Well hello there friends! Remember me? Cass, the blogger? I seem to have been gone for a biiiit longer than I had originally intended. You see, at first it was just a bit of my legendary (I didn’t put quotes around that so I could feel better about myself) writer’s block (ie I stared at a blank wordpress new post screen for minutes at a time before going on over to Facebook), but THEN…well, I met this girl, you see, and not only did I fall in love and not manage to read a single book in March, I also apparently stopped being able to write short sentences like a reasonable person.
You don’t really want me to get all gushy and brag about my love life though. Lets talk about books, shall we? You can tell I’m back on track because I read 19 books in May, the most of any month this year.
Total Books Read: 19
Audio: 12
Print: 5
E-Book: 2
Fiction — 10
- Half Blood Blues by Esi Edugyan: I received this book from my Holiday Swap Secret Santa way back in December, which was particularly nice because it was not yet out in the U.S. and I very desperately wanted to read it. I got kind of distracted, though, and finally ended up reading it because–okay, this is bad–I have the mass market paperback edition and it was light enough to carry in my purse. It’s kind of horrible that physical weight was what finally got me to read Half Blood Blues, because I loved everything about it and I was so excited to read such a beautiful, original novel that I may have done a bit of a dance? In front of my boss? Who then may have read the book and also loved it? We bonded, let’s just say that.
- The Harder She Comes: Butch Femme Erotica edited by D.L. King: …I don’t talk about these books on my blog.
- Dead Connection (Ellie Hatcher #1) by Alafair Burke (audio): I have a weakness for detective series, and I’m really intrigued by Ellie Hatcher because she’s a competent, witty lady detective who isn’t man obsessed! I do declare it is a mystery series miracle.
- Bottle Rocket Hearts by Zoe Whittall: I’m not going to make any promises that I could very likely end up breaking, but this book deserves its own post because it’s brilliant and beautiful and I wish I could read it for the first time all over again.
- The Family Corleone by Edward Falco (audio): I’m a sucker for The Godfather, both the movie and the novel, so I gave this new installment in the Corleone family saga a chance. The prose was terrible, the story line snooze worthy, and I would never have finished it if I didn’t need to be entertained at work or if it hadn’t featured characters I already cared about.
- The Beginner’s Goodbye by Anne Tyler (audio): A tidy little novel I actually took notes while listening to so I could review it. I know, you don’t even know who I am anymore.
- Veronika Decides to Die by Paulo Coelho (ebook): I’m kind of in love with Paulo Coelho and I don’t want to talk about it.
- It by Stephen King (audio): I love listening to King’s novels on audio because there are always great narrators who really perform the stories. The unfortunate side effect of listening to the audio book in public was that sometimes strangers would talk to me, once an old lady, and I jumped about five feet in the air. Thanks, Mr. King.
- Taft 2012 by Jason Heller: My love for presidents is overwhelming and if anyone was going to enjoy this book, it was me. I was not really impressed, but I did appreciate the intention.
- Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit by Jeanette Winterson (ebook): I feel guilty for not really loving this classic novel. Anyone want to make the case for it to me?
Non-Fiction — 9
- Care To Make Love In That Gross Little Space Between Cars?: A Believer Book of Advice edited by Eric Spitznagel (audio): Fun, I guess, but insubstantial.
- Island Of Vice: Theodore Roosevelt’s Doomed Quest To Clean Up Sin Loving New York by Richard Zacks (audio): I’ve always resisted reading about the 26th president, but I gave in and I’m super glad I did.
- The Mormon People: The Making of an American Faith by Matthew Bowman (audio): Very dry. Very, very dry.
- The President and the Assassin: McKinley, Terror, and Empire at the Dawn of the American Century by Scott Miller (audio): Two books about (well kind of) Teddy Roosevelt in one month! I know! There was a lot of historical detail and explanation of early 20th century America and I loved every minute of it. I’m so predictable (I accidentally typed “presidential” first, just so you know).
- This Republic of Suffering: Death and the American Civil War by Drew Gilpin Faust (audio): A collection of essays about, well, death during the Civil War. I loved every minute of it because I am a nerd.
- The Forever War by Dexter Filkins (audio): Great essays from a New York Times reporter about the war in Iraq. I…loved every minute of it because I am a nerd.
- The Presidents Club: Inside the World’s Most Exclusive Fraternity by Nancy Gibbs & Michael Duffy (audio): This book was made for me
- The Letter Q: Queer Writers’ Notes to their Younger Selves edited by Sarah Moon: Post (and giveaway) coming tomorrow! For real!
- Killing Yourself to Live: 85% of a True Story by Chuck Klosterman (audio): Klosterman is such a dude.
While I will not be attending BEA in NYC this year, I WILL be participating in Armchair BEA for the first time! So that’s exciting. I’ll be around, friends.
Welcome back! I wondered what happened to you
Glad to see you are still around and reading like crazy!
Thanks Sheila! I didn’t realize how much I missed writing about books until I wrote this post!
Hm, I think I do remember you.
I read Veronika Decides to Die back when I was in high school. I don’t remember that much about it, unfortunately, but I do like Coelho’s books.
Ha! Glad I haven’t been forgotten. I didn’t love Veronika Decides to Die as much as I loved By the River Piedra… but I’m still planning on checking out some of his other books, especially since I bought a bunch of them when the ebooks were on sale for 99 cents.
I read It for the first time in seventh grade, and I can distinctly remember my reaction to the “naughty bits”.
Which one do you mean? There are so many books here with naughty bits!
You have returned! Most glorious!
Yay! So happy to be back.
Welcome back and good on you for falling in love
. And 19 books in one month?!? Wow, seriously!
Oh, why thank you. I’m pleased I could vaguely impress you with my massive intake of books last month
Not just vaguely. My mind is boggled
But I cheated kind of! So many of them were audio books!
welcome back! I’m glad you see you blogging again (and so happy to hear about your love life
)
Thanks Kim! If blog posts could write themselves I’d be the most active blogger ever!
Yay for love! And also you are the second person to shout out how awesome King books are on audio. My arm might be twisted.
Yay for love indeed. Definitely check out Mr. King on audio, THEY ARE ALL WONDERFUL, especially when he narrates them.
Well, at least it’s a good reason to be missing.
And wahoo! for Armchair BEA.
I know right? I got lucky with my excuse this time.
Yay for the love life! 19 books more than makes up for a month with none. The only one I’ve read is the Coehlo and I liked it, but not as much as The Alchemist. It’s got some good messages, though.
I haven’t read The Alchemist….yet….
Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit by Jeanette Winterson (ebook): I feel guilty for not really loving this classic novel. Anyone want to make the case for it to me?
I wonder if you should read this book when you’re around 18 to get the most out of it. I loved Winterson’s fiction between the ages of 18 to 23 but have found that I like her writing less and less as I get older. I can’t bear to read Oranges again, actually, because I just can’t bear to be disappointed by a book I loved so much at the time.
I might give her new non-fiction memoir a go though since people are raving about it.
I think you might be right about the timing of reading the book. It also doesn’t help that I wasn’t raised with religion, so I can’t really empathize there. I’ll still be giving Winterson’s memoir a chance, though–the title alone is so good!
Welcome back! And congrats on a most stellar reason for being gone (that would be the love part, not the writer’s block).
Thanks! I’m pretty happy about the love bit as well
I did wonder what had happened, staring at the blank news feed sadly. But you’re back!
Curiously I also finished Oranges are Not the Only Fruit (ok, that was maybe the only book I read last month, unlike you with 19) and I was dismayed. Not sure what I was expecting, but I just didn’t connect with it at all; maybe not up my alley or not my style. So You’re Not The Only One Tangerine.
I’m sorry Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit didn’t work for you but I am definitely glad that I’m not alone in my ‘???’ feelings toward the book.
I felt like I had just “found” you and then you were gone, so I’m very glad you are back! And congrats on the new love. My warm and fuzzy feelings about Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit are more tied to the crush I had on the professor who assigned it back in the 90s than anything I remember about the actual book.
Thank you, it’s good to be back!
Ha, professor crushes are always a sure fire way to love a book–I felt similarly about HIDDEN ILLNESS AT THE WHITE HOUSE (ahem), a title that was personally recommended to me by said professor. Oh boy did I love that book.
What a fun reason for which to be absent: enjoy! I’m wondering if you might appreciate Winterson’s novel more after reading her memoir, even if you don’t end up loving it. Well, we can’t love them all, right? I’m one for reading (and not reading) based on the physical realities of the edition of a book that I own, too: sometimes it just does come down to that, but I’m glad it got you to read Esi Edugyan’s novel, which really is amazing. And thanks for the story about listening to Stephen King’s novels; I’ve got a couple on audio, in hopes that they’d be just as you’ve described, but I’ll take note and press pause when in doubt.