Books 12/6/05

I have been reading, honestly. And frantically, really, since I have another 12 books or so to read in 25 days. But before I get to the books I’ve read, a short, humorous IM exchange:
Me: I’ve been snacking away
B: Yay snacks!
Me: Snacky snacky goodness. Snackety snickety yumminess. Actually, not snickety. I dont think snickety snacks would taste good. They’d probably just taste sad.

Ok, so maybe you had to be there. Or maybe you just had to be me. I thought it was really funny.

Anyway.

Speaking of the Snickety goodness, I reread The Basic Eight by Daniel Handler (and if you don’t see the connection there then all I can say is have you been reading this blog??) It’s just as good on a reread, and the concerns I had with the continuity of the whole thing were actually quite resolved this time. (Realizing that those last sentences sounded really familiar, I looked back at previous posts and saw that I’ve already kind of posted about this. So onto other things.)

Another reread was The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie by Muriel Spark, one of my favorite books, though I couldn’t really tell you why. An enthusiastic and dedicated teacher raises up a group of girls to be her ‘special set’, and the book follows them from their time in her class through their education and to the time when one of them betrays her by revealing her Fascist leanings to the school principal. Maybe it’s because I was part of a teacher’s ‘special set’, and he also was turned in and ended up in jail that the story rings true to me, I don’t know. (Just for the record, he never did anything to me.) It’s just an interesting look at the time before WW2 and to educators who think that they can do no wrong in educating and molding their students.

I also reread Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams, which was just as funny this time as it has been all the other times.

Back on a mystery spree, my last three reads are Agatha Christies: Murder on the Orient Express, The Murder of Roger Ackroyd, and The Seven Dials Mystery. The best was Murder of Roger Ackroyd, which is hailed as one of her best, and there’s a reason. It’s said she shatters the traditional mystery genre rules, and she does. Do yourself a favor and read it, but don’t read anything about it first.

Right now I’m reading The Crooked House, which I realized a few pages ago that I’ve read before. But I remember liking it, so I’ll finish. Then it’s Ordeal by Innocence, which I also suspect I’ve read before. The name sounds familiar anyway.

Current total: 88
Just Finished: The Seven Dials Mystery by Agatha Christie
Currently reading: The Crooked House by Agatha Christie

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