The Poisonwood Bible and City Life

I finished The Poisonwood Bible last night in a frenzied fit of reading, and even after having enough time to reflect and come to terms, I'm still a little muddled and disappointed about the whole thing.

Perhaps the hard part is that I really, really WANTED to like the book. My mother loves it, my friends who've read it like it, and it was an Oprah's Book Club Book (something I usually would have ran from but, for some reason, decided to trust this time). Or perhaps its that there were parts of the book that I did like. I loved certain scenes (the tribe-wide hunting scene or the Adah monologues) and a lot of the prose really got me thinking about my own writing style, something I really love in the books I read. But, even with all that, I still didn't really like the book as a whole. There was all of this buildup to the pivotal tragedy, and then it occurs and then....things just continue. I know that this is how life is, and there is a bit of admiration to be had for books that attempt to echo life. But, after tragedy and the sisters and mother leave the village, there really isn't any more impetus to keep reading. It becomes reading for readings sake, something I hate to do. The stories became so dull that, I admit, I left the last two chapters unread. It was just that I mentally couldn't do it - each page felt like it weighed a ton! But, the book had a few meritorious points, so I wouldn't completely trash it. Just make sure that you're in ready for a looooooonnnnngggg book that feels like a lllloooooooooonnnnnnnnnnnngggggggggg book.

Since then, I've moved on to Anne Rice's Interview with the Vampire. I don't know. I guess that because I liked the Twilight series so much, I thought I'd go back and read the pinnacle of all vampire novels. Its a step out of my usual genre, but I'm hoping it pays off. I'm a dozen or so pages in, and there is some of that intensity missing that I loved so much about Twilight, but I just keep reminding myself not to compare the books to one another - they're completely different canonical works!

Other than the reading (which I LOVE having plenty of time to do!) the vacation to Chicago is going well! Lots of swimming and the hotel, lots of talking on my sisters balcony, and lots of play time with my niece, the most adorable girl in the world who, at this moment, is laying next to me asleep, one of her hands curled around my toes. Its adorable. Tomorrow is off to the city for some sight seeing (hello, Sears Tower! Hello, Theater District! Hello, Navy Pier!) and some much deserved adult time (hello, Second City Improv!) And, of course, some much deserved time with Anne Rice!