What to read?

Here I sit this Tuesday morning, eating a peanut butter and honey sandwich, alternating between taking my day's pills: Cod Liver Oil, Coconut Oil, Ginko, Wellness Formula (reeks like garlic), and a Perfect Food pill (green and earthy), they are mostly large and take a little while to coax down.

While I sit here I am trying to decide what to read this summer, which has become a dilemma. This past school year I became a member of a second book club, which has been enjoyable, but not exactly a smooth ride. Most, maybe all, but me are first time book club members and haven't mastered the art of choosing a book. It really is a skill, maybe even an art....you should have 1. read and loved/really liked it or 2. Someone you trust has loved/really liked it or 3. There is a preponderance of evidence on the Internet that a large segment of society loved/really liked it. Anything else is a big risk.

Unfortunately our new group has fallen victim to "I loved this author's book from "1993".....so this must be good", not so, in fact I have purchased many hardback, IE, expensive books in the last nine months and haven't finished them because they are, well, not good.

I like to list the books I've read on this blog so I can remember, but I am going to list the books I've started and haven't finished.

Inherent Vice by Thomas Pynchon- I could not follow this story to save my life. It was seedy and had ADHD, how did it ever get published? I read about 1/8 of it.

B is for Beer- A children's story about beer? come on. I didn't even crack it open due to the late purchase and after the review I had no desire to start.

The Year of the Flood by Margaret Atwood- I really tried to make this work and it was torture. In fairness to her it was fantasy/sci-fi, which is one of my least favorite genres. She is beloved big time in Canada and has won multiple Man-Booker awards, which I thoroughly respect, but this didn't do it for me. FYI, she is a big time socialist so you can imagine her works reflect that. I read about 1/4 of this.

Last night in Twisted River by John Irving- I was pulled into the story at first, but I couldn't tell where it was going and I lost interest. No one else read it either. I made it 1/3 of the way.

The Lacuna by Barbara Kingsolver- I was most excited to read this for a few reasons. First, I liked The Poisonwood Bible that she wrote. Second, the reviewer sounded like she had researched it and I was excited about the subject matter of Frieda Kahlo, Diego Rivera, and Trotsky. As I was learning new and interesting things about Trotsky and that era that have apparently been swept under the rug in history, I was pulled in, although the main character never really developed. I stalled out though when she dragged the story into the Macarthy era, which I know a lot about and wasn't interested in her take on it, so I quit. I read some reviews of her and her book and had some questions answered and some suspicions confirmed: She conveniently left out a lot of evidence about Trotsky's assassination (I don't liked to be tricked with half truths), she is a socialist also and so the book is biased, which is fine, if you like to be preached at. My friend Katie was annoyed with her from The Poisonwood Bible and complained of her "getting on her soapbox", well this is definitely Soapbox #2. I read 2/3 of it. By the way, no one in the book club even started this book, not even the reviewer.

I have tried to start a few light hearted books for a fun summer read, but torture so far. I might read The Big Rock Candy Mountain by Wallace Stegner (the author of one of my all time favorites-The Angle of Repose). I've had it on my shelf for years and I just read the first paragraph, just beautiful, that man could write....but......

I really want to read something frivolous and light, IE, The Nanny Diaries or The Devil Wears Prada. Does anyone have a recommendation?