9.19.2010

Hot August Reads? Hardly.

The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin
I thought The Happiness Project might be a nice distraction from my super focused concentration on getting ready for Art in the Park this month. But it boiled down to a half-baked self-help book with not much substance.

The Last Cyclist by David Herlihy
Frank Lenz was going to cycle the world. In the spring of 1892 he quit his accounting job and gamely set out to cover twenty thousand miles over three continents as a correspondent for Outing magazine. Two years later, as he was approaching the final leg of the journey somewhere in Turkey, he disappeared. Great story line, right? Unfortunately the first half was slow-slow-slow. The story gets much better once William Sachtleben (another cyclist) sets out to discover what happened to Lenz.

July...Hot Days and Time to Read

Island Beneath the Sea by Isabel Allende
My kind of book! A great story made better with a healthy dose of history. ♥♥

The Cellist of Sarajevo by Steven Galloway
I don’t have words that will suitably express the impact of The Cellist of Sarajevo. I can say that after reading it, the sky was bluer, everyday problems settled to the low rung they deserved and I felt the absolute beauty of being alive in America. Sadly not everyone in the world enjoys the same.♥♥♥

The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery
An older book (2008) this little book is an enchanting look at the life of a 54-year old French concierge who is an unlikely art and culture patron. Pair her with a troubled 12-year-old girl who lives in the building and you get a funny and lovely novel that (once again) explores the notion that not all is what it seems. ♥♥

The Girl Who Played With Fire by Stieg Larsson
Number two in the series, and only a teeny bit less edgy than the first. This time around Lisbeth Salander is the focus of the story and her ‘could have been boyfriend’ Mikael Blomkvist is caught up trying to explain why his finger prints are on the murder weapon that oddly enough belongs to Lisbeth. The usual drama and suspense that the late Larsson introduced us to in The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo. Good read. ♥♥

The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets Nest by Stieg Larsson
Quite honestly – not a very satisfying ending to what was shaping up to bean amazing trilogy. The pacing was off and Larsson rambled to and fro. I found the extensive background on Swedish politics utterly boring. Unfortunately, Larsson isn’t around to make a believer out of me on a fourth edition…