Books! Glorious books!

[javacat]

The city in which I work passed a library tax measure recently, which has funded a new section, "Hot Picks," of latest works in print, audio, and DVD. They can be checked out for 1 week only, and these copies can't be reserved, so it always has the latest stuff on the shelf. I spotted & grabbed the newest Nevada Barr last week, even though I've been #15 on the reserve list for a few weeks. Today, I was the second person to check out Kazuo Ishiguro's Never Let Me Go, which is on my to-read list thanks to several stellar reviews. I'm so excited! I read half of Chapter 1 while eating lunch and can't wait to read more. I'm already wishing I didn't know as much about the plot as I do, though. The reviews give away something that starts in the first paragraph. Instead of wondering, what is this "carer" of which the narrator speaks, I'm watching how the reveal is foreshadowed, plotted, etc. I'll be pleasantly surprised if it turns out to be something besides what the reviewers have disclosed. I love that movie reviewers, post-Crying Game, are circumspect about revealing too much. Million Dollar Baby and The Sixth Sense would have been entirely different (lesser, IMHO) experiences had I known their plots. Book reviewers, you need to get with it. Don't give stuff away!

I like msbelle's goal of reading 50 books this year, and have adopted it myself. I'm a little over a book a week. Mira Publishing having issued 4 new (to me) Jennifer Crusie's helped. Here's my list:

1. Skinny Dip [sound recording] / Carl Hiassan
2. The Orchid Thief / Susan Orlean
3. Anonymous Rex / Eric Garcia
4. Casual Rex / Eric Garcia
5. Getting Rid of Bradley / Jennifer Crusie
6. The Good Earth [sound recording] / Pearl S. Buck
7. The Kalahari typing school for men [sound recording] / Alexander McCall Smith
8. The true and outstanding adventures of the Hunt sisters : a novel / Robinson, Elisabeth,
9. Girls in pants : the third summer of the Sisterhood / Brashares, Ann.
10. What the Lady Wants / Jennifer Crusie
11. Strange Bedpersons / Jennifer Crusie
12. Manhunting / Jennifer Crusie
13. Stiff : the curious lives of human cadavers / Mary Roach
14. Hard Truth / Nevada Barr
15. Therapy [sound recording] / Jonathan Kellerman
16. Josie And Jack : A Novel / Braffet, Kelly
17. Never Let Me Go / Kazuo Ishiguro


Work is so busy, it's just wild. Oh well. Tomorrow's another day.