11-0

So far this year I have read 42 books. Wow! In June, as I *patiently* awaited the arrival of my little lovey Félix, I read 11 books!! ELEVEN!!  So far this month I have read  ZERO books. I can't remember the last time I read so little!! I've been working on The Passage since sometime around June 23rd..I originally started it in hardcover, but realized I would NEVER finish it before the baby arrived so I bought it for my kindle. This was a good idea because I tend to find a few moments right before sleeping (whatever time of day or night that may be), so it's easy to handle AND it has a handy reading light too!
I am only 30% of the way into it, so I HIGHLY doubt I will finish it this month, which means I will have to enter a big fat ZERO in my list of books I've read for July for the first time ever!! Oh well!!

What are YOU reading now?

BABY!!!

In case you hadn't noticed, I've been MIA. You did notice??? THANK YOU!!!!! Well if you noticed then you are likely my family, or one of three people in Toronto who follow my blog (I love you guys!!), if you are someone else, then THANK YOU again!!  And if you noticed then you probably figured out that I have been MIA because OUR BABY FINALLY SHOWED UP (aka was born)!! Almost a week late!! His name is Félix and he is absolutely beautiful!! He is now 2  1/2 weeks old and is doing very well-gaining weight like you wouldn't believe!! Now our little family of two is now three and it is wonderful!
So I will do my best to try to add a post here and there as we get settled in, but I don't have much time or interest in reading, I'm kind of busy feeding, and sleeping-and sleep is largely thanks to the most amazing husband in the entire world (seriously!!) and my parents almost constant help right now!!

Booking Through Thursday: Soundtrack

Question June 23, 2011: What, if any, kind of music do you listen to when you’re reading? (Given a choice, of course!)

My answer: The only time I ever listened to music while reading was when I was taking the subway, and that was mostly so I could drown out other people. When I read I generally like to have it quiet. If I'm reading while someone else is watching tv or a movie, it usually doesn't bother me if I'm really into a book. If I'm having a hard time getting into a book,or concentrating, then I will usually go to another room, so no music for me!

Book Review: This Cake Is For The Party

Still no baby! Book #11 for June completed! I read This Cake Is For the Party, Stories by Sara Selecky. 

From The Globe and Mail: "...while the collection explores sites of emotional and physical volatility, Selecky sinks her teeth into something far more powerful than the violence of loss: She skillfully wrests devastation from its customary gloom of lamentation and regret, and bares its overwhelming beauty...Indeed, Selecky catches each of her characters in the midst of acute crises and keenly extracts the stories behind the stories we tell ourselves. Our capacity for vision depends upon our ability to look again – to see the cake that is not one.

I found myself flying through these stories and had to pace myself so that I could absorb them individually.  Regardless if you think you like short stories or not ( I used to think I didn't) I highly recommend This Cake Is For The Party!

Book Review: Plantation

June book #10 completed: Plantation by Dorothea Benton Frank. Wow.... I don't know if I've ever read this many books in one month before (...checking my list....) nope, my previous best was 9 in both May 2011 and May 2011. The way things are looking I should be able to fit in another book or two, because I  don't think this baby is quite ready to come out ( I was due YESTERDAY!!!).

Back to Plantation, according to the reading guide: "Caroline Wimbley Levine always swore she’d never go home again. But now, at her brother’s behest, she has returned to South Carolina to see about Mother—only to find that the years have not changed the Queen of Tall Pines Plantation. Miss Lavinia is as maddeningly eccentric as ever—and absolutely will not suffer the questionable advice of her children. This does not surprise Caroline. Nor does the fact that Tall Pines is still brimming with scandals and secrets, betrayals and lies. But she soon discovers that something is different this time around. It lies somewhere in the distance between her and her mother-and in her understanding of what it means to come home…"

Although I am basically sitting around waiting for baby and have a fair bit of free time, I find it hard to stay focused on anything for more than 20 minutes at a time. With t hat being said, I was totally caught up in Plantation! Another easy read, and again another book dealing with the relationships between women. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and wish I had some o Frank's other books with me right now, especially more of the Lowcountry novels!!

Burning The Book of Negroes

An article on the Toronto Star's website caught my attention this morning about a group of Dutch people  that are going to burn Lawrence Hill's novel The Book of Negroes because of the use of the word negro in the title. For those of you that don't know, this is THE BOOK OF MY LIFE!! I think it is absolutely amazing. Sorry, off track there, so as I was saying, I came across this article and then  came across Lawrence Hill's response to the situation. 

I can't believe that people would even consider burning books "in this day and age"!! I understand that people may not like the use of the word negro, but the title of this book is referencing an actual historical document of the same name.

Book Review: Miss Julia Speaks Her Mind

I finished my 9th book of June last night: Ann B. Ross' Miss Julia Speaks Her Mind. Meh. Not my favourite. It started out as the kind of book I've been reading but this one had a bit of "mystery" to it that I just found frustrating! Just get on with it already!! And some of the plot was simply ridiculous.

From the author's website: "This book begins the series that features the sharp-tongued, but soft-hearted in spite of herself, Julia Springer of Abbotsville, North Carolina. In it, Julia learns of her recently deceased husband's perfidious activities when his mistress, Hazel Marie Puckett, and his nine-year-old illegitimate son show up on her front porch without a nickel to their names. In spite of counselling by Pastor Ledbetter, criticism by her friends, gossip in the community, a kidnapping by a televangelist and the discovery of a new will that threatens to send her to the poorhouse, Miss Julia takes Hazel Marie and Little Lloyd into her home and learns to hold her head up high."

Needless to say I will not be reading another Miss Julia book. On now to book #10!