Reading Updates

Greetings readers!

It has been awhile, and much to my dismay, I haven't finished reading all of the books on my list yet. I have overestimated my time and am now working harder on the list. I have cut a bit into several of the books, and wanted to give a little bit of an update as to what I think so far.

Hearts in Atlanta was the first one I started, and I am farther along here than in the others. I love Stephen King's format, and he's got me into a story I don't think I would be interested in had I just read a review. There are little nit-picky things I don't like, such as random peeks into Bobby's future and general awfulness on his mother's behalf, but other than that, I am anxious to see what happens next!

The Flanders Panel, I must admit, is a bit of a disappointment thus far. I am about halfway through the first chapter and struggle to continue on. Perhaps it is just the books I am accustom to reading, but the main female character is a bit full of herself. She seems like the type of woman who would sit lazily in her windowsill, blowing cigarette smoke smoothly from between her lips while gazing regally around the city thinking 'I'm the best thing that ever happened to this town.' While some might like the idea of a beautiful protagonist, I'd prefer (even if she was gorgeous) for her to think of herself as...average. So far, she is very unrelateable to me, and it is hindering my progress.

The Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner is, by far, my favorite so far. It may not seem so as I am not as far into the story as I am with Hearts in Atlanta, but there is a good reason: the way this book was written is quite a bit more difficult to decipher. Another part hindering my progress is I am reading it on my phone, as I could not locate a copy of this book anywhere. Part of what I love about Memoirs is just the prologue. Often in tales like this one, there are references made in the book that you could not understand without reading a few other stories. So, they lay out the stories you need to know right there at the beginning. The one I am on right now is so outrageous and inventive I have forgotten numerous times that I haven't even reached the actual book yet! I would say more, but I would give away everything. I look forward to writing my review of this one.

I am about to break into A is for Alibi by Sue Grafton, but I have been reluctant for two reasons: fear of bad writing, and a weird fear of getting absolutely hooked. I have been pretty thorough looking through reviews of the books I'm reading, and from the sound of this one it is either love or hate. What gives me hope though is quite a few of the haters did give Grafton the benefit of this being her first novel, so perhaps the later ones are better...hopefully I won't have to wait that long!

Well, that's about enough typing for one night. I have a stack of books to get reading, and the stack is only getting bigger. Who knows? If the server for Diablo III keeps going down, I may make a good dent in it before the end of May!