Monday, April 25, 2005

47 to go
Book three in my 50-book challenge went down quickly. Prep by Curtis Sittenfeld wasn't the only reason I didn't get anything productive done on my days off, but it was the major one. I loved this novel. It brought to mind the Judy Blume books I devoured in my pre-teen and early teen days in good way. A well-written coming-of-age book that reminded me of certain college relationship. Next up: Blink: The Art of Thinking Without Thinking.

Sunday, April 24, 2005

48 to go
I finished book two of my 50-book challenge last night: The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown. To be honest, I expected to not like this book. Too much hype. While I still don't understand all the hoopla, (It's fiction, people. Quit looking for the tomb.) I really enjoyed it. A little religion, a little ritual, a little intrigue. All in all a good read. I liked it well enough to put Brown's new book Deception Point on my library hold list. Currently reading: Prep by Curtis Sittenfield

Wednesday, April 20, 2005

50-book challenge
Once again, I'm a bad blogger. I haven't kept up with this the way I intended in the beginning. So to shake things up a bit, I've decided to take the 50-book challenge. I first read about it at www.adventurejournalist.com/notebook, which by the way is a journal I highly recommend. Yes, I know it's the middle of April and I should have started in January. But for someone who consider herself an avid reader, I haven't been doing much of that either. I have eclectic tastes. So you can expect nonfiction, fiction, brain candy and heavy-duty, whatever catches my attention.

49 to go: The first book to cross of my list is A Personal History by Katharine Graham.
I guess the main reason I wanted to read this was Woodward, Bernstein and Watergate. While that part was great, I was impressed with the honest approach Graham takes to her life. From her childhood to her father's purchase of the Washington Post to her early years as a journalist to raising her children to her husband's suicide to her taking the lead at the Post, it's all brutally candid. The woman was definitely not afraid of hard work despite her wealthy background and she surrounded herself with an interesting cast of characters including Truman Capote and presidents from FDR to George H. Bush. If you like biographies, strong women and newspapers, give this one a read. Next up: The Da Vinci Code