Books to Read

I’ve hit a literary pause in my reading.  I recently completely two terrific books and because they were requested library books with waiting lists, I completed both of them rather quickly for me.  The first one was State of Wonder by Ann Pratchett.  This is a new title just out this summer.  Most of the book takes place in the Amazon within an unknown group of indigenous people.  I have great respect for this part of South America.  We visited Bolivia years ago and on our homeward journey from LaPaz, Bolivia to Miami, we traveled for 5 hours just over the Amazon.  Its spaciousness is difficult for us North Americans to comprehend.    This book is marvelous and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

After completing that title I had to jump directly into the next book I had requested because it also had a waiting list.  The 2^nd book was The Help by Kathryn Stockett .  I wanted to read it before seeing the movie, it was recommended by family and friends.  I was remiss for not reading it when it first came out a few years ago, but it seems like I just never got around to it.  This also was an excellent read and I would recommend it highly.  It will be fun to see the movie and how it interprets different aspects of the book. Books and movies are two difference literary forms and each has it’s strengths.  It is always interesting to see how one plays against the other. 

Anyway after reading these two well-done literary works, I was struggling for what to pick up next.  I usually like to change direction completely, reading a nonfiction title or just current event magazines.  During this time, I feel somewhat lost or at least rootless until I can find another exceptional read to escape with for a small portion of the day.  I feel like I want to savor the reading experience for a short time after finishing good book.  It generally doesn’t last long because there are too many good books to read.