My life has been pretty uneventful...but I have read some good books...

Not much has been happening around here...the usual routine. But I have been reading a lot lately and I've read a few good books. When I'm at work I see all the books that are circulating...so I know what's popular (at least in this corner of the world) and I can always tell what the book clubs are reading...(by the number of holds on a title).
For a long time I primarily read non-fiction. I have always enjoyed biographies...even as a kid.I stayed away from most fiction because I guess I read a string of books that had these characters with so many problems or weird disfunctional families that I just lost interest. I had enough of my own issues/problems whatever that I wasn't interested in entertaining myself by reading about fictional people with too many problems. But over the years I have been finding more and more fiction that I enjoy.( I seem to gravitate towards historical fiction..)When the film "Midnight in Paris" came out...several people told me it was well worth seeing. We got it in at the library and I watched it. I enjoyed the story and then one of the Library volunteers told me how much she had enjoyed it as well as the book "The Paris Wife". I had seen that book going out quite a bit and I had nothing to read so I checked it out. I really enjoyed it...not to mention it made me want to have a 1920"s themed party...which I will do sometime in the future.....(David can hang is "old" artwork....the abstract stuff...kind of Picasso-like...maybe he can come to the party as Picasso...who knows...lots of possibilities... Cole Porter music, martinis...or drinks in martini glasses... I don't drink martinis...haha). I've already been online checking out suitable wigs/costumes, etc. At any rate...back to the post...the book was a good read...a fictional account of Hemingway's first marriage and time spent in Paris. There was a lot going on at that time...lots of art, literary works and music being created and they sure had fun in the process. After I read the book...I watched the movie a second time...and enjoyed it even more...because I had a better idea of who everyone was...I followed that book up with an older book that for whatever reason I never read...."The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society" by Annie Barrows. I loved this book. It was about London and Guernsey Island just after World War II. I didn't want it to end I loved the people in the story, learned a little about what was going on in that part of the world during the war...that I didn't previously know anything about and didn't want it to end......but of course it did....haha, but enjoyed it anyway...and wonder why no one ever made it into a movie?
I read a non-fiction book "Enjoy Every Sandwich" by Lee Lipsenthal. Interesting....the author had terminal cancer...talked about making the most of every day...he had some interesting wacky? ideas...overall it was a good message...enjoy life...enjoy every day!
After that book I got the new book by one of my favorite YA authors...John Green.
He's very popular with the YA crowd...and I guess big kids like me like him too. His first book..."Looking For Alaska" is one of my favorites! After I read it I bought a copy...told my girls to read it...they did...they liked it...and I recommend it often.That story was told from the point of view of a young man...which I found interesting...as a woman, with two daughters...it made me think a little differently about situations....a different perspective. I have read subsequent books by Green and have enjoyed them as well...(his characters always have these little personality quirks...that make them who they are...it's fun) ...but I have to say his latest "The Fault in Our Stars" is my favorite since "Looking For Alaska". In the latest book...the main character is Hazel...a 16 year old with terminal cancer.....so it is what you would expect...a little sad. It is a great story about Hazel and her experience in a kids Cancer Support Group. I just love the way the characters think and talk to one another...it all feels so real...even though I personally have no way of knowing what it's like to be 16 and have cancer. One thing I really like about all of Green's books...is again the great personality quirks each of his main characters have...but also in each book there is at least one conversation between the character and a friend or a parent or whatever...and it just makes me stop and think..."He really GETS it."...I don't know if that makes any sense...but give one of the books a try and see for yourself.
Right now I'm reading a funny/sad book called "An Available Man" by Hilma Wolitzer. (I'm not sure how I got on this track of books about cancer, cancer survivors...etc...just random luck). It's about a 62 yr old guy, named Edward Schuyler, who has lost his wife to cancer and is trying to move forward. He's surrounded by well-meaning friends and family members who want to set him up on dates...and as the review puts it...he is ambushed by all the available middle-aged women. It's funny and heartbreaking to see him trying to get past the loss of his wife and start really living again...but the women are (sadly) true to life and pretty funny!(some of them are just kind of desperate..haha) It makes me glad I am not "dating" at this point in my life.... I haven't finished it yet...but so far so good.
Another recent book I enjoyed was "The Dry Grass of August" by Anna Jean Mayhew...it was set in the 1960's in the south....I enjoyed reading about the time frame...the character was close to my age in the 1960's...and while the similarities end there... it was a good read. Well...this has gone on long enough...haha...