keeping up

Not with the Kardashians but with my New Year's resolution. I've been busy this January reading, reading, and... reading!

I finished East of Eden by John Steinbeck, which has become one of my favorite books. It's difficult to read a book that has been admired over and over again. You tend to set high expectations for the book without even turning the first page. Happily enough, East of Eden exceeded my expectations as I got further and further into it. I was glad this book had 601 pages, just more to read from John Steinbeck. The characters in this book are what made me love it so much. Each one I wish I could have met personally and by the end, I feel like I did.

And yes, that it my lovely kitten Charlie telling me I've read enough of Steinbeck for one night..

my kindle

Given my somewhat challenging New Year's resolution, I've decided to put my Kindle to the test. Let's see how many books I can download before it literally explodes with words!


Every time I turn my kindle on, I think about the day I received it. The weekend before my birthday in June, one of my best friends and I decided to take a short weekend trip to Fort Lauderdale. My generous boyfriend, which I have yet to mention in my blog, decided to give me my birthday present the day before I left. He knew that I had been dying for a kindle ever since they came on the market. (I would watch the Amazon Kindle videos in amazement at least once a day.) Because he knew how excited I would be, he decided to record my reaction. Only, he completely threw me off when he walked out of his house...

new year's resolution

Unbelievable. The holidays have come and gone and I was just putting my party hat on. 

Despite the fact that my official work week starts up again tomorrow, I've decided to allow my holiday vacation to end at exactly midnight. That gives me a little less than two hours to relax and enjoy my free time.

I'm not sure if any of you have heard of librarything.com, but it is actually an amazing website. They have a section that is dedicated for groups of people to have topics of discussions related to one of my favorite things... books! One of the groups that was created recently is called '75 Books Challenge for 2012'. Given my dwindling holiday spirit (not midnight yet!), I've decided to make this one of my New Year's resolutions...

75 Books in 2012
Number 1: East of Eden by John Steinbeck. Yes, it's over 500 pages. Haven't you heard? I'm kind of an over achiever.

Let's just pretend I started it today instead of 2 weeks ago...

The Piano Tuner

The Piano Tuner @ Amazon.com

'Have you read The Piano Tuner? I just could not put this book down!'

'Oh yes! I read this one in only a couple of days.'

'Okay, good. I won't take this one then.'

This is exactly the conversation I overheard while browsing through the books at the Newberry Library book fair this summer (well, if you call browsing pushing through people to grab a book that YOU saw first). Of course, as soon as I heard the lady was putting the book back down I just had to grab it. This did require me to squat down in a crowd full of people, proceed to look underneath a table, and find the box of books that had not been put on display yet. I'm not really sure why the woman couldn't just put it back on a shelf. Either way, I was not letting this book go!

The Piano Tuner by Daniel Mason is an enchanting story of Edgar Drake, commissioned by the British War Office in 1886 to travel to hostile Burma to repair a rare grand piano vital to the country's strategic interests. Eccentric Surgeon-Major Anthony Carroll has brokered peace with local warlords primarily through music, a free medical clinic, and the "powers" of common scientific instruments, much to the dismay of warmongering officers suspect of such unorthodox methods. Drake is an introspective, well-mannered person who, once there, falls in love with Burma and stays long past the piano-fixing to aid Carroll's political agenda.

I have to admit, the conversation I overheard might have gotten me a little too hyped up for the book. I did enjoy it but it was not one of my all-time favorites. The Piano Tuner did a great job of grabbing my attention from the first page, however I felt like Edgar Drake's journey to Burma was a little too long for my taste. I would have enjoyed more action when Mr. Drake arrived at Burma and was introduced to the eccentric Surgeon-Major Anthony Carroll. Dr. Carroll was such a well-developed character and it would have been nice to hear more about him and his adventures. 

All in all, I enjoyed the book. If you ever come across The Piano Tuner, hopefully not in the compromising position I found myself in, be sure to pick it up.