50

In January of 2022, I made a new years resolution, something I almost never do.  But I thought it would be interesting to see if I could read 50 books in the year.  Yesterday I finished book #49 and have 20+ days to finish my 50.

When I was in the hospital and the first couple of weeks at home I had no desire to read and so got way behind and was afraid I wouldn't make it to 50.  I started looking for short books to read.  For example, I read "Animal Farm," which it seems everyone but me read as a child...and it's less than 200 pages.  I also read a couple of other short books.  Jeri asked me what my favorite book was and I think "West with Giraffes, about 2 giraffes who were driven across the country in 1923 was perhaps the most memorable.

This past week I've kept the TV off and just read all day...and pretty much most of the evening too.  I finished four books in a week, starting with "Livid," which was not a short book, but the latest by Patricia Cornwell and her books read pretty fast.  I'm glad that she is back to writing books that I like again.  She went through a period where I hated what she was doing with the characters I knew so well, but it's the "old Patricia Cornwell" and I was happy to read her book.

Then I've been seeing ads for the upcoming movie, "Spoiler Alert," which is about a gay guy who dies (actually the full title of the book is "Spoiler Alert: the Hero Dies.")  Another not short book, but riveting.  You'd think a 300 page book about a guy dying of cancer would be boring, but the author paints such a wonderful picture of their relationship, their ups an downs, and the fight to save his husband's life that it was an easy all-day read.

Melissa Gilbert's "Back to the Prairie" was not what I expected--nothing about filming "Little House on the Prairie" but her tale of adjusting to middle age, her latest marriage and the home they renovated was interesting, as was Kelly Ripa's "Live Wire," though that, too, was not what I expected it to be...still enjoyable.

I wanted to read something "special" for my 50th book so I've decided to read Alec Clayton's latest book, "The Back Side of Nowhere." Alec is a friend...I met him and his wife through Steve Schalchlin...and I believe this is his 9th book.  He's a good writer, but the novels he writes aren't the kind that I normally read so I've only read a couple of them, but Alec's book seemed to be appropriate to end my 50 books.  I have almost a whole month to read it at leisure!