Overexertion–The Heading under Which Don Quixote Seems to Fall: The Book List

I have added another book to the 2006 list–Alvarez’s new novel. I have to say, I was not as impressed as I was with her earlier work. Her protagonist is whiny, self-centered, and doesn’t really have my sympathy until the end. What happened to the masterful portrayl of women in conflict or crisis that Alvarez usually delivers? I was less than fascinated by the book, and sort of wish I had waited until it was available in paperback. Ah, well. Live and learn. Whatever statement Alvarez was trying to make about do-gooders, writers, and the world after 9/11, it didn’t click with me. Overall, it was a weak novel that could’ve been better had she only focused on the story of cowpox carried on the arms of little boys in 1803 to the New World. I didn’t care for the modern-day character of Alma. Yawn until the end when . . . dare I say it? Nah, I won’t give it away, but Alma’s character really made me wonder what’s up in Alvarez’s life right now (or in the recent past). Now, I’m trying to read Cervantes’ classic, but I have to admit it’s not going well. And my Harry Potter books just came in the mail today! Ah, sweet temptation . . . What’s that, Half-Blood Prince? You want me to read the part where the Inferi attack Harry because it’s super-creepy? And you want me to read the part where he imagines Ginny weeping over his unconscious form after taking a Bludger to the head courtesy of Cormac McLaggen because Harry’s vivid imagination is what makes the books so damn funny? Um . . . maybe . . . For now, onto the book list:

Finished:

1) The Last Days of Henry VIII: Conspiracy, Treason and Heresy at the Court of the Dying Tyrant by Robert Hutchinson
2) Pope Joan by Donna Woolfolk Cross
3) Cat’s Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut
4) Galapagos by Kurt Vonnegut
5) One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
6) Assassination Vacation by Sarah Vowell
7) The Partly Cloudy Patriot by Sarah Vowell
8) Misquoting Jesus: The Story Behind Who Changed the Bible and Why by Bart D. Ehrman
9) Saving the World by Julia Alvarez

Re-read:

1) Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ’s Childhood Pal by Christopher Moore

Currently Reading:

1) Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra (Translation by Edith Grossman)

Waiting To Be Read (Already Purchased, Got as Gifts, Borrowed from My Boyfriend, or Otherwise Accessible without the Use of Funds, But Not an Assurance That I Will Read These Before I Buy More Books):

1) Lost for Words: Hidden History of Oxford English Dictionary by Lynda Mugglestone
2) Whose Bible Is It?: A History of the Scripture through the Ages by Jaroslav Pelikan
3) Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting by in America by Barbara Ehrenreich