Be Mine--#46 finished

A kind of weird book to classify. A chic-lit thriller maybe. I wasn't impressed with the book and the characters. Just a book of bad decisions and screwed up relationships. For entertainment okay, but if anyone thinks this is normal or cannot come up with at least a dozen scenarios that would be more realistic than the route the writer took, well then tough on them. I didn't hate the book, it was entertaining at the beginning to a degree but it started twisting away from that point. I am guessing there is a market out there for this book since the whole chic-lit and/or romance novel thing, but it is certainly not for me. Oh well, no regrets in reading it, I need a change of pace type book every now and again.

I have posted it on PBS, there is 1 copy ahead of it. I am guessing it should move in the next few months. It is a former library book and they called it a holiday book for Valentines so maybe will be gone by then--a good goal.

The Lost Madonna--#45 finished

A good read, a little too much romance for me but overall good read. Interesting subject starting with the flood of 1966 in Florence Italy & a young college age girl helps out in saving the art. She falls in love & has a child she puts up for adoption. She also falls in love with art, becoming an Art History professor. Throw in a lost painting, a chance to teach in Florence and reuniting with characters she hasn't seen in 30 years--all together a good read. Some times a little sappy and a little unrealistic but not to the point of making the story disappointing.

I have already posted it on PBS, there are something like 18 or 19 copies ahead of it so it won't be going anywhere soon. I have started reading Lush Life, Be Mine and Pounding the Pavement. Be Mine I have gotten 100 pages into it and not too bad so far, others just underway.

Montana 1948--#44 finished

A short book and a good quick read. It is about a family in the most NE part of Montana in 1948. The family is probably the most powerful family in the county of only 2000 people. The book is written in David, the son's perspective, he is around 10, give or take a year or two. The grandfather was the former sheriff in town who created a lot of wealth in his time that became a large ranch--I think there was an inheritance involved as well. The grandfather's favorite son Frank is the town doctor, but also good looking, high school athletic star, decorated war hero and on and on. The other son, Wesley, is David's father. Wesley is a lawyer but was at one point injured at his knee, severely so he still walks with a limp. The knee keeps him out of the war and also I think kept him from being much of an athlete. Seemingly because of these failings, the grandfather shows little respect to Wesley. Well, the story is about Frank sexually assaulting Indian girls and even raping them when he is performing checkups etc to them as their doctor. This comes out from Wesley's maid and then a few short days later, the maid ends up dead. She was sick but comes to find out Frank snuck into the house just a couple hours before she died. Wesley is forced to arrest Frank and holds him in the basement. After a few days Frank breaks some canning jars and the next morning is found to have killed himself by slitting his wrists.

Obviously there is a lot more going on. It is a well written book and interesting in that it is told from the perspective of a child. I enjoyed the book and also enjoyed that it was a quick read. I have posted it on PBS but there are 66 copies ahead of it so it is going nowhere for a very long time. I guess it could be donated somewhere else with others at some point.

It's Hot

It is hot around here. Well, I hadn't since last time I had talked about it, it was about 10 days off. I didn't run on vacation but I had taken some running stuff along. Well on vacation, I got sunburned in my shoulders and back, I didn't think any big deal & I guess still not that big of a deal either. I went for a run yesterday at noon & then today at 7pm. Both times my shoulders bubbled up--blisters where I was sunburned. It looks creepy, much worse than it is. Here it is about an hour later & the blisters are still there.

Yesterday in the dead heat of the day I did 3.7 miles--I was done at 3 miles & shuffled in the .7 to get back to the car. The first 2 miles were okay though. Today I did 3 miles all over 13--something like 13:11, 13:15 & 13:25 or around that. Not bad but not too good either. That is what I get for being out of shape. Not sure what kind of running I will get in later this week, will just have to see.

Ordinary Springs--#43 finished

A pretty good book about the screwed up life and family of a teenager that grows into a young responsible 20 something. Time frame on the book is not mentioned but I figure it in the late 1960s into the 1970s if I had to guess. Pretty good like I said but some of the stuff is a little over the top as far as how their lives played out. This family was a focal point of screwed up stuff and keeping secrets to the point of destroying their lives. Not really sure I bought all of that but then again, small town, 1970s, southern mindset, it could be possible. A good and interesting read. Dory, the daughter, at the end does seemed to have come around with an understanding and you believe while she will make mistakes like everyone, she knows not to compound them by pushing them back but instead confront them. The characters do make you think overall and like I said I did enjoy the book.

I have posted it on PBS, I think there were already 2 copies posted so it might sit for a while. That is okay, I wanted to get some of the books with small number of copies read so they might move down the line.

No Comebacks--#42 finished

This was one of my vacation books. A book of short stories by Frederick Forsyth written in the late 1960 and early 1970s. Kind of interesting stories with some ironic twists and things. It was kind of funny reading them because they are from the days long before computers, cell phones, etc. I enjoyed these stories. The book is in kind of rough condition so I probably won't be posting it on PBS though.

I am still reading Ordinary Springs and have started The Lost Madonna. I plan to pick out a 3rd book tonight. Nice with the vacations being done I can kind of freely pick something.

Running

I am badly out of shape and I finally updated my running calendar & it is easy to see why. I just haven't been running enough or even close to it. I am around 3 to 5 miles at most since April and probably earlier. I know it is time to change this.

Last week I got 8 miles in, 3--2--3, all really slow. This week I went for a hot and very slow 6 miles on Monday when I was off work. Then yesterday I did 3 after work. I am hoping to get at least one more good run in before leaving this weekend. I will pack along some running stuff & hope to at least get 1 run in while on vacation too.

Well, I am getting tired, it is time to call it a day.

Breath--#41 finished

A good coming of age story about a couple of boys in a small coastal town in Australia that become friends with a 30 something hippie surfer. The boys were already risk takers and finding Sando & surfing is their next step. The whole buddy thing & surfing was the main part of the story until the last 20 maybe 30 pages. Then suddenly Sando & Loonie leave the country to have at waves around Indonesia, leaving Bruce with Sando's girlfriend Eva. Eva is a screwed up person and does her best to screw up Bruce as well, at least sexually. A really different book at the end, while it makes sense and is intersesting, it wasn't what I was expecting.

All in all I guess a good read but a little troubling at the end, it was not a nice happy ending type book, although Bruce does seem to accept his life. I will be happy to pass it along on PBS, there are 21 WL for it so it should move easily. We are getting ready to head back out on vacation so I will probably wait a couple weeks before posting it.

Been looking at vacation books again, the older mass media paperbacks with many copies on PBS are the best. If anything happens to them, either in transport or while at the cabin, oh well, no problem so long as I can still read the book. I don't want to screw up a book that is postable, but will have to see what I feel like & choose.

Reading Ordinary Springs, a girl coming of age--maybe, in Florida and also just started No Comebacks, a short story book by Frederick Forsyth from the 1970s. Not far along with either one, I am guessing both will be going on vacation with me, unless I go crazy about reading one in the next few days.

The Third Secret--#40 finished

This was an interesting read, it involved a Vatican coverup of Fatima's 3rd secret. This was a Marian apparition in Fatima Portugal in the 19-teens, can't remember if right before WWI or at the beginning of the war. It is a very interesting story, Mary appeared to 3 children and Lucia, the only that survived after a few years, was given a 3rd Secret by Mary. The first two secrets I think were revealed right away or just a few years later. This 3rd secret wasn't supposed to be read until 1960. Lucia became a nun and eventually wrote down the secret in a stamped and sealed envelope and off it went to the Pope. John XXIII opened it in 1960 and read it but did not reveal it, it wasn't until John Paul II in the 1990s or something like that, revealed it. Lucia was still alive but was not allowed to speak about the secret. I am sorry, but this is just a great story, I really need to find a good Fatima book. Well in this book, it also worked in the Medjugorje and the St Malachy prophecy. I think it worked well enough, I am guessing the church wasn't too happy with this book when it came out but oh well.

Like I said an interesting read but not a great book. Does make one want to learn more about some of the stuff going on in the book though. This is a book that I got from a PBS transaction, but the spine cracked, probably in the mail since I think I got a couple of other books with it that were in good shape. I got this about a year ago, so it has been sitting on my shelf for a while. Well, I cannot pass it along through PBS, so it might end up at Goodwill if I can paste the spine back together decent enough.

Speaking of PBS, I had two books get requested over the weekend, Home School and 2007 Eleven--probably the 2 books that I have liked the least this year. I am glad that I get to mail them off, but kind of sad too since I can't imagine the next person getting these will enjoy them, but everyone has their own tastes so who knows.