Twilight and New Moon by Stephanie Meyers

OK I saw the movie Twilight and confess that I rather enjoyed it. I even liked Bella the 17 year old heroine in the movie. I also liked the Vampire/Native American legend. Jacob the Quilleyute teen was so cute. So I started the series of books - hey it is set in Forks - green, damp and nothing to do - I felt a need to be supportive of that sad little town we breeze through on the way to beach and forest hikes. It's not a "Harry Potter", ugh the dialogue sucks, but it was a fast read. Alas in the books Bella is much more wimpy- low self esteem always needing to be around men or else doing something so dumb it is ridiculous. In this day and age, please girls this is not a good model. I liked Edward the Vampire more in the books as he shows his self restraint but stop telling Bella to be safe! I see why girls like the forbidden. The age old tale of Romeo and Juliet. The attraction to Vampires...sex...yeah it's there. Will I read the other books? Yes even though really this is a bad use of my time! Sorry Carson, there are times when I just have to read a bit of junk.

Hotel Bemelmans by Ludwig Bemelmans

I read this book after rave reviews in the NY Times Book Review. A reminder to self - rave reviews do not mean I will like it myself. I did like the Madeline books which Bemelmans wrote so I thought I would read this to learn about his life. And some of it was interesting - he grew up on Austria- hated school, went to work for an uncle in the hotel business and then managed to make every mistake he possibly could including shooting a waiter (he lives). Ludwig is sent off to New York with a few names from his uncle to make a new life. He lands eventually at the Ritz and has a long career there as a bad waiter and then caterer. There were some funny spots, but this was so old fashioned 1940ish that I had trouble doing much more than skimming his antics. Note to others - don't waste your time with this one.

Confederates in the Attic by Tony Horwitz

The last book I read by Tony Horwitz- Baghdad without a Map was pretty funny and I was in need of some comedic relief so I got Confederates in the Attic. I enjoyed Tony's travels through out the South to examine why southerners today still ponder the Lost Cause. It was full of some good laughs as Tony follows a reenactor "hardcore" named Robert Lee Hodge through his civil wargasm.

" The pleasure the Civil War gave me was hard to put into words. ' You're talking about a period rush,' Rob said, when I tried to explain all of this during the final mile of our Gettysburg March...with a live chicken slung over my shoulder.. But childhood fantasy kept colliding with adult reality...and the discomforting adult questions that remembrance kept raising...For many Southerners I'd met, remembrance of the War had become a talisman against modernity, an emotional lever for their reactionary politics. The issues at stake in the Civil War -race in particular- remained raw and unresolved, as did the broad question the conflict posed: would America remain one nation? Socially and culturally,there were ample signs of separatism and disunion across class, race, ethnic and gender lines. The whole notion of a common people united by common principles -even common language- seemed more open to question than at any period in my life time." pp. 387 and 386

Tony travels through 15 states meeting Daughters of the Confederates who keep small museums full of confederate soldiers' uniforms, guns, and letters home; attending a number of tense meetings in a small town where a black young man kills a white young man for the confederate flag that drapes his truck and visiting the last surviving confederate widow who as a teenager married an 80 year old confederate who did not talk much about his service and turns out to have been a deserter. And then participating with all those hundreds of reenactors who show up at the Battle of Shilo and other battle sites on the anniversaries of the battles to engage in reenactment. Tony's greatest talent is how he describes what he encounters without judging the people he meets allowing the reader to draw his/her own conclusions.

The Bridge of Sighs by Richard Russo

My friend, Rich, loved this book. I usually like his taste in books so I took it on our trip to Argentina. Let's just say if you have read one Richard Russo book on small town life that might be enough unless you were really into small town life where not much happens. The narrator Lou C or lucy is a guy who runs several small groceries in a small town in upstate New York and thinks a lot about his childhood -- his mother, father, school and the dreaded time he was locked in a trunk by some bullies. Intertwined are stories from his "best" friend's perspective and from his wife's perspective. The ending was very dissatisfying and a bit unbelievable. Alas I was stranded in a country with Spanish books and forced to plow through it... sigh!