Finished My First Summer Reading Challenge Book!

Sunday night I finished The Road by Cormac McCarthy. I'm not sure what to say about this book but here are some random thoughts:

• Oprah picks the most depressing books ever
• I can see why it won the Pulitzer Prize
• What could ever be in someone's mind that they would write a book like this?
• What does this say about current society that I could picture this happening?
• This book will stay with me for a very long time

I think I am the first from our book group to have read the book and I'm looking forward to hearing what everyone thinks on July 9th. I'd love to hear what others who've read it think as well.

Mid Week Progress

I finished The Highest Tide on Sunday - just in time for my book group discussion on Monday night. I have to say I enjoyed this book just as much the second time around as I did the first. Of the 7 people present for book group, only 2 of us really liked it. Ah well, it's on to The Road by Cormac McCarthy. I've also made a little bit more progress on Silent Spring and started into The Memory of Running by Ron McClarty which I think is going to be enjoyable.

Southern Reading Challenge Books

Well, all three of my book choices for the Southern Reading challenge have arrived and I'd really like to start all three but I must finish rereading The Highest Tide by Jim Lynch as the book discussion is Monday. I'm also continuing to read and enjoy The Silent Spring by Rachel Carson. I'm not sure which of my souther books I will start. I'm tempted to start with As I Lay Dying by Faulkner as technically it is probably the "hardest" read.

Silent Spring by Rachel Carson

I've started reading Silent Spring by Rachel Carson as my first book for the Summer Reading Challenge. I'm also rereading The Highest Tide by Jim Lynch. I first read The Highest Tide in February and it was chosen as the May choice in my book group so I'm rereading it. It was the catalyst for my wanting to read Silent Spring as the young boy in the book is a huge fan of Rachel's.

I got my copy at the used bookstore in town and it is copyrighted 1962. What's quite frightening is that only 30 pages in, her topic is still so relevant - the devestation of our environment at the cost of man and the effects of DDT and other pesticides on our environment. I was very surprised to learn that she died of breast cancer.

I'm looking forward to reading more of Silent Spring. This Wednesday, I will be visiting here as part of United Way Day of Caring work crew to help get the place in shape for the 100th year anniversary of her birth. It's funny how life is such a series of connections isn't it?

Finished Just in Time

Last night I finished The Mixquiahuala Letters by Ana Castillo just in time to start reading for the SRC 2. I saw this on BooksFree and the name and premise intrigued me - a story about the relationship between two Chicana women told through a series of letters. Each letter has a number and the author gives you three options for reading through them, leaving out some chapters, rearranging the order, etc. Being the type A person I am, I read them straight through which was not one of the options recommended by the author!

The back of the book states "Controversial and pioneering, The Mixquiahuala Letters is widely studied as a feminist text on the nature of self-conflict, and is considered an essential work of Chicana fiction". I'm not sure what I thought of it - sometimes I just like to read something different. The author is a poet and some of the letters are poems which was interesting. I'm glad I read it but I don't think I'd recommend it.

I had planned to start my summer reading with Rachel Carson's Silent Spring but I found The Road by Cormac McCarthy on the new book shelves at the library today so I am going to start that. Who knows, I may start both of them!