You never write, you never call...but gosh darn it, that gives me time to read.

Every time I come back from a blogging "hiatus" I say something disingenuous like, "OMG, I'm totally going to be better about blogging," yet I never am, so this time I'm going with, "yay me for blogging. What you see is what you get."

The holidays came and went. We survived. That's all I have to say about that.

With the chucking of another calendar and the replacement of a new one, came my perpetual renewal of my four resolutions. You can read about them here. Today, I am avoiding resolution number four. The novel. I really like my story. I like my progress (about 1/3 of the way through) and I like my characters, but I don't have have half a spark of creativity right now. Not even a static electricity kind of spark.

I'm pretty sure the lack of motivation has something to do with the lingering head-cold that bested me last week. Ugh, I haven't been that sick in a long time. For six days straight all I wanted was high sodium canned soup and my mommy. There were a few days in there that I was too sick to even read. Me! Too sick to read! But don't worry, I read straight through three novels as soon as I could hold my head up. My reading list this past week:

Jacob Have I Loved by Katherine Peterson

The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini

Foundling by D. M. Cornish

Jacob Have I Loved was a re-read. It's a coming-of-age story set on a small island off the Maryland coast during WWII. Louise is the older, darker, less talented twin and has to come to terms with her sister, her hometown, and most importantly, herself. This book is my personal version of Catcher in the Rye. I think I was 14 when I first read it, and I think it spoke to me more now as an adult more than it did when I was a kid. That's what I love about good writing, it transcends decades and grows more precious with time.

I picked up The Kite Runner mumbling something like "well I guess I oughta see what all the fuss is about". I know, I know, "welcome to 2003, Renee" but I was busy in 2003. I was in places like China and college in 2003. I had a lot of other things to read that year.

There are times where reading that book is almost physically painful--not in the same sense as Twilight--but there are some scenes that were difficult to get through. I've never really found it easy to read about rape or extreme cruelty, but the stark picture of Afghanistan is part of why the book is popular, right? So I carried on, clinging to the heart of the book. For me, that heart was Baba. He was gruff and kind all at the same time. He felt human, tangible.

As I closed the book I couldn't help but feel emotionally manipulated. That I wasn't just supposed to take a "well rounded" picture of Afghanistan with me, but that I was supposed to weep and gnash my teeth for the loss of these characters. That I was supposed to gasp at the revelation that Hassan was Amir's half brother, and that Asef joined the Taliban and still terrorized little boys. But I wasn't surprised, and I felt like the ends were tied up too neatly. It felt too engineered. I think I felt that way because the main character was rather unsympathetic. It's kind of hard to connect with a story if you don't trust or empathize with the main character.

So I guess my final opinion on the book was, "I don't get it...I mean, I get it, but I don't get it."

Foundling was cute. I felt like the story took about half the book to catch its stride, but once it did, it was a great middle grade fantasy novel. Sort of Oliver Twist meets Pirates of the Caribbean meets monsters. With a 125 page glossary in the back.

Oh, and I started Eat, Pray, Love and was so appalled by the reason that Elizabeth Gilbert left her husband, that I put the book down. I don't care to spend an entire book with someone that is THAT selfish. So...all that to say, I have a free copy of Eat, Pray, Love if anyone wants it. It's currently taking up precious space on my bookshelf.