The Black Dahlia

Book #213, The Black Dahlia by James Ellroy, is haunting and beautiful. Part of the reason why I haven't posted sooner is because I have been trying to shake the feeling that the story has become entwined with my own life (another part is lack of time). At first I thought the 40's slang was kind of silly, but now I find myself wanting to use phrases like "I was itchy to go."And the complete obsession over Betty/Beth/Betsy Short's life and death had me reeling. Read this book if you don't have problems separating reality from fiction.

Sucked In By A Mystery

I am now reading The Black Dahlia and it is taking over my life. It is an enthralling story that I need to finish so that it will stop messing with my head. Some stories just get under my skin and I think about them even when I'm not reading. It is great to come across a story that powerful, but it can also be exhausting.

The Purloined Letter

Book #909, The Purloined Letter, is an extremely short story by Edgar Allan Poe. I think it is a total of 15 pages, but still manages to be yawn-worthy at times. While Dupin is Poe's all-knowing detective, Conan Doyle did that type of character much better with Sherlock Holmes. While I agree that some of Poe's works are quite important literary contributions, I find that in many of his stories he spends too much time explaining things that really aren't that important or interesting. Case in point - a police inspector asks Dupin for help regarding a case involving a letter stolen from a female person of dignitary importance. The inspector knows who stole the letter but cannot find it even after searching the thief's residence. Dupin then spends several pages explaining how easy the letter was to find. Blah blah blah. At least the story was over quickly.

Ragtime

I finished book #335, Ragtime by E.L. Doctorow, this afternoon. It ended up being a thoroughly engrossing book, and the short chapters made it easy to say "I'll just read one more." Among all the famous characters were two unnamed families who were caught up in the middle of all the important events happening at the dawn of the 20th century. We see the assassination of Franz Ferdinand, many of Houdini's amazing feats, the trial of Harry K Thaw, and event a tiny bit of the Mexican Revolution. I very much enjoyed reading this book.

Poe and Doctorow

I started Ragtime by E.L. Doctorow, and I am almost to The Purloined Letter by Edgar Allan Poe in my complete collection of Poe stories. Ragtime is interesting so far, it is set in the early 1900s and discusses many famous people of the time, such as Harry Houdini and Sigmund Freud. The one thing I find annoying is that the actual fictional characters don't have names - they are called The Little Boy and Mother's Younger Brother. Kind of weird.

Silas Marner

I finished book #875, Silas Marner by George Eliot, pretty quickly. It was a lovely little tale of rural English life in the early 19th century. I like stories with happy endings and where people get what they deserve. There were even a few mild surprises - like what happened to Dunsey Cass. I recommend taking the time to read this book.

Started Silas Marner

I decided to read Silas Marner with some trepidation - even though it is a pretty short book, I have heard many people complain about having to read it in high school. I am actually enjoying it more than Brideshead Revisited! This is my first George Eliot book, I was never required to read anything by her in high school or college. I am glad because I don't think I would have appreciated it as much as I do now.

Brideshead Revisited

I don't know why it has taken me so long to write this entry, but I finished book #563, Brideshead Revisited by Evelyn Waugh, last week. I guess it is because I feel like I should have enjoyed the book more. It was by no means a bad book, the story was well written and fairly interesting. Now that I think about it, maybe the story didn't seem any different from many other stories I have read. A young man befriends another young man at college and becomes involved with his friend's family. They fall out of touch, and then the first man falls in love with the second man's sister when they meet again later in life. Ho hum, heard it all before. Time for me to move on.