Book Addiction

It’s a holiday weekend here in the U.S., so let’s keep today’s question simple–What are you reading? Anything special? Any particularly juicy summer reading?

Well I haven’t participated in one of these in FOREVER, but I would really like to get back into the BTT groove, and this is an easy one to start with.  I can’t say I’m reading anything particularly juicy… but I am reading several books right now, so here they are…

First, I began Wuthering Heights a few nights ago as the first selection for the Classics Challenge, and it’s definitely been slow going so far.  I’m really awful at reading the classics, so I thought this challenge would help me become better, and I still think it will, but I do think it’ll be the toughest challenge to get through that I’ve participated in thus far.  I’m about 70 pages into this one and it’s just ok as of right now.

I’m also reading the His Dark Materials series by Philip Pullman - I found one of those all three volumes in one massive book at Half Price Books for like 10 bucks and couldn’t turn it down.  I’ve never read these before, in fact the only fantasy I’ve really read is the Harry Potter series, and so far I’m enjoying The Golden Compass (I’m about halfway through it).

Third, I just started Maggie: A Girl of the Streets by Stephen Crane, which so far is also just ok.  I’m actually still not sure what the point of this novella is… it’s basically a family swearing and yelling at each other, then getting drunk and being depressed because they’re poor.  Oh well… at only about 90 pages, it’ll be an extremely quick read for me.

Also on my nightstand, soon to be started, are We Need to Talk About Kevin by Lionel Shriver and A Thread of Grace by Mary Doria Russell.  I’m hoping to finish one that I’m currently reading soon so that I can get to one of these, as I’m really looking forward to both of them.

What are YOU currently reading this 4th of July weekend?

Who is your favorite female lead character? And why? (And yes, of course, you can name more than one . . . I always have trouble narrowing down these things to one name, why should I force you to?)

Although I realize this may be a popular answer, I absolutely have to say, without a doubt, Hermoine Granger from the Harry Potter series is my favorite female lead character.  She is just so incredibly fierce, courageous, and strong.  Plus, she is just so darn smart, and always knows to look for an answer to any problem in a book (same as me!).  I just think she is SUCH a good role model for younger girls - she truly has a feminist spirit about her, something not many female characters do.  JK Rowling is a genius for writing her into the books, I think.

What about your favorite female character?

All other things (like price and storage space) being equal, given a choice in a perfect world, would you rather have paperbacks in your library? Or hardcovers? And why?

Personally, I love books that look like they have been loved, read a lot, dog eared, whatever.  So paperbacks fit that bill much better than hardcovers, which tend to retain their shape through multiple readings.  Paperbacks are also a LOT easier for me to hold (especially when lying down and reading) so I like them for that reason too.  I like the look of certain hardcovers, especially bigger books, so I’d maybe want a few of those too, but generally I prefer paperbacks.  And not mass market ones, I severely dislike the pocket sized books for some reason, so they’d all have to be trade paperbacks.

Okay, even I can’t read ALL the time, so I’m guessing that you folks might voluntarily shut the covers from time to time as well… What else do you do with your leisure to pass the time? Walk the dog? Knit? Run marathons? Construct grandfather clocks? Collect eggshells?

Well, first of all, I work a regular 40+ hour work week (I’m a personal banker at a large financial institution) so that takes up plenty of my time.  My husband and I are both very close to our families, so we try to see them as much as possible, and actually right now my sister and 5 month old niece are staying with us for a few months so lately I’ve been spending a LOT of time with the two of them.  I spend a lot of time on the computer, mostly emailing faraway family and friends,  reading news stories and independent newspapers, etc., as well as book blogs (obviously), liberal blogs, and feminist blogs.  I LOVE going out to eat, either with friends, family, or my husband, and I’m just starting to teach myself how to cook, which I enjoy when I can make the time and have the patience for it.  I also have a major weakness for shopping.  You name it, I like shopping for it - books, clothes, shoes, groceries, household items… anything; I am an excellent consumer. :)  And last but certainly not least, my husband and I watch entirely too much TV.  Some of the shows I am currently obsessed with are: LOST, Desperate Housewives, American Idol/So You Think You Can Dance (they are opposite seasons), Grey’s Anatomy (although that show is getting kind of dumb now I think), Project Runway/Top Chef/Flipping Out (whatever’s on Bravo currently), The Office, and I’m always happy to catch a Friends rerun.  Luckily for me, we have DVR now so we’re not chained to our TV times like we used to be.  But it’s still pretty bad…

What about all of you?

What’s your favorite book that nobody else has heard of? You know, not Little Women or Huckleberry Finn, not the latest best-seller . . . whether they’ve read them or not, everybody “knows” those books. I’m talking about the best book that, when you tell people that you love it, they go, “Huh? Never heard of it?”

I’m going to have to go with The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell.  I do think a lot of people have heard of it, but I very rarely hear it mentioned in book circles so I’ll share my feelings on it.

This is the story of an unlikely group of people (a couple of Jesuit priests, a scientist, a musician, a doctor, and an ex-prostitute) who discover that there is life on another planet, located light years away from Earth, and decide to actually go there to study that planet and its inhabitants.  It sounds very science fiction-y, and I suppose technically it is, but really it is an absolutely beautiful novel.  It is impossible not to fall in love with these characters, as they are so well-developed and even the “aliens” are believable.  Russell’s prose is really stunning, in my opinion, and the book just all comes together so perfectly throughout.  I truly love this story and it is one of my favorite books of all time (top 5 for sure).  Just a forewarning - if you read this, you’ll absolutely want to read the sequel too (although the sequel is not NEAR as good, in my opinion).