Wednesday, July 28, 2010

perhaps I should change the name

Of this blog, that is. Because I'm doing a lousy job of keeping up here on a "day-to-day" basis. Of course, I won't really--it's still fulfilling its purpose of giving me a place to record my personal reading journeys.

So, in the past two days...I read another 56 pages in Scrapbook Page Maps (and am still unsure as to whether this will make the "keeper" pile), only another 9 pages in Last Chance to See, and a mere 6 pages in Shadow Man.

But I did start a new book. Bad, bad, bad me!!! My pathetic story: Rich and I went out to buy new towels last night (our old ones are literally falling apart--not surprising seeing how they are over ten years old). Anyway, being so close to Borders, we decided to pop in, grab a coffee, and relax a bit. But I was just in one of those finicky moods where I couldn't find anything I wanted to look at while we sat in the cafe. Well, with Chris' review fresh in my mind, I decided to go grab Unwind and just read the first few pages. I'd already decided it was going to be my next read after finishing Shadow Man anyway. And I promised myself that when we went home, it was right back to Shadow Man, and Unwind would have to wait. Yeah, easy to see where this is going, huh? Yep, I'm a big fat liar...we weren't home for five minutes before I was down grabbing Unwind off Annie's shelf. I apparently just can't be trusted.

But at 54 pages in, I am absolutely loving this book! The whole concept (abortion being made illegal, with the caveat that teens from the ages of 13 to 17 can be "unwound"--that is, they are taken apart and all their body parts go on "living" as organ transplants--if their parents so choose for any reason) is just so thoroughly disturbing, but thus far, the book is not graphic in any way. I do somewhat question the point where it all began--years ago with the Second Civil War (fought solely over reproductive rights) and the constitutional amendments that were passed to end the war to the satisfaction of both sides. See, what I question is why the pro-choice side would agree to the terms...as they really do nothing to protect a woman's rights over her body and yet all responsibility is still laid fully on women. I'm just having a hard time seeing what was gained for the pro-choice side. It just doesn't sound plausible to me. I have a feeling, though I could obviously be wrong, that this isn't even going to be talked about in the book...that the Second Civil War and the resulting constitutional amendments are just the set-up for the story. And I guess I can live with that...the story is so incredibly intriguing! It may just be one of those incongruous things that I have to set aside to enjoy the book. (And then again, maybe I'm wrong and this will be discussed later in the book, bringing up points I haven't considered.) Anyway, I fear there's no stopping me now--I will be reading this book right alongside my other reads, instead of waiting like I'd promised myself I'd do. Oh well. :P

 But on a "I'm proud of myself" note--neither Rich nor I has bought a book for ourselves the last three times we've been in a bookstore!

*****
And in the dangerous world of blog-reading, these have been added to my wish list:

*Love by Toni Morrison (thanks to Ana's amazing review, which literally left me in tears)
*The Kitchen Boy by Robert Alexander (thanks to Eva's fun "cold reading" post)
*Terra Incognita by Sara Wheeler (as above)

2 comments:

  1. You're a stronger woman than me w/ Wind! But I just wanted to say that Ana's review of Love had me rushing over to request it from my library. lol

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  2. Eva,
    LOL--I immediately went and checked out library website for it, too! And was pleased to find they have it right in our branch, and it's not checked out! So I hope to pick it up tomorrow when I drop Annie off for her volunteering.

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