If it weren’t for the fact that I was burning bright with a fever last night, no doubt my family would think I was shamming illness just so that I could loll in bed surrounded by books. The books are the only good thing about being bedridden.
I’ve read a number of wonderful books in the last few weeks. The first was TELL ME SOMETHING by Adele Parks, which my husband picked up for me while on a conference in England (along with a huge bar of chocolate and a couple bottles of port) I read TELL ME SOMETHING en route to see my friends in Qatar. I’m glad it was a long book because I had a four hour delay in the airport before we even began our 3 hour flight. I finished it just as we began our descent. I enjoyed the book so much I was almost grateful for the delay so that I could finish it in one sitting. Adele Parks has a marvelous way of painting human emotion and all the messy complications of life – and still comes up with a happy ending.
Bookstores in Cairo leave a lot to be desired. Sometimes I can find things at the local used bookstore, but the new stores? Hit or (mostly) miss. Imagine my surprise when I found that the bookstores in Qatar were actually pretty good! One of the first books I picked up was THIS CHARMING MAN by Marian Keyes. I’m not sure what it is about books set in Ireland but that’s one of many things I love about Marian Keyes’ books. Her depictions of big, noisy, interfering Irish families are wonderfully entertaining, but most of all I love the emotion she puts in the writing. She doesn’t just tell me that something is happy or sad – she makes me laugh and cry. And her books are satisfyingly long. Both Marian Keyes and Adele Parks simultaneously make me wonder why I bother to write at all and also make me want to dissect their books to see what makes them tick.
I’ve also read a number of books by Lisa Kleypas lately – historicals, which was all that was available by her on Ebookwise.com. I read MIDNIGHT ANGEL, ONLY WITH YOUR LOVE, BECAUSE YOU’RE MINE, and PRINCE OF DREAMS. I like Lisa Kleypas, her characters are well drawn and her stories sufficiently complicated that you just get pulled right along, although sometimes it seemed to me that her conclusions are a tad anticlimactic. Still, that didn’t put me off when I found two of her contemporary novels in a bookstore in Qatar – SUGAR DADDY and BLUE-EYED DEVIL. They are both written in first person, which I personally love. I got sucked into these stories so thoroughly that they didn’t last nearly as long as I would have liked. And little did I know that they were related stories – and I read them in reverse order! I think I preferred them that way actually. I’m looking very much forward to getting my hands on SMOOTH TALKING STRANGER. Almost makes me wish I had a Kindle.
I’ve recently discovered the J.D. Robb series with Eve and Roarke. Well, I’ve known they were there for a long time actually. When they first came out I was a bit put off by the futuristic aspect of them. Then I was put off by all the hype about how wonderful they are. I’m perverse that way. I finally gave in though and bought NAKED IN DEATH for my ebook reader. Now I’ve got three more on my reader and two paperbacks on my nightstand. They are wonderful. And the advantage to having waited more than a decade to pick them up is I have a lot of them to read before I get ahead of Nora as she writes them!
My friend loaned me a couple of books while I was visiting. The first was JULIE & JULIA: MY YEAR OF COOKING DANGEROUSLY by Julie Powell, essentially an autobiographical account of one woman’s goal to reclaim her life by cooking her way through all of Mastering the Art of French Cooking by Julia Child in one year. It was both funny and kind of gross (all the butter, and the maggots) but all in all entertaining. I have to admire her to sticking to it though – and the experience certainly did change the direction of her life.
While I was feverish and nearly delusional, I finished reading THE WIFE: A NOVEL by Meg Wolitzer. The premise was one that sounded appealing, it was written in first person which is a plus to me, and there were observations and details included in the story that I found particularly amusing. Overall though the story fell a little flat for me. It may be unfair of me to critique a book I read while my body was fighting off a vicious virus, but the whole tone of the thing just seemed to be trying a little too hard to be literary to me, not to mention the fact that it ended rather predictably. The fact that the title says “a novel by” was an immediate tip-off. A good friend of mine loves her books so I wouldn’t be opposed to giving another book by her a try when I’m healthier.
Yet to be read: THE BASTARD OF ISTANBUL by Elif Shafak, another loaner from my friend in Qatar, a book which caused quite a stir after it was published due to how the author depicted the massacre of Armenians during the Ottoman Empire. I’m guessing that this is a book that will require more attention and thus won’t be one I read as I drift off to sleep at night. It will however make me look rather high-brow when I pull it out of my purse to read on my lunch hour at work!
Also to be read DOES MY HEAD LOOK BIG IN THIS by Randa Abdel-Fattah. I admit it – I bought this book because the cover and title amused me. It’s about an Australian-Palestinian Muslim girl living in a suburb of Melbourne who decides to wear the hijab, the Muslim head scarf, full-time and all of the ramifications of that in a non-Muslim majority society. The reviews on the book as well as on Amazon say its funny. I’ll let you know 
So, that’s what’s on my nightstand. What’s on yours? I’ll be needing some recommendations soon!
ETA: Also recently read THE LAST HELLION by Loretta Chase. Loved it – and love the fact that though her male characters are typical alpha males, her heroines give as good as they get. Great dialogue. And I’m happy to see there are several more titles by her that I haven’t yet read – which is the beauty of discovering an author who has been writing for a while!
