well, it is not too awful

I have stuck it out with "The Other Queen", and though it does occasionally make me yell into the air that "I picked up that four disks ago", I have also enjoyed it. There are three perspectives, each read by a different narrator. We see the story from Mary Stuart, Bess of Hardwick, and Lord Talbert's viewpoint. Not bad, and I am thankful that they use different people to help me to be focused. :)

Other books on my list on in progress:
"Two Old Women" a book that is rather interesting. It is based on a legend in a native culture in the Pacific North West. The old women in the band are left behind because there is not enough food, and they have not been able bodied for years. After they realize that this was really happening, they are determined to survive. Though they still have the aches and pains from a few days before, they work through them, and move to a safer place. I actually am looking forward to picking this up again.

"The Lace Reader" is a novel. It based out of Salem, MA, and I haven't gotten too far into it. I think it is a mystery of sorts, and related to talents we are afraid of trusting with in ourselves.

"The Last Lecture", this is a hard read for me at this point. I have set it aside for now.

My car book continues to be the one written by an adolescent with Dyspraxia. I am close to being done with it though.

My next audio book will be "The Memory Keeper's Daughter".

It's Been a While...

I think the last time I posted I had started The Bell Jar, which i very much enjoyed. I only had a vague idea about the book when I started and there were times when I really related to the main character, Esther, particularly in the way she looks at the world and the people around her. It turns out the book is semi-autobiographical, following Sylvia Plath's own descent into mental illness. (Interesting side fact: It was Plath's first and I think only novel and she published it under a pseudonym because she didn't think it had any relevance, literary or otherwise.) Go figure. It was a very interesting read and did not end as tragically as I thought it would. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said for Sylvia Plath's own life, which she ended very shortly after this novel was published.

After that, I read The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery, another book Paige lent me from her collection. It took a little while for me to get into it--it was very intellectual and deep and philosophical and I had a hard time relating to the characters for a while, but as is often the case, it picked up and I really enjoyed it. There was a lot of interesting points made about society in general and the behavior of people, particularly between the classes. It was a very good example of the bonds that can be made between unlikely people and how those bonds can affect the course of a person's life. It touches on how even the smallest of things can have the biggest effect on people. I definitely recommend it to anyone who can fit it in.

I didn't bring anything new with me to Colorado but I managed to find a small collection of books in the housing common area and picked out The Book of Air and Shadows by Michael Gruber. It's a very Dan Brown-esque novel that centers around a mysterious and presumably very valuable piece of literature. Already a scholar with important information has been tortured to death! It should keep me entertained at the very least until I get more books in my possession, which I know are coming!

Listening

I finished the Twilight Saga, and was rather disappointed with the ending.

Now, I am listening to books, rather than reading. Well, OK, I am still reading... Just haven't decided which book to discuss....

Any way has any one read "The Other Queen" by Phillipa Gregory? Please tell me it gains some momentum and they stop repeating themselves.... Other wise, I will be shifting to "The Memory Keeper's Daughter"....

My reading at this point is focused on gaining some perspective for my upcoming sermon.
Some Joyce Rupp, Bible, and well Bible Commentary... The Joyce Rupp is more for the PLF worship service I will do on Tuesday night. The others will help in June. :)