Archive for February, 2010

Comedy

I’ve been reading comedies lately, trying to lighten up my reading some and enjoy a few laughs.  Most of the books I have chosen are not comedy fiction.  I find that good comedy fiction is hard to find; although I love comedy fiction.  My favorite in that genre is still the Miss Julia series by Ann B. Ross—the first book,  Miss Julia Speaks Her Mind, then Miss Julia Stands Her Ground and the books following are also funny.  However, most comedy books I’ve found are true to life, such as the one I’m reading now, American Thighs: The Sweet Potato Queens’ Guide to Preserving Your Assets by Jill Conner Browne.  I hadn’t heard of this author until I found this book, which I found at the library.  Apparently, she is the Sweet Potato Queen writer.  She has many books out in a series of comedies.  She is a Southern woman whose writing is full of all kinds of antics.  The author claims everything in her books to be  true.  For an example, she talks about a tornado coming at a hair salon and her daughter was talking about how good the hair stylist was to take her by a sink to rinse out her hair dye.  Most chapters have a “word to the wise” or “lessons learned” tip at the end.  They are hilarious, but true.  I have to get more of these books.

Jane of Book Reader’s Traverse

Best books of February

Today I ordered some books that were in the “on order” status at the library.  I found the books through an e-mail sent out by Amazon about the best books of February.  I probably will not get the books for a while, so I suspect they will be books of March, at least, for me.  They are both non-fiction books.  One is The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot, which is about a woman who died of cancer.  We benefited from the research done on her cancer cells, taken without her permission or even knowledge.  It promises to be interesting because it seems to address that issue, as well as explain some of the medical research done.  The other non-fiction title I ordered is The Whale: In Search of the Giants of the Sea, by Philip Hoare.  I was the first to order that book, so hopefully, it won’t take long to get it in.  However, for the Henrietta Lacks’ book, I am in 50^th place and it hasn’t even arrived yet.  I am looking forward to reading them.  However, I still have a comedy on order at the library.  It is Why My Third Husband Will Be A Dog: The Amazing Adventures of an Ordinary Woman, by Lisa Scottoline, which sounds like it will be funny.  I’m also still on hold status for the book, A Gate at the Stairs, by Lorrie Moore.  I can’t remember what that one is about, as it’s been on hold for a while.  So those are a few of my future book reviews–that is–if I do finish all the books.  Sometimes, I get stuck on a book that just doesn’t grab me, and I end up not reading it.  This bunch sounds good, though, and I hope they don’t all come in at once, which typically happens to me.  I don’t speed read, especially when I like a book, so I end up having to order books again.  Well, I’m off to work on the Web site a little tonight, then I will get to read some.  Happy reading!

Hello world!

This blog is actually in Phase Two, as I previously posted a blog at Blogger.com.  I’m switching over to our own domain in order to get the benefit of the blog for the Book Reader’s Traverse Web site.  The previous posts are outdated now, so I didn’t import the blog.  It was just a learning experience. 

Tracey, Joel, and I have been working on the Book Reader’s Traverse Web site since 2004.  It has been a great partnership.  We have reviewed hundreds of books.  We love to read.  Of course, like all readers, we tend to have opinions about what we read.  So we decided to work on the Web site, www.bookreaderstraverse.com.

We also encourage guest reviewers to contribute to the site.  Many people have opinions about what they read and like to share.  

 Well, I’ve got to get back to my reading.  It’s beckoning.