I snagged this at Barnes and Noble today. I’ve been on the lookout for it for awhile because it’s about books. I’ve never read any manga before, but this was a good place to start.

The main character is a geeky bookworm type who just happens to be a paper master. She can make paper do anything she wants. It’s her weapon of choice. She tracks down her favorite author just before said author is kidnapped by the evil henchmen of a crazed fan. He calls her Paul S. Like in Stephen King’s Misery. Loved that part.

Several parts made me smile. I’m sure I’ll read it again. I don’t think I quite understood all the pictures even though I got the general gist of the story. And it’s only volume 1. I just wish my library system had this series.

Michael told me years ago I would like this book. Well, I finally felt like reading it.

This is labeled Book 1 in the Pendragon Cycle. Basically it is the story of Merlin’s parents. I bet you didn’t even know Merlin had parents. Anyway, mom was an Atlantean Princess, and dear old dad was a Briton prince. When Atlantis sank into the sea, Charis and her father’s household managed to escape and ended up in England, which they called something else entirely, of course, near the end of the Roman occupation of Britain.

I won’t tell you the ending, but let’s just say I felt like a huge fool when I got there. The thing that happens at the end had been forecast, foretold, and generally telegraphed all the way through, but I didn’t catch it. I was completely surprised by the event. Duhh!

I’ll probably read the rest of the books in the series eventually, but I’m not the type of girl who can read an entire series one after the other, so I won’t get to it immediately. This one is definitely worth a gander if you dig Arthurian legend sorts of books.

Oh, and in case you were wondering. 48 hours to Motley Crue!

Let me just say, I’ve had the worst cold/sinus infection/virus thingy for the last 5 days. This would be why I haven’t blogged in ages, and why I finished this book on Monday, and only now am posting about it.

This book, at a whopping 1433 pages, took me at least 5 weeks to read. I did manage to get through it, though. It was worth it.

The story follows a group of 12 women as they start a literary club for women in Waynesboro, Ohio in 1868. It talks about their social lives, their families, and the political situation in the country through 1932 when the last charter member of the group dies. It most closely follows Anne Gordon and Sally Rausch, though there are some other minor stories going on. Anne is my favorite character. I most identified with her personality and temperament.

With this book, I have now finished a fourth of my reading goals for the year. Remember that resolution to read one big book a month? Well, this was book number 3. Go me!

This book was so beautiful. But not in the conventional way. It described Afhanistan, which we tend to think of as a desert wasteland, with obvious love. Even while describing the narrator’s return to his hometown after the Taliban had taken over, Hosseini focuses on what is beautiful about it. Or could be.

The Kite Runner also made me hungry. I love Indian food and all the way through this book, it talks about what they ate. Often it is the same as what is served in Indian restaurants here. Guess what’s for dinner tonight?

OK. Back to the story. Amir was raised by his wealthy father in a large house with the help of his father’s servant Ali. Ali’s son Hassan, was Amir’s constant companion. Amir often feels that he doesn’t live up to his father’s expectations of him and that his father wishes he was more like Hassan. At the age of 12, Amir watches as the neighborhood child psychopath perpetrates a heinous crime on Hassan. He spends the next 26 years hating himself for not doing something to help.

His father flees Afghanistan after a political coup makes it too dangerous to stay. In California, Amir and his father are poor, but Amir feels they have a better relationship. Amir marries an Afghan woman and settles down.

Then, his father’s friend calls Amir from Pakistan. Amir goes to see him one last time because he is dying. In Pakistan, Amir learns several things I won’t tell you here, that make it possible for him to redeem himself.

It is called Kite Runner because in Kabul, where Amir and Hassan grew up, they had kite contests every winter. The kits strings had glass shards all up and down them, to cut the other kite strings. When a kite’s string was cut, the kids would “run” it. The one who got to it first, got to keep it as a prize. Hassan was the best kite runner in their neighborhood.

March’s resolution book is …And Ladies of the Club by Helen Hooven Santmyer. I knew it was going to be a bitch so I started it in the middle of February. I am now half way through. It’s a good book. But I am so ready to read something else. Oh, and just so you know, half way is page 716.

I’m trying to get ahead because I will have to stop this week to read The Kite Runner for Tequila Mockingbirds Book Club.

Small Beer Press is making room for new books, by selling off their old inventory. It’s mostly sci-fi and fantasy, so if you’re into that, this may be your lucky day.