Books I Have Known

I've been reading while I've not been writing. There were a few nameless thriller/mysteries and these:

Okay, The Girl Who Played With Fire is a thriller/mystery. It is the second in a trilogy written by a now deceased Swedish writer. This was really good. You learn a lot about the heroine of the first book, Lisbeth Salander. She is a fascinating woman. LOTS of stuff happens. Most of this stuff you've never read in other books. Loved it. I listened to it on the road. When I'm on the road, I tend to go to sleep listening to whatever I'm listening to. That means that I got to hear some of this story over and over again. For once, that made me happy.
Olive Kitteridge has Book Club written all over it. Oh, and Pulitzer Prize. This is a series of short stories about a small town in Maine. Olive is a teacher in the town and appears in all stories. This is a great way to tell her story. She is an unpleasant woman whose unpleasantness becomes more obvious as you read. But that didn't mean I hated this woman. She was just very sad and hard. A great read.
Audible had a sale on Classics. I got four of them and have only finished one to date. Rob Roy is interesting because it isn't about Rob Roy. One thing that you learn when reading classics as an adult, as opposed to as a high school student, is that they are just like modern fiction. Do you remember slogging through Ivanhoe when you were in school. OMG, that was tough. Maybe it's because it was a requirement. Rob Roy is about a young man who doesn't want to go into the family business, banking (or money lending). He travels to northern England to live with an uncle. His cousin goes to London to take his role in his father's business. There is romance, intrigue, economic catastrophe and war. Rob Roy keeps popping up. All characters are interesting.

Where Men Win Glory was tough to read. It is about the life and death of Pat Tillman, a pro football player who volunteered for military service after the events of 9/11. The only reason that I decided to read it was that it was written by Jon Krakauer. He does very thorough research for all his books. I'm glad, because I don't want to read about this topic ever again. Tillman was killed by friendly fire in Afghanistan. Friendly fire is an odd term. I don't think I'll write that ever again while I'm never-againing. His death was turned into a media circus by the Bush administration, covered up by the military and, finally, an outing of duplicity of the highest order. The best part of the book was reading about what a fine man Tillman was. He was interested in reading everything. He loved to talk about what he read, getting input from people with views different from his. He was friendly to everyone. He hated the stupid rules of the military that makes years of service and rank more important than clear thinking. He thought about everything, kept a journal and always worked to be a better person. Okay, I'm going to say it - I wish all of this could have been said about his commander in chief.

The most fun? I'm home with Adrian who asks me what I'm reading and loves to talk about everything. We had lunch today at our favorite noodle place. The food was great, the conversation was the best. Even better? I'm almost done unpacking. I'm seeing more floor and flat surfaces. LIG.