What I'm Reading

I'm very pregnant. The starting-to-have-trouble-sleeping-sitting-bending over and falling-asleep-anytime-I-put-my-feet-up kind of pregnant. I would post a picture, but I'm too lazy. I'm very lazy right now. I have been reading, though, and I thought I would bring you up to date.

When I first started this blog, I felt like I needed a gimmick. My gimmick was that I would tell my stories through stories about the stories I am reading. Get it? Like I would review a book about romance, then relate it back to my own life, then weave in a story from my current day-to-day life. Turned out to be too much effort, not to mention less fun than writing about whatever comes to mind. I overcomplicate things, in case you haven't figured that out already.

Anyways, here's what I've been reading lately, and what I thought.

The Empress of the Splendid Season by Oscar Hijuleos - Another win for Mr. Hijuelos. He's amazing. How  a man can inhabit a woman's mind so convincingly, I'll never understand. As a writer, I don't think I could ever narrate in a male voice. I just don't think it would be authentic. He's amazing, though. I love his characters.

Let the Great World Spin by Collum McCann - Holy moly. So good, I had to stop reading. Does that make sense? The stories were affecting me so much, and consuming my thoughts to so great a degree, that I thought it might not be healthy during pregnancy. These are not happy tales. But he is intimidatingly talented. Apparently the late Frank McCourt said something like after he read this book, he worried about Collum, because what are you to do with your life once you've written something so beautiful.

Wicked by Gregory Maguire - A good reminder that I don't like this kind of book. I don't know why, but I hated it. So much so that I just wanted it out of my house when I was finished. Don't get me wrong, I'm completely impressed by the effort, and I think the writing is strong, but this was not my cup of tea. Apparently, I'm nearly one in a million because it's been made into a Tony award-winning play and I think I've heard a movie's in the works. I would see the movie.

Balance is a Crock, Sleep is for the Weak by Amy Eschliman - I felt like I needed to read something about pregnancy and motherhood. This book was a really funny take on being a working mother. It also made me feel okay about freaking out sometimes and feeling like everything's spinning out of control, or clinging desperately to the idea that my biweekly house cleanings are essential (turns out, according to Ms. Eschliman, who is neither psychiatrist nor any kind of expert, agrees). I love feeling validated.

Squirrel Seeks Chipmunk by David Sedaris - I love him. Just love him. This isn't my favorite (I would recommend What to Do When You are Engulfed in Flames), but it's creative and funny and I just love to be reminded that somewhere out there is David Sedaris, writing this wacky shit, and laughing himself to sleep each night. How could you not?

The Vanity Fair issue with Cher cover - Pretty decent. I took this to Montreal and read nearly the entire thing during our trip. The pictures in the Cher piece were so outrageous. She's really something. there was a lengthy article on William and Kate, too, and where better to get your royal gossip than VF? Nowhere.

I just picked up Notes from a Small Island by Bill Bryson from the local Book Exchange. There are so many new novels out there that I'm itching to read right now, but I'm trying to save my pennies at the moments, so they'll have to wait. I'll have a lot to look forward to while feeding baby Jack in February and March!