About a week ago I finished up the last book on my winter reads list: Let the Northern Lights Erase Your Name by Vendela Vida. It was a strange book or at least I thought it was a strange book. The main character was so self-centered and unforgiving during most of the book that the happiness and peace she finds in the last 10 pages of the book seemed false to me. I found it to be very well written but Clarissa was so hard and unapproachable that I didn’t like her. I didn’t feel or believe her deep need to find her mother and reconnect. But I appreciated the writing and the flow of the words even as I didn’t like the story.

This reviewer sums it up well:

Liked this against my will, March 1, 2007

Reviewer:

E. Baldwin (Brooklyn, NY) – See all my reviews

The characters are unlikable and they behave in ways that make no sense at all. But the author is such a good writer and the story is so well told that I couldn’t put it down.

So what’s up next for me to read? I’m actually running a little low on books at the moment. I’ll finish up the ghost stories I borrowed from a friend this weekend. I have on my list to read some Charlotte Mason by Karen Andreola but that has to be inter-library loaned – a minor pain in my arse. I may dig out some classics for my next round of reading.

I’ve not quite finished cataloging my books at LibraryThing, but I’m enjoying straightening up the bookshelves. I’ve found a few things I forgot I had and that I do indeed have more children’s books than I think. If I can find a few or perhaps build a few more bookshelves I’ll be in good shape. Though I am getting pretty good at stacking them up neatly.