Super Fantastic Reading Group

I tried...

But I could not finish this book.  I am only 1/3 of the way through and I do not care about these people.  I do not care about their lives.  They are not interesting.  And the bulk of the book is about people who have extra-marital affairs. 

I can't like Nora because her husband was obtained through an affair.

I can't like Agnes because she is actively involved in an affair. 

I don't like Harrison because (at least where I am right now) he wants to have an affair. 

The man Bridget is about to marry left his wife for her so while it is nice that he is there for her during this whole cancer thing, he left his wife and daughter for another woman.

These are not good people.  So it is getting returned to the library unfinished.  I've read others from her so I know she isn't all icky, but this one was just not for me.

Bait and Switch

When Joanne and I were returning from Hawaii last year, we had a lot of extra time at the airport and spent much of it in the bookstore. There was an Anita Shreve book there that I had not seen before. When I read the book jacket and discovered that it was all about cheaters, I put it back and was disappointed that I would not be reading this book by an author whom I admire. When Chatty chose A Wedding in December, at first I was concerned that it was the book that I had passed over, then I read the description online and it didn't sound familiar. Now, I believe that the publishing company changed the book description for the paperback version in order to give a boost to lackluster sales of a book that is all about cheaters.

I was halfway through the book and remarked to my husband, "Nothing has happened yet." Beyond not containing sympathetic characters (other than Agnes), this book was just plain boring. The most interesting part was the story-within-a-story that Agnes was writing about Innes Finch.

If this was your first introduction to Anita Shreve, please give her another shot. Her writing style is similar in her other books, but all of the ones I have read before contained actual plots.

A New Book to Read

Hi all. I started reading a book a couple of weeks ago, and now have a reason to just sit and read it.  It is called,  A Wedding in December by Anita Shreve.  We begin discussing on November 6th.

I've been told it is a good book...one that makes us reflect.  I hope so. 

Happy reading!