catching up

So two weeks ago, I had started four different fiction books. I never read more than one at a time because I usually get confused. So I decided to focus my efforts on which was due back at the library first--Forever in Blue: The Fourth Summer of the Sisterhood by Ann Brashares. In this fourth volume, the girls are once again up to their usual traveling and forgetting who they are and what they are about. There was also a lot of sex. That particular aspect sparked a conversation with A about what we would let our kids read. It was classified in the juvenile fiction in our library instead of YA; maybe the whole series should be moved to YA even though the first books are tamer (then again, didn't Bridget sleep with Eric in the first book?). A asked me if I would want/let Addison read this and I think I said not before high school, but I'm sure I was reading this level of fiction in middle school. And if I hadn't read it myself, I guess I would have assumed, if picking it out for my daughter, that since it was in JF, it was appropriate for ages below 14. It just makes me wonder/realize how much stuff my kids will encounter without me even knowing it. There is no way for me to prevent them from being exposed to all the things that I don't want them to know about before a certain age. It is just kind of amazing to realize as a parent that no matter how much you want to protect them, there is no way to protect them from everything. Very sobering thought for me.

Anyway, now I'm finished The Three Day Rule by my favorite British authors Josie Lloyd and Emlyn Rees. I have to finish it asap so that I can return it to the Vancouver (Ont.) ILL department before it's overdue (no renewals!!). I hate how Canada can get British fiction that we can't in the USA. All those British people get to read Jane Green books before I do, too. So unfair!

K

so many books, so little time

Today I finished Class Mothers by Katherine Stewart. Short and sweet about rich moms in Manhattan. I didn't like the ending though, where one character's resolution is to be a private investigator. That just seems a little to far-fetched. Otherwise pretty good, if you want something totally breezy.

And now I've found several titles I'd like to read, but I think I'm going to start with The Same Sweet Girls by Cassandra King. I haven't read The Sunday Wife by her, but I know that is a popular book group selection. This story about Southern women reuniting every summer reminds me of the YaYa books and Deborah Smith. I love good Southern stories--makes me want to move to North Carolina! (But that probably isn't considered the Deep South.) Cathy Kelly, you are next.

K