I was all excited when I got several packages today that I started ripping into them without paying much attention and imagine my surprise when the Amazon box I opened had this.

What the heck?! This isn’t a book. Oh right, this is some bike stuff my husband orderd. I told him now I need a present to make up for such disappointment. Ha.

I can’t complain though because I got a couple of books I’m very excited about. First one is a book I bought based on some reviews I remember reading from some of you guys in blogland, Ravens by George Dawes Green. See, I do like some gritty crime fiction. I just hope this one is more to my liking as opposed to the book I mentioned in my previous post.

The other book I got was A Shortcut to Paradise by Teresa Solana. This is a murder mystery set in Barcelona (I love Barcelona!) and it is a satire on the world of writers, literary critics and agents.

My other book is from BookMooch, which I hadn’t used in such a long time, but I was looking for a book for one of my book groups and I lucked out. I got Odd Thomas by Dean Koontz. I cannot tell you how long it’s been since I’ve read one of his books. Maybe 15 years?

You know what I really would like to do? Go on a bit of a splurge at Half Price Books. It’s been a while. Not that my shelves are running empty but you can never have enough books. So have you gotten any good book packages lately?

I didn’t forget to blog last night but we were out at a holiday party and after celebrating with some wine and champagne, well, let’s just say the blogging had to wait for another day. Heh.

So let’s talk about the two books I’m reading. Nobody Move by Denis Johnson is the book I should be reading as it’s for a book discussion next week but I just cannot get into it. It has losers, bad guys, violence and it’s supposed to be in the noir style but all I can think is that I don’t want to be reading this. I don’t mind gritty crime fiction but there’s something else about this book that’s just not working for me.

You know me, I don’t have a problem putting a book aside but it’s for book group and I feel like I should make the effort so I’ll have something to add to the discussion. The book isn’t very long so maybe I can get back into it in the next couple of days.

I was only planning to read one book at a time for a while but as I’m not liking this book very much I had to start another and oh man, I think I’m going to be in for quite a book. Read this short snippet and tell me what you think?

“I flipped here and there, established that there appeared to be lots and lots of channels, and that at least the world came here, even if I couldn’t reach the outside from now on, not by mail, e-mail, text messages or telephone calls. From now on the telephone existed for me only in the form of a fixed internal line, as as for the Internet, I was allowed to surfe only under supervision, which meant an orderly or another member of staff sitting beside me, and I was not allowed to join chat forums, contribute to blogs, create or respond to advertisements, or vote in opinion polls.”

It’s from The Unit by Ninni Holmqvist and it’s about a time in which women and men over a certain age, who are single, childless and without jobs in progressive industries, are sequestered for their final years. I haven’t gotten very far but this book is chilling.

Finally once again I have to apologize for falling behind on my blog reading. It’s a bit hectic around Casa Bookgirl with the holidays coming and to top it off I had another physical therapy session that left me quite drained. So thank you for stopping in and visiting with me. I promise to visit soon!