Persuasion

Last weekend, there was nothing on tv, so I went to my bookshelf and tried to find something to read. I was thinking about Jane Austin, but I've read all her stuff and I was looking for something new. But nothing was jumping out at me so I picked up a collection of Jane Austin and found Persuasion. I couldn't remember what it was about, so I started reading. I didn't remember reading it at all. I know that I've read them all, because I particularly remember being so disappointed that there weren't anymore. I'm wondering if I've gotten to the age where my memory is a whole lot shadier, so that I can read all my old standbys over again as new. BTW Persuasion was a great book, though I did go back and forth being thrilled with the language and intricate paragraphs and being bothered by how tedious one sentence could be to get through when I wanted to know what happened next, right now. It's hard to read, but so worth it in the end. Not quite as good as Pride and Prejudice, but close.

Closing Out the Year

Well I read 137 books in 2004. Just shows what you can do without a pesky job to get in the way. Based on the number of books by each author Robert Parker (Spenser novels) is way ahead with 35 books. But since I had never read anything by him before I had a lot to catch up on and they are easy reads. Another author I found this year and read 7 of his books (the only 7 my library has) is Richard North Patterson. He writes legal stuff but not in the same sense that Grisham writes legal thrillers, Patterson's books deal more with the politics of laws. My favorite and one I would highly recommend is Protect and Defend. I managed to get in four Danielle Steele, and three Jennifer Crusie.

I have read three so far this year and am currently reading Jon Stewart's America as my living room book. I don't usually have two books going but America is in the style of a text book and is way too cumbersome to read in bed. Not to mention that it is extremely funny and I quite often laugh out loud and would disturb Gordon's sleep if I were to read it in bed.

Ah well, so many books, so much time!