Latest reads

"The Year of the Flood" by Margaret Atwood - my Omaha book club friends will remember Atwood from "The Handmaid's Tale" - very similar to this. Interesting and disturbing, but I'm not sure if I would recommend it to everyone. It is essentially about the effects of biogenetic engineering going haywire but it's not written in a science-fiction sort of way; its more emotional than that. Apparently there is another book that tells the same story from another character's point of view ("Oryx and Crake") so I'm reading that one next. Basically, I liked it but I was disturbed. Kind of like "The Road" but not quite as haunting, if that makes sense.

"The Carrie Diaries" by Candace Bushnell - I think I'm getting old because I didn't really relate to this one at all. I think I've been out of high school for too long. Basically we meet Carrie Bradshaw in her high school years, pre-"Sex & the City." I could see the high school crowd really getting into it though. But I really am getting old. I just saw in the paper that John Mellencamp is playing at RockFest here in town and thought about going until I saw that he doesn't play until 11pm and I immediately thought, "Ugh, I can't stay up that late." See, I told you I was old.

"Schooled" by Anisha Lakhani : If you liked "The Devil Wears Prada", this one's for you. It's about a first-year teacher at an elite private school in Manhattan. I laughed a lot while reading it but it's pretty much pure fluff - doensn't have the depth in the characters that TDWP had. Still, it's a quick, fun, summer read.

And if someone has "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo" that everyone is raving about that I could borrow I would love it. I put myself on the waiting list at the library but I'm imagining it will be 2012 before I get to the top of the list.

For those of you who wonder how I get so much read, it's pretty easy for me in the summertime -there's nothing good on TV so after the kiddos are in bed I am pretty much reading all the time.