Book #32: The Firm by John Grisham

I went through a John Grisham phase for a few months when I was in high school. I read all of the six or seven Grisham books I could find around the house, and after the last one I felt like I'd read six of the same books. THEY WERE ALL THE SAME! The same storyline, over and over again. But it's been long enough (I can't remember even the names of any of the books I read) that we decided a John Grisham book would be a good choice for our road trip. And it WAS--we were on the edge of our seats all the way from North Carolina through Oklahoma. The main character, Mitch McDeere, gets hired by this small Memphis firm (and we drove through Memphis while we were listening to the book, which was pretty awesome) and ends up finding out that the firm is a front for the Mafia. He ends up helping the FBI catch them and outsmarting both the Mafia and FBI by escaping to the Cayman Islands (spoiler alert!). It was pretty intense listening, though. A great choice for a road trip, for sure.

Books #25-31: Harry Potters 1-7 by J.K. Rowling

No explanation needed. Pure awesomeness.

**One question I had this read-through: How is it even POSSIBLE that wizards (like Mr. Weasley) have NO associations with Muggles or Muggle money? Aren't they citizens of England? Don't their kids have to go to school or at least get tested in math and English and stuff? Don't they have to pay taxes? It's far more believable that there are wizards that Muggles don't know about than that there are wizards who don't know ANYTHING about Muggles. I know, I know--suspension of disbelief. But still.

Book #24: I'm a Stranger Here Myself by Bill Bryson

This is another re-read. I brought it with me on our trip to NYC this weekend to read on the plane, and thoroughly enjoyed it. It's the perfect vacation book--each chapter is a separate, short essay, so it's easy to get through and a quick read. The book is a compilation of a column he wrote for a local paper in the late 90's.

All I need to say about this book is that Bill Bryson really is hilarious. I want to write memoirs just like him. There are always parts that make me laugh out loud whenever I read his books, and this one is especially funny. Here's the part that made me giggle for about ten minutes straight on the plane while Tommy looked concerned at my lack of control:

(While complaining about his computer): "Never mind that many of these keys duplicate the functions of other keys, while others apparently do nothing at all (my favorite in this respect is one marked "Pause," which when pressed does absolutely nothing, raising the interesting metaphysical question of whether it is therefore doing its job), or that several keys are arrayed in slightly imbecilic places. The delete key, for instances, is right beside the overprint key so that often I discover, with a trill of gay laughter, that my most recent thoughts have been devouring, PacMan-like, everything I had previously written."

So excellent, and so true! (I've always wondered what the Pause button is for, haha.)

Book #23: The Killer Angels by Michael Shaara

I'd read this before, actually. But the last time was probably eight years ago, so I picked it up again and re-read it this week. It tells the story of the Battle of Gettysburg. Each chapter is told from the perspective of different generals or officers, from both armies, and how the entire battle was planned and happened.

Growing up, I for some reason thought of Robert E. Lee as the epitome of evil, as the general of the BAD SIDE of the Civil War. But everything I've learned about him shows that he was the most amazing person who was absolutely worshiped by his men. This book reinforces that, but also shows how human he really was--the Battle of Gettysburg was a big mistake and his right-hand general tried to convince him out of it repeatedly, but he kept going and ended up losing the war partly because of it. Honor was the biggest motivator in this book, and Lee had to keep his honor by not retreating.

Also, Shaara really emphasizes how many people had friends and family on both sides of the war. All of the men who were professional soldiers, who'd attended West Point (which was pretty much all of the major officers), had served together in the U.S. Army before it broke up into two opposing sides. The saddest story in the book (to me) is Armistead (a Southern general) and Hancock (a Northern general) who were best friends and had planned to meet up after the battle.

I'll be honest--I cried the entire last two chapters describing the final attack by the South. (I think it's the hormones.) It's just so pathetic and sad and awful. Especially when Armistead died--that's what did it for me.

Book #22: Thirteen Clues for Miss Marple by Agatha Christie

Quick, easy, FUN. There's not much else to say about Agatha Christie books, except that I can't help loving them. Even when Miss Marple solves everything without any clues and seemingly always knows everything for no reason. I thought the Miss Marple novel that I read was more believable than all of these short stories. But still a perfect read for an evening when your husband is gone all night, and not creepy at all.

Fun fact: It might be good for you to know that Miss Marple lives in St. Mary Mead. I was asked this in a trivia game we were playing ("What is the name of the small town that Agatha Christie's heroine Miss Marple lives in?") and I actually GOT IT RIGHT because I'd just read the other Miss Marple book (last year). Tommy was amazed and disappointed that I beat him BOOYAH.

Book #21: Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell

I've been wanting to read this book for AGES. I stole it from my parents' house probably three or four years ago and never actually got around to reading it until this week. I can't believe I waited this long!

The main reason I shied away from it for so long was because of its bulk, of course. It's over 1,000 pages. But it took me fewer days to read this one than Connecticut Yankee did, because I was SO much more interested in this one. I started it on Wednesday and have spent a few hours reading each day since then.

First off, I loved it. The story is awesome. I've seen the movie once, and it pretty much includes EVERYTHING from the book. But the background and internal conflict/thoughts you get in the book is SO much more involving than in the movie. I still did not like Scarlett, at all, even after reading the book, but you can't help being fascinated with her and rooting for her, even as you hate her. (Except for the whole Ashley situation--that just MAKES ME SO MAD.) I love how Mitchell really creates the world of the Southerners and helps you to understand where they were coming from, how they felt about the war, and all that stuff. It's all so foreign and old-fashioned to us, but I felt like she did an excellent job of getting the reader into that.

As a part of that, it's so interesting how the book is so not-self-conscious about the racism and sexism in it, since it was written in the 1930s. The freed slaves in Georgia are really seen as a totally different species, almost. And Mitchell definitely portrays the institution of slavery (and the whole Southern culture) as being so romantic and perfect. All the slaveowners love their slaves and treat them like family, which is so counter to usual slavery portrayals you read in books.

I really did get into the whole book. I kept explaining how interesting it all was to Tommy and talking about parts of the book with him all weekend long. I just cannot get over HOW much I hate Scarlett for trying to steal Ashley from Melanie all the time, and how obnoxious it is that Melanie never believes that Scarlett's trying to do it. And there are ALWAYS people telling Scarlett how lame Ashley is or how dissimilar they are, and she just always replies with, "You don't know anything about him! You aren't worth to wipe his shoes!" and it's SO OBVIOUS that she's stupidly wrong. But it's still awful at the end that Rhett leaves her--you want her to be happy with him because that's what HE'S wanted all along. But I'm still glad he leaves--she needs to be taught a lesson. I think in the END they should get back together, though. In a decade or so.

Also, I wonder if they re-made the movie nowadays, how it would be different. What parts of the book would they leave out? Because they didn't leave ANYTHING out of the book for the 1939 movie--the entire plot is in there. They would never do that in Hollywood today. I'm really interested to see what stuff they would leave out and include--but I don't know if they'll ever re-make it, since it's still the most popular movie of all time.

Book #20: A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court by Mark Twain

I had to read this when I was in seventh grade English, along with Beowulf and Travels with Charley. And I HATED IT--hated ALL OF THEM with a ferocious hatred that only a seventh-grader is capable of. I thought they were all the worst things ever written and refused to enjoy them in any way. But I saw this old, beat-up copy at my favorite used bookstore in Raleigh when I was there procrastinating the other day and bought it for ten cents. I figured it was worth a dime to figure out if it was THAT BAD or not.

It took me FOREVER to read this tiny little book. (I guess it's not that tiny, but the copy I have is one of those small classics.) I was reading only when I exercised, and I guess that says something--that I was never excited about it enough that I wanted to read it when I wasn't exercising. The book itself was actually really good--Twain's irony and sarcasm is awesome, of course, and I found myself laughing at parts throughout--but I never REALLY got into it too much. The plot isn't really the main point of the story--it's the commentary you get through Hank Morgan's head about Camelot and the improvements he's making, etc. So I think Twain did a good job, but I was kind of glad it wasn't any longer. I even ended up skimming through the last few chapters because I was feeling ready to be done, and I knew exactly what was going to happen.