Sunday Salon (on Monday): Reading Retrospective - August 2002

Seven years ago, the highlight of my reading month was Fall on Your Knees by Ann-Marie MacDonald. In my brief notes at the time, I wrote, 'to quote Rose from the book, this was a "crude and compelling" story of a very dysfunctional family, with well-written characters as well as an interesting look at religious and misguided zeal.' This book and MacDonald's more recent The Way the Crow Flies are both chunksters but they were both great reads and very worth spending the time on. I've forgotten many of the details of the story in Fall on Your Knees, and it's one that I'd really like to read again. I only wish she had another book out that I could look forward to too.

The rest of August 2002 was spent with easy reads, from kidlit, to chicklit, to ladlit, some of it more enjoyable than others. First off, the third and fourth books in Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events, which I again enjoyed for the sarcastic, tongue-in-cheek humour, but I apparently thought the fourth one, The Miserable Mill, was a little too unrealistic. I haven't read any further in the series, or felt any desire to, to be honest, but maybe one day.

Then I read Under the Duvet by Marian Keyes, a collection of articles and essays that were fun to read, and gave some insight into an author that is loved by many. I really liked Rachel's Holiday, so I'm not quite sure why I haven't read anything else by her yet. I do have a couple on my shelves though, so I may just have to pick one up the next time I'm in the mood for some chick lit.

And last for the month was some rather disappointing ladlit, Turning Thirty by Mike Gayle. I only rated it 4/10, and wrote down simply that it was 'an easy read but nothing special'. Apparently, since I don't remember a single thing about it now.

Back to the present, this week I finished reading the utterly surreal novel, Paprika by Yasutaka Tsutsui, where the line between dreams and reality became very tenuous indeed. Now, continuing with my recent Japanese-themed reading I'm about halfway into Be With You by Takuji Ichikawa. I can't quite decide yet if it is a touching love story or just plain cheesy but I guess time will tell. Next up I think will be something more seasonal. In fact, my Poe book, from my recent Book Depository order just arrived and I think I'll try to read a couple of stories a week, so expect to hear about them on Sundays over the next little while.

And please come back tomorrow, when I'll announce a new giveaway in conjunction with the Japanese Literature Challenge. Plus later this week, I hope to get up my reviews of Polite Lies and Paprika. Have a great week!

Week in review:
R.I.P. IV Challenge
Review: Beyond the Blossoming Fields by Jun'ichi Watanabe
Review: Shakespeare Wrote for Money by Nick Hornby