Monday 31 August 2009

she is reading


songs of the humpback whale by jodi picoult
which she bought along with audrey niffenegger's time traveller's wife for 2 for £7 if tesco while food shopping on the way to work.

she's read picoult before she says and likes them for their lightness but gets frustrated by the 'moralising' and the way the characters 'seem to think far too much about everything'. she reads these books, she says, for light relief and that her shelves at home are occupied only by medical books.

as usual with any of these exercises the questions you ask other people aren't really so much about them as yourself. i'm realising i'm unsure why i read books - that sense of escape i got when i was young seems wholly absent yet at the same time i can still find myself enthusing about something or other.

the last two days readers ask me what i'll be reading on my days off. i dodge the question. i read many things at once. i've already admitted to them that i make assumptions about people based on what they read - how do i escape second guessing myself!

4 comments:

Rachel Fox said...

I have a friend who reads JP books but I haven't tried one myself yet. The friend is, I suppose, what you would call a non-literary reader (bit of an odd term but you know what I mean) and we recommend each other books sometimes (from each side of the wobbly divide). Whenever she talks about JP books they sound very grim...not light relief at all (which just shows how people see things differently!).

I'm reading John O'Farrell's humorous history book in an attempt to learn some more history. Not sure it's working. Half the jokes are funny and half are absolutely terrible, tired and...well, history.

x

swiss said...

i know what you mean. this didnt look cheery at all! i've noticed a few folk round work reading 'victim' fiction. i'm looking forward to cathcing them and maybe getting some insight!

swiss said...

the time traveller's wife sparked a bit of discussion. on the one side it was 'really romantic' and weepy while on the other neither of the main characters was sympathetic with him buggering off constantly on adventures while she was the wee bidey in wife waiting for him to return. unacceptable!

Rachel Fox said...

I bought that one in a charity shop ages ago (to see what the fuss was about) but just haven't been in the mood. May never read it.
x