Pride and Prejudice and Zombies: Exactly Right

Remember when I was looking for hard-to-put-down books?  You all sent me some great ones.  Check out “What I’m Reading” to see what I followed up on.  I’ve had an excellent string of books that I just didn’t want to put down.

For my birthday, FilmChris gave me  Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. I’d seen it in the bookstores and read The New York Post review.  But I didn’t feel the urge to rush out and get it.  As usual, my dear husband knows best.  This was a funny, brilliant, oh-my-god-I-can’t-put-this-down book.

Now, I hope you’ve read Pride and Prejudice. If you have, you already know about Elizabeth Bennett’s intelligence, beauty, and wit.  What you don’t know, though, is about her fierce zombie-fighting abilities.  She studied with a reputable master in China, and practices in the Bennett dojo with her sisters every day.  She is committed to defeating the armies of death.

If you haven’t read the orignal classic (as FilmChris hasn’t– sorry to out you, babe) this is a wonderful opportunity for you.  Two birds, one stone. Mr. Darcy comes out just as dreamy when he’s slaying the undead.

I was nearly done with the book the other day on my commute home.  The train pulled into my station before I was done reading though.  So I finished reading it on my walk home.  Just the day before, I watched another commuter reading while walking down the street, and thought “Now THAT’S a good book.”  Yep.  So was this one.

A word of caution, though.  If you should be reading this book in public, you will find yourself laughing out loud.  Just be prepared for it.  I hope the people around you take it as a testament to the book’s quality.

Time to Read

I have a new job!  I work in San Francisco now, which is a 45-60 minute train ride away, depending on which train I catch.  If I time it right and catch the “Baby Bullet,” there are only four stops between me and the city.  (I love the Baby Bullet.) 

Two trains a day = at least 90 minutes on the train each day.  That’s 450 minutes of reading each week.  That’s right: I just added 7.5 hours of reading time to my week.

Of course, I hadn’t worked full time since February, and last week (my first week of an additional 7.5 hours of reading time) I was dog meat most days on the train.  Friday I think I slept on the way there and back.  I tried to pick through some Stephen Covey, but that was way too much work for my tired little head. 

Last night in the bath, I finally started Dear and Glorious Physician.  I’m only a short way in, but I already knew this fundamental truth: always trust book recommendations from Dad.

I’m open to other suggestions, as well.  I’ve got some time to fill.

From Paradise

Can you believe I forgot Dear and Glorious Physician?  Ugh.  But have finished Outliers, and am enjoying the Bryson book.  At least I know what I’ll start when I get home!

If any of you are looking for peace, quiet, gorgeous beaches, and a break from civilization, I highly recommend Molokai.

Packing

Film Chris and I leave for Hawaii early tomorrow morning.  I am making sure to have the most important items: sunscreen, books, and wine.  (Just two bottles, in case we can’t find any decent wine on Molokai.)

At the suggestion of one of my favorite readers, I am taking Dear and Glorious Physician with me.  I am hoping to finish Outliers on the plane, and I also have The World As Stage (The brilliant Bill Bryson’s book on Shakespeare) as a back-up.  Oh, and The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People.  We’ll be gone five nights, you know, so I need to have options. 

Aloha!

Lost in a Good Book

Over at FilmChris, Sundays are for lists.  I’m borrowing the idea a day early. 

I’ve been extremely fortunate lately to have time to read and even more fortunate to have a pile of hard-to-put-down books at the ready.  So I’ve been thinking about Books You Can’t Put Down.   You know what I mean:  you pick it up with the intention of reading just a chapter before bed.  Then you find yourself at 2 a.m., feverishly reading, convincing yourself that you don’t need the sleep, you just need to read one more chapter of this delicious story. 

The only sad part about reading Books You Can’t Put Down is that eventually, you’ll finish them.  When that happens, I wander around the house aimlessly, muttering to myself, waiting to find the next great read.  It is nearly impossible to find the right book to follow the Book You Can’t Put Down.  (It’s like when that poor Megan Joy had to follow Adam or Kris or… well, anyone else on American Idol. ) Imagine my utter delight to have  a string of such books around lately.  

Here’s what I’ve been reading:  Four Seasons in Rome, Three Cups of Tea, Loving Frank, and It Sucked and Then I Cried.  Each one has been so hard to put down, that I’ve found myself reading almost non-stop.  And since I finished It Sucked earlier this week and passed it on to a friend, I’ve been wandering the house, muttering to myself.   It’s a sad, sad picture.  No one should have to live this way, dear readers.

So if I share my all-time favorite Hard to Put Down books, will you reciprocate?  What are the books that you couldn’t put down?   Not sure?  Here’s another criterion I use:  when I think of the titles of these books, I wish I hadn’t read them yet, so that I could have the joy of discovering them again.  I don’t mean necessarily great literature when I list these (though some of them are); they just have to be Hard to Put Down.  They interfere with your day-to-day activities. 

Here are the ones that come to mind for me (and that I heartily recommend) in no particular order:

Bel Canto, Ann Patchett
Run, Ann Patchett
The Magician’s Assistant, Ann Patchett (Ok, apparently Patchett in general.)
Saturday, Ian McEwan
Remains of the Day, Kazuo Ishiguro
Harry Potter, all of them, J.K. Rowling
The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay, Michael Chabon
The Sun Also Rises, Ernest Hemingway
The End of the Affair, Graham Greene
Atonement, Ian McEwan
Never Let Me Go, Kazuo Ishiguro
Kite Runner, Khaled Hossein
A Virtuous Woman, Kay Gibbons
Middlesex, Jeffrey Eugenides
The World According to Garp, John Irving
Cider House Rules, John Irving
Devil in The White City, Erik Larson
Eat, Pray, Love, Elizabeth Gilbert
Four Seasons in Rome, Anthony Doerr
It Sucked and Then I Cried, Heather Armstrong
Three Cups of Tea, Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin
Loving Frank, Nancy Horan

I know I’m leaving off some great ones, but those are the ones that come to mind today.

Ok, dear readers, it’s your turn.  What is the next Hard To Put Down book I should read?

February Blahs

Hi readers.  Sorry for the month (!) delay in writing.  Today there is sun shining in Mountain View, and that changes a lot.  But I’ve had some February blahs, despite fun things happening.  Amelia finally joined us, I’ve had friends visit, and did I mention that Amelia was born?  But we also had seven days of rain in a row.  Ugh.  I hated it. 

I’ve been trying to get updates to this blog out to you, but I have three different drafts going and can’t seem to get to the end of them.  Anyway, I’ve updated What I’m Reading, and have started to list the books I’ve read this year.  Each end of year, I wonder how many books I’ve read, and I never know.  I’m just sad that it’s February and I’ve only read two.  I have some spare time on my hands the next few weeks, though, so I plan to change that. 

Anyway, I hope to have beaten back my Blahs and finish some posts soon.  Hope you are all doing well.