Tuesday, April 03, 2007

Getting my head above water again

After a very busy two and a half weeks, I feel like I am finally getting my head above water again. Work has been positively insane and since so much of my job involves programming the last thing I want to do when I get home is sit in front of a computer again. Which has caused me to feel very out of the loop; I'm glad I'm getting the chance now to catch up on all of my blog reading!

I finished Moloka'i about 2 weeks ago and can say it was probably one of the best books I have ever read. The novel follows a young girl diagnosed with leprosy at the age of seven. After she is shipped off to Moloka'i with other people also afflicted with the disease, the reader witnesses Rachel and other members of the leper colony create a sense of community in a place where they have been sent as a means to isolate them from the general population. Some of the residents at Moloka'i have more visible signs of the disease than others, but none of that matters. The community members create beautiful lives for themselves in the midst of severe hardship and incredibly bad luck. Really, just an amazing book.

A Spot of Bother
Right now, I am almost done with Mark Haddon's A Spot of Bother and am loving this one too. I enjoyed his previous novel The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time, but I think I am enjoying A Spot of Bother more. The novel centers around George, the patriarch of a modern day dysfunctional family. In the midst of his daughter planning her wedding to a man they all think is wrong for her, his gay son is experiencing yet another failed relationship, his wife is having an affair with his old co-worker, and George finds a raised bump on his hip that he begins obsessing about, fearful that it may be cancer. I feel like I know these people; regardless of the issues they have with one another, all are quite likeable characters and I find myself rooting for each of them.

All of my fiction reading has been from the library lately so I've been pretty good about not spending money on that, although I can't say the same for craft books. But I figure craft books are books that are better to own since they contain such good reference material. Here's a snapshot of my recent acquisitions from the past few weeks.

And for those of you that like to bake, be sure to try out this recipe from The Canadian Baker. I made these almond-ricotta Napolean pastries for breakfast one weekend and they were super easy and delicious. Enjoy!

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

My mother adored Moloka'i and then lent it to me - I will have to move it up on my TBR list!
Stephanie
www.thewrittenword.wordpress.com

nutmeg said...

Moloka'i looks a great read - another to add to my wish list! I just received a copy of Bodie Theone's Vienna Prelude from The Book Depository - I hope to get to it sooner rather than later - thanks for the tip :-)

Anonymous said...

Seems like a domino effect Moloka'i has triggered. I'm going to get to it soon. :)

Anonymous said...

Moloka'i sounds fantastic...I'm definitely putting that on my TBR!

Anonymous said...

I've been to a leperosy institution(part of charity work...I was there accompanying my charitable uncle) and it's as scary s death row. It was the saddest day of my life. Will pick up the book soon.

The BlueRectangle Crew

John Ottinger III (Grasping for the Wind) said...

I thought you might be interested in the New Notions 5 Reading Challenge.

Anonymous said...

I wasn't that interested in Moloka'i until reading this post, but now you've got me wondering if I should reconsider. I had A Spot of Bother on my TBR shelf for a few months and since I enjoyed his first book so much I'm glad to hear this one's even better.

And oh my, that pastry looks SO YUMMY!

KHB said...

I wanted to drop you a note and let you know that I'm linking to you from my new bookblog, http://book-dragon.blogspot.com. I found you when I tried to register your blog name and then had to find out who had beat me to it! :) Really enjoy reading what you write.