Oh, by the way: I read a BOOK!

I know this doesn't seem like that much of an achievement. And fifth-grade Katie who collected all of those Pizza Hut gift certificates for Book-It certainly wouldn't have much to say about someone reading a measly single book. (Tangent: I never got to use my Book-It gift certificates, because they were buy-one-get-one-free or something, and whatever you had to buy was too expensive for my parents to indulge in... man, that sounds angsty!)

But I have been in a significant reading rut for the past, oh, year. This doesn't mean I'm not reading, it just means I'm reading either non-fiction books about the psychology and behavior of dogs or fiction I've read a million times. In other words, I'm not taking chances.

But a week or so ago, I plucked from my bookshelves the copy of The Kite Runner (by Khaled Hosseini) that my stepmother gave me for Christmas 2005. And... I read it! Yes, indeed, I read it cover to cover in a matter of days.

Supply is not the issue here. My bookshelves are overflowing with great (I'm sure) books, just crying out to be read. "Pick me!" they squeak. "Pick me! No, not Pride and Prejudice again! Me me me!"

I was so thrilled by this achievement that I considered starting a second blog to deal exclusively with books I've read and my impressions thereof. But then I thought, I don't like reviewing things. I just want to read. And I certainly don't want to wreck my author karma by making a bunch of smartass remarks about other people's books.

About The Kite Runner, I will say: in a very few places, I was ambivalent about the voice. Too much description from a first-person POV for my taste (and the narrator is a writer, but there's a POV switch that rang false to me). But overwhelmingly, I enjoyed the tone, setting, flavor, and, yes, even the story. (And I can forgive my impressions of the voice because it's all part of painting the setting, which was really well done.)

Next up: Odd Thomas by Dean Koontz. Another Christmas book. Will someone tell me the deal with Dean Koontz? I always thought he was mainstream as all get-out, but the voice in this book impressed me right off the bat. A few chapters in, I see chinks in the armor, I feel the strain of forced detachedness, but I still like it well enough that I could give Koontz's other books a chance. There's nothing better than finding an author with a huge backlist to love! Could keep one reading happily for years.

That's all. Today we're off to the beach, so Winston can bark at rocks and make the other dogs wonder what the heck his problem is.


Comments from original posting:

MrsDubois said...
If you are going to read Dean Koontz, you must, must, MUST read Life Expectancy.
Must. Seriously. It's a fantastic book. It's so great that I would even buy you a copy and mail it to you, were I intrepid enough to have bothered to save your mailing address. Whoops.
Creepy and funny and well written--I think you'd dig it. It's not a deep thinker, but it's crazy entertaining.
12:04 AM

Maia said...
Now I want to read Dean Koontz too. Over the holidays, I was riveted by The Constant Gardener by John Le Carre, my first real thriller I guess. Now I want to read all his books. If Koontz can write half as well as Le Carre, then I'll soon be addicted.
4:47 AM

Katie said...
Amber ~ so you're saying this wasn't a fluke? He's a good writer, and I've been ignoring him all these years? I'll definitely look into the book you mentioned.
Maia ~ I'm going to have to start a list for all of these books to read. I'll let you know when I finish this book if the quality held up. But thinking about it, I have read/seen/heard a lot of people saying that it's among their favorites... so it's probably good!
7:17 AM