Book Nook - February

Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck
Achingly beautiful and tragic. George and Lennie are two migrant workers who take care of each other and hope for a brighter future. I just bawled at the end. I mean snot dripping, heaving sighs, lips shaking, bawled. People just need each other and a little bit of hope. Read it, read it, read it. (Now I have Barbara Streisand running through my head. People, people who need people...)

The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas
Book Club pick for February. It thought it was seriously fun. It was such an intricate and intense melodrama. The characters are very black and white but the story is such a page turner. Sometimes I read to Charlie while he's playing with his toys and I think he really enjoyed this one. Mostly because I used crazy voices and called myself the Count of Greasy Crisco while twirling my imaginary fake mustache. He thinks it's cute now but just wait until he's a teenager. He'll think I'm a curse.

Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen
What will I do with my Sunday nights when the Complete Jane Austen is no longer on Masterpiece Theatre? Though I did think some of the pieces were a bit dry, I really enjoyed this new version of Northanger Abbey. I enjoyed the movie so much that it actually motivated me to read the book which I had never really had any interest in reading before. I watched part of a dreadful adaptation with some porny sounding sax score a few years ago and was turned off. However, I have to say that I really enjoyed the book. It's not my favorite of Austen's works but her wit and gift for satire were still present. I thoroughly enjoyed the book's heroine, the naive and eager Catherine. I could easily relate to her character since I was a silly teenage girl who read too many gothic romances as well. I now feel motivated to finish reading the rest of Austen's works. I only have two left to read - Sense and Sensibility and Mansfield Park. I just bought Sense and Sensibility and am excited to start it. I want to finish it before the film adaptation is on at the end of this month.

Eat Pray Love by Elizabeth Gilbert
The author of this book, after going through a terrible divorce, decides that she needs some time to put herself back together. Her search for pleasure, devotion, and balance leads her to spend a year split between Italy, India, and Indonesia. I was salivating as she described eating the world's best pizza in Naples. I could practically taste it myself. Her search for God through yogic meditation at an ashram in India really made me realize that I need more still time in my life. And come on, who doesn't want to spend four months livin' it up and falling in love in Bali? Though I love my life, I really miss the freedom being a singleton and having the time and money to travel. Well, I guess there is a season for everything. Maybe I'll have another season in my life when I can travel again.