october books

before i blog about my october books, i must announce that i am officially going to attend the obama rally downtown chicago tomorrow night! a small group of us were lucky enough to snag tickets online last week and we'll be braving the masses and potentially risking our safety to be there when history is made. help make tomorrow the best day of 2008 by going out to VOTE*!

*and when i say "vote," i of course mean for obama!


the club dumas, arturo perez-reverte
this was a fun romp of a book for a lit fiend like me... a few years ago i went through a bunch of dumas works and enjoyed them all. i can see the value of the serial novel in that time frame and i recognize dumas' talent as genius. in the club dumas, perez-reverte takes us through a (i'm being honest here) really nerdy yet action-packed literary thriller/mystery.

the narrator follows lucas corso, an aging rare book hunter with sketchy contacts and methods. corso obtains two cases - one, proove whether a manuscript is an actual chapter from the 3 musketeers, penned by dumas himself. and two, find all three remaining copies of a book of satanic verses and woodcuts. the two stories comingle and we have an infinite number of literary references peppered throughout the plot and characters.

the nerd in me enjoyed the word-play, my competitive spirit enjoyed the action, and my raw humanity definitley enjoyed the more risque interludes. this was a very fun, relatively easy read. there's no need to have read any dumas before embarking here - it's just an added bonus.



eva moves the furniture, margo livesey
10lees presented this lovely book to me for, i think, my bday (there was a massive round of gift catch-up not too long ago - so much fun!!!). i have to shout out to 10 - thank you for the book, i definitely enjoyed it!

eva mcewan's mother dies shortly after childbirth, leaving her widower and his sister to raise little eva in the quiet, pre-war scottish country town outside of glasgow. at six, eva learns that she's followed by a woman and child - ethereal spirits who's intentions are unclear. they alternately help and hinder her socially - they encourage her to get a job, but spoil her attempt as local secretary, "assisting" eva by losing important documents and re-arranging the files. twice they save her from physical harm and twice they thwart her love interests.

the supernatural in this book mingles very well with the reality of eva's and scotland's involvement in WWII. the mystery of eva's companions unfolds as she matures, becomes a nurse and desires a family. this is a very sweet scottish novel that i would recommend to anyone, especially those with a penchant for imagining your character's accents as you read (so much fun!).


november has a few books on deck, but frankly, it's hard to find reading time when the weather is this nice outside! 70 degrees in november??? i'll take it AND a long walk in the forest preserve!