7, 8, 9

I attempted to read Delta Wedding by Eudora Welty and couldn't finish it. I'll try to read some of her short stories later this year. Maybe it is better in smaller doses and I just couldn't handle a large swath of Eudora Welty.

I did finish three other books in the past week:

So Many Books, So Little Time: A Year of Passionate Reading by Sara Nelson. This book was one woman's account of her reading over one year. She left out some books, but it was interesting reading how someone chose books, how she read them and what she thought of them. It also gave me some ideas of what I should try reading.

Truth and Beauty by Ann Patchett is really great book. I can't say enough about this book, it was a book that I couldn't put down, but it also made me think about the way I live my life. Ann Patchett is easily one of my favorite writers and she wrote a beautiful book about her friendship with Lucy Grealy, a famous writer in her own right, who struggled with the loss of her jaw and how it affected her life, physically and emotionally. It made me think about my own struggle with loneliness and self-image. At her best Grealy was an inspiration to all, at her worst an anti-drug commercial and the relationship between Patchett and Grealy enforces the idea that the love of a lifetime is not necessarily a romantic one.

The Nanny Diaries: A Novel by Emma McLaughlin and Nicola Kraus was a fun read and took my mind off work on the way to and from it. It also helped me wile away a depressing Friday night.