2013: Sunday Salon – May Edition

Hello all… Long time no talk!

I confess that I haven’t been very into blogging lately. My reading has actually been good this year — I’ve finished 32 books. Unfortunately, my review writing has not been good — I’m 16 books in arrears! I actually have a few reviews that are already written, I just haven’t put together the blog posts.

I think a lot of it is my annual spring doldrums. I always have a hard time in the spring, and spend a lot of time playing games and watching TV in order to turn off my brain. But, I’m coming out of it, and feeling the need to get stuff done again. I had minor surgery last Wednesday (had my adenoids removed), and was lucky that it didn’t knock me too far out of commission. My throat’s still a little sore, and I have a secondary infection I’m having to deal with, but I feel well enough to go back to work tomorrow.

I did have one book that I’ve had to abandon recently. I started listening to Change of Heart by Jodi Picoult, and made it a couple of hours into the audiobook before I had to give it up. There’s a big deal made about the death row inmate, Shay, being like Jesus. That metaphor (allegory?) alone wasn’t enough to make me bolt, but the way it was done was. She was so heavy handed with the metaphor. Hey, Shay shows up in the cell block, and then wine starts coming out of all of the faucets! Look, Shay brought that bird back to life! Oh my, Shay turned one stick of gum into enough for everyone on the block! It’s a miracle! If Picoult had been a little more subtle, I think I could have climbed onto the messiah train, but I didn’t appreciate being knocked over the head with a wooden cross.

Thankfully, I’ve read a lot of good books so far this spring! I tore through 6 Lauren Dane romance/erotic romance books, nearly in a row, back in February and March. There have been several that came to me through book clubs — Wife 22 and A Long Way Gone being two of them. Right now I’m almost finished with Falling by Christopher Pike, which I’ve had a few problems with but I’ve found overall satisfying. I’ve also been picking my way through The Last Good Chance by Tom Barbash, which is good, but doesn’t fill me with any sense of urgency, so I’ve often left it closed on my nightstand in favor of whatever I’m reading on my Kindle. And finally, I’m reading The One I Left Behind by Jennifer McMahon, which I think is quite interesting.

What have you read lately?