randomly chaotic and frequently mundane

I’ve done a lot of reading lately.? Let’s see… first I read Little Women, which somehow I’d never read before.? I thought it was a really good story, very charming.? Now I understand why so many people have said to me “You’re so Jo.”? Except that I’m not what I’d consider clumsy, and I got the impression that Jo is a bit clumsy.? I’d love to see the movie at some point and see how it compares.

Another book in the “I hadn’t read that before…” category that I read was Black Beauty.? Yes, I know it’s primarily for a younger audience than myself, but I’d never read it.? We had a copy when I was a kid, it had a lot of illustrations in it.? But the time frame was before I could read more than a couple of words.? I remember my older sister reading a few chapters to me, but that’s all.? So I finally got to read that one.? It was REALLY good.? Reading it, I kept thinking “jeez this? is a great example of the need for standards as far as caring for animals.”? And apparently, that’s about what it was written for.

Chocolat was another book that I read last week.? Another really great book.? I’m actually glad we didn’t watch the movie when we got it from netflix awhile back.? It was romantic and interesting and made me want to start making chocolates professionally, LOL.? It was a good story.? I’m glad that I got the chance to read the book before watching the movie… so now I can get the movie and enjoy it.

Continuing in the books from my “they made that into a movie” bookbox, I read Angela’s Ashes.? God that was a good book.? I’ve wanted to read it for years but never had a chance.? Actually it was promos for the movie that made me want to read the book.? And like the others it’s a movie I wanted to see, but only after reading the book.? It’s a great story.? Really quite moving and interesting.

Brain, by Robin Cook was among the books I read.? It was disturbing to say the least.? Especially since it’s about somethign that people probably suspect the government of actually doing.? Not sure that I’d believe they’re doing it without some hard evidence, but I have no doubt that there’s someone out there at least considering medical experiments without the patients knowledge or consent.

Rules of Prey by John Sanford is on the list as well.? I almost thought that Davenport was gonna lose the guy in this one, seriously.? And while you know who it is, the literary tension is in seeing how the cops figure it out… this is a pretty intense one, I gotta say.? Guess why it’s called suspense/thriller.

See Jane Run by Joy Fielding was not at all what I expected… it was SO? much better.? And more disturbing.? Seriously.? I read this thinking that maybe the woman caught her husband having an affair and stabbed him or he tried to kill her or something… it’s worse.? Much worse.

I think that’s all that I read in the past week or so… there might be more.? But it was a good week for reading, that’s for certain.

By Gregory Maguire.? I just finished it yesterday.? ? I think that means I’ve read all of Maguire’s? books? centered around classic fairy tales/stories.? I loved Wicked, although I expected to hate it.? Confessions of an Ugly StepSister was almost as good as Wicked, but not quite, and Lost was interesting if not phenomenal.? Mirror Mirror didn’t seem worth reading, to be honest.

But Son of a Witch… this was almost as good as Wicked.? It picks up where Wicked left off, and tells the story of? Liir (Elphaba’s son) and his growing up and making a statement of his own.? There were some parts that seemed a little formulaic, but for the most part it was an interesting yarn and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Now I’m onto a novel by Joe Hill… who happens to be one of Stephen King’s sons.? No, I’m not expecting literary genious just because of who his parents are… but I thought it would be interesting to see his style.