Friday, September 30, 2011

Friday Books

a photo from fall 2009

This week I read The All of It by Jeannette Haien. A man makes a death-bed confession, but only part of the story. His wife is left to tell the rest (the all of it). It was beautifully written, and a little gem of an Irish book. I loved the language and the descriptive prose which made me feel like I was in Ireland! I was hoping I would totally love the book, which I didn't, but I liked it very much. I've heard that Ann Patchett convinced the publisher to get this one back in print, she loved it that much. The author, Haien, apparently wrote only two books and died before she could write any more. So this one is a gem and one of a kind, a definite good read. I guess I give it 4 stars out of 5. Not sure why I can't give it 5 stars, except that it didn't totally grab me like I had hoped it would. Enjoyable, yes, beautifully written, yes. A total soul-grab, no. Not for me, anyway.

Recently someone friended me at goodreads dot com and asked if I would read the book she wrote. I purchased it and am reading it on my Kindle. I'm not too impressed and now I'm worrying about how I'm going to review it. I don't want to hurt her feelings.

Today I put in a long day's work. I had a couple of successes today and feel good about it, so... onward and upward. Hubby had a job interview, and they want to hire him. Now for the pokey business of getting it done through umpteen phone calls. Sometimes the slow pace of employment can be so frustrating! I'm quite sure we will still have plenty of food on our table. (oink, oink) So don't waste any time worrying about us.

Thank goodness the weekend is here! I'll be busy, but I'll have time to rest, too. I need some naps; it has been a long ten days while I've been learning my job and attempting to shut down my spinning brain while trying to get to sleep at night.

It's beautiful fall - my favorite time of year!! Love it love it love it!!!

2 comments:

Sextant said...

Ah a bit of a moral quandary. My suggestion, conveniently forget to review it. Just delete the book from your shelves at Goodreads and hopefully the author will get the hint and move on to greener pastures. I hate to hurt people's feelings but I also hate to lie. If she doesn't take the hint, then ask her what she would rather have no review or a bad review. You have no moral obligation to provide a review, let alone a false good one. However having said that, be as kind as you can. Creative endeavors are like children, some are pretty damned ugly...but no one wants to hear that their child is hard on the eyes.

Naps are gifts from God. I am surprised they are not taxed.

Unknown said...

Constructive crtisicm is good...but like the comment above I would just forgetvto do it...happy napping