Reading Report: End of February 2022

Posted on 02/28/2022 by chick
  • I’m still working on Parable of the Talents by Octavia Butler (216/406 pages) and On Writing Romance: How to Craft a Novel That Sells by Leigh Michaels (62/246 pages).
  • I finished Attachments by Rainbow Rowell; Grade A-: Coworkers Beth and Jennifer know that they’re not supposed to socialize using their new company e-mail, but they do it anyway. Meanwhile, computer-guy Lincoln has been hired to read employee e-mails and enforce the company rules. But he doesn’t enforce the rules, not for those two, because he likes reading about their personal lives, especially Beth’s. Is that totally creepy and invasive? Yes, but at least he has the good grace to feel bad about it and to come clean, eventually. But if and when he meets Beth in person, will she be able to forgive him?—Because the story takes place during the Y2K panic, it feels dated, and it’s slow-paced, maybe even a little too long, but Rowell writes great dialogue (well, great dialogue-y e-mail exchanges). If you can ignore the stalker vibe, it’s a good read.
  • I try to take a lesson of some kind from every book that I read. Attachments asked me a question (“Have you ever seen The Goodbye Girl?”) and then thoroughly intrigued me with its description of that movie: “Don’t watch it if you still want to enjoy romantic comedies. It makes every movie ever made starring Julia Roberts or Sandra Bullock lash itself in shame. Also, don’t watch The Goodbye Girl if it would trouble you to find Richard Dreyfuss wildly attractive for the rest of your life, even when you see him in What About Bob? or Mr. Holland’s Opus.” Now I simply must see the movie. I ordered a copy from the library, plus the 2004 version (with Jeff Daniels in the Dreyfuss role) for comparison.
  • I also finished reading The Switch by Beth O’Leary. Still reeling from her sister’s death, twenty-something Leena needs a break from her high-stress London job. Eileen, her seventy-something grandmother, is looking for a man to replace her good-for-nothing ex-husband, so they decide to swap lives, so to speak. Grandma moves to London for a few weeks to take advantage of its happening senior dating scene, and Leena moves to Grandma’s house and takes over Grandma’s neighborhood “projects.”—The story is pretty much entirely predictable but also charming. Recommended.
  • I am 2 CDS into the audiobook version of The Unhoneymooners by Christina Lauren. Olive’s twin sister has just gotten married but can’t go on her honeymoon due to a bad case of food poisoning, so Olive takes her place, along with the best man, Ethan, who stands in as her “husband.” She and Ethan don’t get along, but isn’t a free 10-day trip to Maui worth putting up with each other?—One interesting thing about listening to the story, as opposed to reading it, is that I occasionally respond verbally to the narration (remarks like, “Well, that was dumb!” and “Of course he did!”) That’s a little weird. I don’t usually talk to my books, but then again, they don’t usually talk to me either.
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One Response to Reading Report: End of February 2022

  1. Pingback: Reading Report: Mid-March | Blue-Footed Musings

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