I finished Eats, Shoots and Leaves, and it did not dissapoint. I’m recommending it to almost everyone I know. It does have me rabidly watching my usage of commas for instances that they should be semi-colons, and my apostrophes are under constant surveillance, but I don’t know that that’s a bad thing.

I’m currently reading From the Dust Returned, an odd little Halloween-y book by Ray Bradbury. The spooks, spectres, and ancient spirits of the world are threatened with extinction as people stop believing in anything at all. My favorite part so far is a ghost who tries to make a cross country trip and keeps losing his health due to peoples’ disbelief- he ends up strengthening himself by telling ghost stories to children.
It’s a bit strange in that there’s little clue as to where the story’s going at all until a good 100 pages in; luckily that’s just a trolley ride’s length or I would have put it down and moved on before I hit the interesting part. And having just read all about the proper use of punctuation, I couldn’t help but notice that his descriptive sentences are epically long and difficult to navigate. I’m sure they were intended to create mood, but they just bogged my reading down.

Anyway. I just got an ordered book in the mail that I’m looking forward to, Bandbox by Thomas Mallon, about two competing men’s magazines in the 1920′s. Looks witty and smart and thoroughly enjoyable. Before that however, I have to get Paths of the Dead by Steven Brust out of the way in my constant quest to get caught up to his current book- although I’m kinda scared of the newest one since apparently the ending is sad and I don’t want any of the characters to die. Ah well. But I have to get caught up as I have a Mitford sisters biography and novel coming in the mail and if I get sucked up into that world before I finish my other books I may never see them again.

Current Count: 30
Just finished: Eats, Shoots and Leaves by Lynne Truss
Currently Reading: From Dust Returned by Ray Bradbury
Next up: Paths of the Dead by Steven Brust, then Bandbox by Thomas Mallon

For the sake of completeness, here are the books I read from March 19-March 28 when I wasn’t posting.

Never Cross A Vampire by Stuart Kaminksy, an entertaining mystery involving both Bela Lugosi and William Faulkner. Lighten Up by Cheiko Okasaki, a gorgeous book about perspective and self. The Public Image by Muriel Spark. I love her book The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, and this was great as well. A creepy look at how our identity is influenced by how we think others see us. Five Hundred Years After by Steven Brust. I love this man’s books. The great adventures of these complex, great characters and their hilarious dialogue put his books among my favorites. The Number Devil by Hans Magnus Enzensberger is a kids book that the back cover says is along the lines of The Phantom Tollboth, but I can’t really agree with that comparison. Yes, they’re both about kids learning things, but thats about it. Tollboth has much more of a story going, Devil is much more episodic. It is however, a very interesting look at numbers and how they work, and the “magic’ contained within them. It points out questions more than it gives answers, but it made me look at numbers differently.

Rereading a previous post I had a brain flash- the song with the lyrics “Where you once belonged” is Get Back by the Beatles. I don’t know why I didn’t remember that before.

I realize I haven’t posted in a long time, which doesn’t mean I haven’t been reading, or that I haven’t had things to say about the books I read. Or maybe it does. I’m not really sure.
After going into my local kid’s bookstore last week to get some books for a book exchange, I noticed some series that I’d like to own, the Chronicles of Narnia, OZ, etc. I ended up going back in yesterday and buying my favorite Roald Dahl books: James and the Giant Peach, The Fantastic Mr. Fox, and The Witches. I read them all yesterday and enjoyed them as much as I did when my mom read them to me ages ago. They’re much shorter than I remember, but that could be a result of having a chapter read a night. Although my mom did remind me that we ended up staying up all night to finish James and the Giant Peach- maybe thats why some of the details toward the middle were a little fuzzy for me.
I’m currently reading a deliciously funny book called Eats, Shoots and Leaves, by Lynne Truss. It’s about punctuation of all things (the title is the punchline from a joke about a panda… think about it…). Truss’ humor is delightful, and I was laughing out loud a number of times while reading it on the trolley. I’m not too far into it yet, but I can’t imagine there will be any drop in quality.

Current count: 29
Just finished: James and the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl
Currently Reading: Eats, Shoots and Leaves by Lynne Truss