappeared into the air above my Nook.

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