Quote de jour
"You don't have to burn books to destroy a culture. Just get people to stop reading them."
                                                                                                                                           ~Ray Bradbury
When I order books online from the library, I never know how long it takes. Sometimes, they arrive in droves, like this week. Newly published books can only be taken out for two weeks. Three books, two weeks, plus the usual stack of magazines, you do the math. I'm a speed reader not a miracle worker. Something has to slide.
First up is The Ex-Mrs. Hedge Fund by Jill Kargman. I enjoyed her novel The Right Address,but nothing works in her latest chicklitty foray into the upper crust lives of New Yorkers. A quick skim through and I felt sorry for her poor timing. The last thing anyone wants to read these days is about high living Wall Streeters circa 2006.


Maria Semple, a former television writer's first novel is This One is Mine. It's clearly written by a Hollywood insider, but there is a big difference between writing novels and for TV. This novel has a choppy rhythm which caused me to skim even faster. She does have a fresh voice but one that will likely improve with her second novel. I do give her kudos for getting fab book jacket blurbs.

I saved the best for last. Suite Francaise, a novel by Irene Nemirovsky and published posthumously is much more than a novel. I recently attended the fascinating exhibit about her life as successful Jewish writer in occupied France. She died in Auschwitz in 1942 at the age of thirty-nine.  She left behind two daughters and a suitcase containing a large leather note book. Thinking it was a diary, the daughters found it too painful to read. Fifty years later, they discovered the notebook was not a diary but the first two parts of a five-part novel. After seeing the exhibit of memorabilia and a short film, I  felt compelled to read the book. To learn more of the fascinating exhibit go to http://www.mjhnyc.org/ 


Someone asked how do I find time to read so many magazine every week. Multi-tasking! I read them while waiting for trains,planes, doctors, for my nails to dry, and while watching TV. Oh, I have a robotic arm for page turning. Beam me up Scottie! There's a new Star Trek coming. I can remember watching the original series as kid and being scared to death. Now, I'm just scared of being ancient. Even George Clooney is looking older but still handsome. Why is it he that he can go BOTOX-free and get away with it while female actors can't?