The Curious Occurrence of No One Being at Home at Night-Time: The Book List

So, I’m currently very bored. And kind of put off by the treatment I received this afternoon. I called my boyfriend to complain, but he didn’t answer. I then called my family to complain, but they didn’t answer, either. So I’m left to complain on this blog, but I also thought I needed to do an update of the book list. So I’ll update the book list, and perhaps I’ll complain in a following post, but I’ll probably just keep the complaint and lament to myself. I just want to see if I should be put off or not; something tells me I should, so I am going to be put off until someone else tells me I’m taking things too personally.

Because I am not always the voice of reason, believe it or not.

Since we last visited our intrepid book list, I have completed only two more books. How sad, eh? I had been hoping to be much further along than 19 books read by the time the end of September rolled around, but that’s only as far as I am. Le sigh.

I delved into another Stephen King novel, From a Buick 8, which was infinitely better than Cell, his latest effort. From a Buick 8 was creepy, intriguing, heartwrenching, and heartwarming. King did the same king of job with Pet Sematary, which made me terribly sad and made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up late last year. While From a Buick 8 was not as scray as Pet Sematary, King was able to develop characters I genuinely cared about and nearly mourned for when he pulled one little last fright on me at the end of the book. And it was pretty funny at times–my favorite part was when two Pennsylvania state troopers yell like little girls and hug each other in fright. I could see two grown, somewhat jaded men screaming a la Fox Mulder in The X-Files episode, “Jose Chung’s ‘From Outer Space.’” If you’ve seen that episode, you know what I’m talking about; if not, see it if you can. An X-Files classic.

After From a Buick 8, I began a Carlos Fuentes novel, but I’m still working on that one. I then picked up Mark Haddon’s The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time. A very charming and slightly sad book, but I have to say that I had it figured out almost immediately. To Haddon’s credit, I wasn’t entirely sure who had killed Wellington, but I did know what had happened to protagonist Christopher’s mother almost instantly. Again, to Haddon’s credit, I believe he wanted the audience to know what had happened before Christopher did. Nevertheless, it was a quick and entertaining read; I enjoyed Christopher as a hero immensely. I was rooting for him, and even after I’ve walked away, I still want him to do spectacular in maths (not a typo here) and in physics. I want him to become that university professor he wants to be since he can’t be an astronaut.

Now, back to Carlos Fuentes, though that will shortly be joined by another Sarah Vowell book and Max Brooks’ latest effort, World War Z (zombies, zombies, zombies!).

Until then . . . 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
10) The Plot Against America by Philip Roth
11) The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafón (Translated by Lucia Graves)
12) The Golden Ass by Apuleius (Translated by Robert Graves)
13) Night Shift by Stephen King
14) Cell by Stephen King
15) A Dirty Job by Christopher Moore
16) Autobiography of Henry VIII: With Notes by His Fool, Will Somers by Margaret George
17) From a Buick 8 by Stephen King
18) The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon

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)
2) The Years with Laura Diaz by Carlos Fuentes (Translation by Alfred MacAdam)

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