Blogging Is For Old People

I finished reading "The Lacuna" by Barbara Kingsolver a few weeks ago. Have since read "The Third Angel" by Alice Hoffman and am now reading "The History of Love" by Nicole Krauss.

The Lacuna took a while to warm up to. Firstly, because most of Kingsolver's other main characters in her other books are female. It's not that I can't relate to male characters, but she has a wonderful way to write about females that I enjoy immensely. Secondly, the entire book was written in the form of dairy entries, letters, newspaper articles, etc. But I persisted and it payed off. It still won't be my favorite Kingsolver book, I think that will always be Prodigal Summer. But I did enjoy The Lacuna. After a while, I enjoyed the rhythm of the journal entries, the way the story was told through only what Shepard, the main character, deemed fit to record. The Lacuna was both a place where he escaped to and the part of the story that is missing, the part he decided not to tell. This theme is repeated when he's accused of being a Communist under the McCarthy witch hunts. Again, they only know part of the story; they could know more if they cared, but they really don't care about the truth. I recommend this book. Carla has it now, we'll see if she likes it. If she doesn't, maybe Jackie will.

The Third Angel was ok. An easy read of overlapping stories and time lines. Interesting, but a bit forgettable.

The History of Love also has overlapping stories, but it's more interesting. This author is married to the guy who wrote Everything is Illuminated, one of my all time favorite movies. I didn't read the book, maybe I should! More when I finish.

So I'm blogging like an old person now.

Had an enjoyable birthday, lots of hugs, cards, phone calls, singing, fun things on FB. Don and I are going out today for our birthday/Valentine date. He decided he would see The Wolfman with me and risk getting scared. I told him he could pick the restaurant, but he said I could pick that, too. I tried to find someplace we haven't been before but the two place I got good recommendations for, neither serve lunch on the weekend. We wanted to do lunch since it's Valentine's weekend and everyone is forced to display their undying love through spending money. That is, all the places will crazy busy for dinner. So I think we'll be forced to go someplace mundane like Olive Garden or Macaroni Grill and save the new fancy places for another weekend when all the crazed lovers aren't horning in on our action. But we'll have fun anyway. Always do, one way or another.