Wednesday, January 20, 2010

New Decade, New Year, 2 reviews

So, back to blogging.

Peter asked me the other day if I ever kept track of all the books I read. Hmm good question. No, really I don't. I kind of do here and there but not an ongoing, comprehensive list. I don't know why . . . too much work maybe? Don't care enough? Usually I just finish a book and discard it like a candy wrapper, taking it either back to the library or passing it on to someone else, and then I don't think about it again. Actually that's not true, I do think about the books I've read again, but am surprised at how quickly I forgot a title or an author's name. So, as of January 2010, a list, with the occasional commentary thrown in.

The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown:

Again, the science and history and cryptic lore that Dan Brown is so famous for writing about is what kept me riveted. The rest of the story was action-packed but predictable in a villain-wants-to-rule-the-world sort of way. You could have substituted James Bond or Shaggy and Scooby-Doo for Robert Langdon and his side-kick du jour Kathleen. And what is with the constant need to refer to the characters by their full names? It was always Robert Langdon this and Robert Langdon that and Kathleen Solomon this and Kathleen Solomon that. Enough already! After the initial introductions can't we just go with "Robert" and "Kathleen"? And they also used phrases like "Don't you see?" and "Don't you get it?" and "You still don't get it do you?" far too often, like they were all a little daft or something. But, alas, I am being petty. It was a good read and I will most definitely see the movie when it comes out.


The Woman Who Can't Forget by Jill Price:

The science behind this story (a 40-something woman with a photographic memory for dates) is interesting but the endless recounting of her personal daily engagements since she was 14 gets a bit tiresome. I ended up skipping through the backstory and just read about the research and studies done on her weird and amazing ability to recall events, dates and days of the week for the last three decades.

5 comments:

Susan Abramson said...

Read two pages of this book and put it down. You have inspired me to perhaps give it, well, a bit more than two pages to make a decision.

Perhaps the timing is off. But I have bought the book so it can be picked up at any time. I'll let you know.

Glad we are able to inspire each other in different ways after so many years apart! I'll keep reading.

Susan :)

Trish said...

It gets suspenseful and harder to put down once you get further into it.

Yes timing is something to consider too. I've read 50 pages into a book, put it down, and then a year later picked it up and finished it.

With books there are no rules.

Susan Abramson said...

No rules - good rule! Thanks for that. :)

Beth said...

Welcome back. :)
Hopefully, I'll be returning soon too.

Trish said...

Hi Beth - thanks, yes it's good to be back again.