A Collection

So this is my very first post, a collection of recent books I've read and all topics related to them.

Yesterday I finished reading The Quilter's Apprentice by Jennifer Chiaverini. It's the first book in the Elm Creek series. I plan to read the rest in the series but when I went to the library on Monday it seemed the only book they didn't have in the series was the second one! I enjoyed it but I also am looking forward to seeing how the current characters grow and what new characters we'll meet.

The one nice thing about starting a series already in progress is you can read them as fast as you wish. There's no waiting around for them to be published. I started the Stephanie Plum series by Janet Evanovich this way and read all 13 of them last year within a few months. Now I am waiting for Fearless Fourteen to be available from the library. It's always enjoyable to see what Stephanie is up to. Even though these books may seem repetitive they are so funny that you can't help but enjoy them.

Last week I read one of my new all-time favorite books. Garden Spells by Sarah Addison Allen. I am a member of the Literary Guild book club and get catalogs once or twice a month. I love getting the catalog in the mail. I always set aside time that night to read through it and look for new books that I want to read. I tend to memorize the covers of books I'm interested in so I can quickly spot them on the library shelf. With Garden Spells, I was familiar with the cover, having seen it in the book club catalog, but never read what it was about. What got my attention was her new book, The Sugar Queen. I thought I might like to read it so I checked to see what Garden Spells was about. Even though I was interested in reading it, I was still unsure how easily I would get into once I started. Would be be too hard to read, too confusing, not interesting? Thankfully, none of things apply to this book. It's enjoyable, comforting and simply a wonderful story.

Currently I am reading Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout. I am only on chapter 3 but am looking forward to seeing how the story progresses and finishes. There are two things that are different with this book. One, the chapters have titles. What's great about this is how many times do adults get to read books written for adults that have chapter titles rather than just the number written at the top of the page? Or even more boring, nothing but a page break? Many adults read Harry Potter, even those without kids, and in that case we got to enjoy a book with creative chapter titles and little pictures to help tell the story. Some things we have to give up when we become adults. Clearly chapter titles are one of them but with Olive Kitteridge we get to enjoy them once again. The second different thing is that each chapter is from a different characters point of view and as the story progresses you get to know a little bit more about Olive Kitteridge. Like I said I'm only on chapter 3 (The Piano Player for those of you who are curious) but I'm finding it's a really fascinating way to tell a story. The time that had to go into it to tie everyone and everything together. The story even jumps back and forth between years within each chapter so for the reader you really have to pay attention to the character who is telling the story at the time to catch the changes. Since I am still at the beginning of the book, I am still adjusting to the way it's written and the flow of the words. It makes for slower reading when you have to take time to get comfortable in the book's world. One other thing I find interesting is the setting. It takes place in Maine and once you read the book and get to know Olive and the other characters you realize that this same story couldn't work anywhere else. The landscape of Maine, while beautiful, can certainly bring to mind, rainy days, cold winters and a feeling of entrapment in a land where there's only one main highway out of the state. Olive and all the characters I've met so far seem to have those depressing feelings inside of them and they come out in this book.