book 3 (ok, and 4, too)

Ok, I know.  It’s the 11th of January and I’ve already read 3 (ok, 4) books.  How does a busy wife and mother of two who works full-time outside the home do such a thing?  Well, you should know that I read exceptionally fast, and that I read for a couple of hours each night, typically.  For reference, I read each of the last three Harry Potter books (896, 652, and 784 pages) in one full day (about 11 hours), given that I literally relinquished all duties, parenting and otherwise, for the day.  (Thanks again, Timon!) 

ANYWAY.  I finished Let The Great World Spin, by Colum McCann.  I LOVED this book.  It’s one of those novels that intertwines a bunch of different stories – at first it’s difficult to see how they are connected but in the end it all comes together.  The main connection revolves around the (totally real) story of Phillippe Petit’s 1974 high-wire walk between the Twin Towers.  This book is really, really, good.  (Side-note and additional recommendation: See the documentary about Petit called Man On Wire.  We enjoyed it a lot.  You won’t believe what this dude did to make it across that distance 1000 feet in the air.  The movie is like a love letter to the towers, and when the kids are old enough I can’t wait to show it to them to better understand why they were chosen as targets on 9/11.)

I also finished A Friend Of The Family, by Lauren Grodstein.  This book was very highly recommended by a cousin of mine (she’s a publisher and editor, so she reads A LOT, probably more than me).  I wasn’t blown away by it – the story was interesting and it had a good premise.  A father of an only child wants to protect his son and attempts to do so at all costs, and he ends up paying for his impulses.  My problem with the book was that it was at nearly the very very end that the point was made, and I felt like I was strung along a little, like it was stretched out unnecessarily.  One thing that may have affected this for me was that it was REALLY late last night and I had about 30 pages left, and I was rushing through to the end so I wouldn’t have to wait until tonight to finish it.  Maybe one day I’ll read it a bit with a bit more leisure and I’ll enjoy it more.

Still not a whole lot going on here – Henry got his first yellow (!) today at school and that was quite a shock to all of us.  He entered the house in tears, fearful of my reaction.  We thankfully all stayed calm and he’s restricted from TV and video games until the weekend.  Maria was NOT pleased when I sent her to bed tonight, and could be heard grumbling about how dreadfully she’s been treated (“Mommy NOT NICE”) – for about 2 minutes before passing out for the night.  Adorable.

Tonight I’ve been writing this post, watching L&O: SVU, listening to Timon snore on the couch, and resolving to NOT begin any new books until Thursday.  Nighty-night.