Libros de Lunes

Over the weekend, I did a lot of reading.  With a couple friends back to school this week the reality of decreasing free time hit.  Once I'm back at school with home work I have little (if lucky) to no time for reading.  I was in the middle of two books, but finished one of them: Chocolat by Joanne Harris.

Chocolat was much better than I had been expecting.  I had seen the movie, which made the storyline seem much heavier on the romance between Roux and Vianne, and though the other storylines appeared, they weren't as strong as in the book.  I suppose I shouldn't be overly surprised, as I have yet to find a movie better than it written counterpart, but in my opinion, the focus of the book was much more interesting than the movie.  Harris' writing was fluid and easy to read.  She would switch from a true narrator to being narrated by the priest throughout the book, but the switch was rarely confusing, save the first time it happened and I wasn't expecting it.  Chocolat was an enjoyable read that always made me hungry as Harris described the chocolates and sweets that Vianne made for her customers.  I seriously found myself craving chocolate or making some hot chocolate every time I sat down to read.  There was a statement about the inconsistencies of the Catholic (at least I assumed it was the Catholic) Church which though I acknowledge that it is not an example of every church, I did thinkt it was an accurate look at a corrupt portion of the institution  (which sadly does exist).  Overall I found Chocolat to be very enjoyable and worth reading.  Harris has written some other books, which if I can find them at the library, I might just pick them up.

I am still working through "the number series" or "the Stephanie Plum series" by Janet Evanovich (not really sure what to call the series, as I usually just say "the Janet Evanovich books," but she has more than one series).   I started this series freshman year of college, and have found they are the perfect read for when your brain is fried with homework, essays, and all-nighters (which I am for some reason incapable of, but that's a story for another day).  This doesn't really explain why I picked up Ten Big Ones (or fondly known as #10) in the middle of my month-long break, but I did and I am still enjoying them profusely.  There are a total of 15 currently, and since I conveniently got my mom hooked on them soon after I started reading them, all of them are in the house waiting to be read.  Maybe this will be the semester I finish... or maybe not.

As one of my "New Year's Resolutions" for 2010 I decided to not buy any books other than textbooks this year, for a couple reasons.  First of all, I have so many books that I haven't read.  I really, really, really should make a dent in that pile (or at least decide which ones I won't be reading because I have passed the age they were intended for, and donate/sell them).  The other reason is that I love libraries.  I love the feeling of walking into a library as if it's your own personal bookshelf waiting for you to pick out a book.  I can take whatever book I want and if it bombs, well, no harm done.  Lately, I haven't been using the library much because I'm only home for about 4 months out of the year, during which I'm working, catching up with friends, etc. and when I am at school, Ithaca's library for some reason doesn't feel "fun reading" books are a necessity.  There are about 4 little shelves of New Fiction, and after the books have passed their time on "New Fiction"... they disappear. I don't know where they go, but they either go somewhere else entirely or are impossible to find among the academic books.  Another problem is that I normally don't pay too much attention to the books I choose in libraries and I'm more likely to choose ones that aren't too interesting to me.   I hope to change this this year as I read through books that I own (or friends own) and go to the library on a more regular basis.  On my list of things to do when I return to Ithaca: get a library card to the Tompkin's County Public Library.