sick days

Seems like one ought to be able to get more read when one is sick. But that damn malaise just goes and ruins everything. What little I did get read, I had to *force* myself to do. 

Finished up the last 140 pages of The Storm in the Barn this morning. Overall, I would have to say I loved this book. I thought the art was gorgeous, gorgeous, gorgeous. Soft, yet expressive. Beautiful, and meaningful, use of color. And I loved the setting--the Dust Bowl. I loved the point of view--life in the Dust Bowl for a young boy. The images and the events of this time are haunting. And they're very, very real. I have just one complaint--I felt the fantastical element of the story was too rushed. It was like there was all this beautiful, well-thought-out background...and then all of sudden we have this super rushed climax. Still, even that, while disappointing, doesn't stop me from loving the book.

Eight pages in Household Tales was all I'd managed. "Aschenputtel" to be specific. My brain just wasn't up for the whole jotting down discussion points and whatnot that come along with reading for school.

Read another 27 pages in Never Tell Him You're Alone. But decided it just wasn't worth my time, so off to the bags for the library sale it went. Sort of proud of myself...I have a hard time setting a book aside with no intention of ever picking it up again. I used to be much worse about it though.

So instead I picked up another thriller to take its place--you know, 'cause I didn't have enough other books started. (I'm hopeless!) I've read the first 214 pages of Cross Country by James Patterson. An Alex Cross novel. For me, this series has gone downhill from what the books used to be. Yet I can't stop reading them. I can't quite explain it, but they fill a specific sort of reading mood--when I want something fast-paced and something that doesn't require a lot of "down time" amidst my reading for thinking about the book. I know there are people who find thrillers "trash," but I find them enjoyable. And what do I care about the opinions of people who feel the need to look down their noses at other people's reading choices anyway, right? :P

And I finished the last 179 pages of Junk Beautiful. Favorite room--the kitchen redo!!! So very much my style--or at least the style I wish I could pull off! :)  And red--just like my kitchen. Of course, their kitchen is about four times the size of ours, and they have a separate dining room while our tiny kitchen has to pull double duty. So, yeah, no matter what I do, our kitchen is *never* going to compare to that one. Anyway, a very fun book.