spare time

LOL - what's that?!

Well, yes, I do occasionally get some spare time. Most of my "marcia time" is spent reading. At home I hardly read, and I just LOVE to read, so I've been enjoying some books. I've read four books since we've been on the road. Yes, only four. But the SHORTEST of the four was 503 pages, and the longest was 960!! And really - I don't have much spare time. It seems like I'm always busy... I'll get to that in some upcoming post!

Two of the books I've read are standouts.

"The Secret History" by Donna Tartt is truly a page-turner. The first two pages tell you who was murdered and who did it. The first half of the book then leads up to the murder and the second half describes after the murder. It is written from the point of view of one of the murderers, and so people and activities are seen through his eyes. The characters are very realistic, complex - it seemed almost like I actually knew them. LOL I don't normally like murder mystery type books, but this book went way beyond that. Because it's already known whodunit, the emphasis is on personalities, situations, morality, consequences, etc. Fantastic book!!

"Russka" (can't remember the author!) is also a great book. But it's very different from the prior. It is a historical novel, set in a small town in what is now Russia. It starts hundreds (thousands?) of years ago, with a focus on two individuals. Each chapter is more recent, and focuses on one or two descendants of those first two people. It is fascinating seeing how the Russian culture, people, country evolved throughout time. The book focuses on the serf/peasant/working class and the noble class, and how the circumstances for those classes changed over time. Sound boring? NOT. It isn't the kind of book that you can't set down, but it is fascinating.