Summer Reading #2 and #3

Of course, that week off between Christmas and New Year flew by far too quickly, and the long, uninterrupted days of reading I dreamed of didn't actually eventuate. I'm back at the office now so reading time is limited to the morning train ride and the lunch hour, and the odd session of an evening if I can keep my brain awake.


That hasn't been too much of a challenge as I've been tearing through Justin Cronin's The Passage, and it is only my wimpiness at the thought of imagined zombie vampire nighttime attacks that has stopped me from staying up til dawn, reading. As often happens, I only learned that there is sequel when I was about 500 pages in, but I'm glad I was mentally prepared for the cliffhanger, because... goddamn. Mr Cronin, I don't mean to rush you, but please have mercy and write that sequel QUICKLY!

Over the break I also managed to cross off The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao. It befuddled me for the first 150 pages or so, but then something changed in the book or in my brain and I couldn't stop reading. There may have been a tear or two at the end. *Ahem*. Diaz is a total gangster, I'd love to read more of his writing. To say that someone is a musical writer usually implies that they write lyrical, expressive prose that rolls off the page like a Beethoven sonata. Diaz is a musical writer, but his musicality is more like NWA. If you are thinking of partaking of a bit of Oscar action yourself, I recommend this website for those of us not entirely down with the Marvel universe, Tolkien, or, among other things, Dominican slang.

The holiday might be over but summer is still going strong. What to read next, I wonder?