Can you dig it, man?

Well, I sure can!  Charles & Emma was absolutely wonderful!!  I practically inhaled it.  If you have any interest in what Charles Darwin the man was like (or more importantly his wife, Emma) then you need to read this.  It really gave me an insight into what a struggle he had writing such a monumental work (and still controversial to this day!).  No matter the differences in opinion on religion, his wife and he had a really strong marriage and through ups and downs this never changed.  I don't think I'm doing this touching book justice.  I guess all I can really say is that the love that these two people felt for each other is conveyed beautifully by the author and it fleshes out a character from history that has always seemed one-dimensional to me.  I got tears reading it (in a good way) and I highly recommend it!

What's next on the agenda?  My dear friend (and fellow librarian), Mrs. B. has recommended I read Ruined by Paula Morris.  This is another young adult novel but this one is a work of historical fiction (at least I hope it is or else I'm locking the windows tonight).  It's set in New Orleans and is about a girl who encounters a ghost.  I'm told the detail is incredible and that it will knock my socks off (I might have paraphrased this somewhat).  I will get started on it right away and report back here with my findings just as soon as I'm finished.

Keep reading!!

Case Solved!

First, I want to say that I might be in love with Erik Larson.  It might be too soon to tell but this is two books that I really enjoyed now.  Thunderstruck kept me riveted right until the very end.  Extremely well-written and interesting.  Also, I find the footnotes absolutely enthralling (and humorous).  Read it, people!!

Now for the disappointing news...I started up Faceless Killers and I'm going to have to pronounce it unpalatable.  Hear me out!!  Let me start off by saying that I had high expectations going into this and I think that might partly be why I'm so distraught right now.  I was expecting something dramatic and mindblowingly gut-wrenching.  Instead I get choppy sentences and confusing passages where I have no clue if the person is narrating their thoughts or speaking aloud.  This could all be due to poor translation, however.  Maybe if I was Swedish and reading the original my socks would be rocked right off of my feet.  But I'm not Swedish and my socks are decidedly stuck on (or they would be if it weren't so atrociously hot and humid up here).  I made it forty pages in and to the fourth chapter but I'm going to have to call it quits. 

This is the moment in the blog when I let you in on a secret: if you don't like a book you don't have to plod your way through to the very end.  That's right, folks!  If you've started up a book and you find yourself just wishing that the darn thing was over with already, you might want to just put it down and start something new.  Sooo I'm going to read Charles and Emma: The Darwins' Leap of Faith by Deborah Heiligman.  You can probably guess from the title that the book is centered on Mr. & Mrs. Darwin.  What you don't know from the title (or maybe you're familiar with this book and this is all redudant to you) is that this is a nonfiction book for young adults.  WHAT?  Yep, I do believe if you read my intro you will see that I bounce around to all different areas of literature.  I have heard great things about this book and it was on my wish list for forever.  From what I've heard, the story centers on Charles Darwin's wife and how her place in his life shaped him as a man and as a scientist.  I've always found Darwin interesting (I did after all major in Anthropology) but I know almost nothing about his life outside of academia.  I'm going to start this thing up tonight and I'll let you all know how it goes!!