______________________________________________________________________________ 2002 Reading Observations BAD************************************************************************* I never went anywhere near my original reading list except once and that was a book on tape edition of John Grisham’s Street Lawyer.. All the books that I read I borrowed from the library. This mainly was because it was deathy hot and sticky this summer so I renewed my libray card and hid out in the libray to avoid the heat of a Baltimore summer. I think I may have to do away with the date started and completed category. The reason for this is that I don’t really keep track of the date I start reading books. I just sort of pick them up organically and start reading. The dates given are all guestimates. My most hated writer is still that chick that does The Cat Who....... series. Most horrible book I read was Guilty Pleasures by Laurence Sanders. I still can’t get over the consentual incest plot line. Sick Sick sick!!! I will continue on completing his McNally series of books. It should be noted that Guilty Pleasures was not a part of the McNally series. I found the McNally book that I read to be fun and breezy ala my beloved Fletch books of the 80’s. God, I miss Fletch! I started to realy get into reading Low Rider while I was doing jury duty. However, I lost my copy of Low Rider in one of those big discount stores downtown. See, I really did try to complete the list! I borrowed a copy from the libray but never got around to reading it. Well, maybe next year.... I’ll do I better job of completing the list. Heck, if I can read 34 books on my own I’m sure I can get through a mere 33 books. GOOD*********************************************************************** I read more books than I did last year. This year I read 35 books compared to 2001’s grand total of 9 books. If I keep this up I may break Stephen King’s record. I think in his book, On Writing he claims to read over 200 books a year. Also good I started to include books on tape. I used to feel guilty about this viewing it as a crutch and not really reading. Then I read King’s book and discovered that he also does the books on tape thing so I don’t feel guilty anymore. Heck, if one of my writing idols does books on tape then it probably should’nt be regarded as bad. Besides in order to be a good writer one has to read a lot and that is what I plan on doing reading and writing a lot so that I get good at determing what does and doesn’t work. My new favorite writing finds this year is Janet Evanovich (Jersey Girl Bounty Hunter), Nick Hornby(Yuppie Brits), Dorothy L. Sayers (Lord Peter Wimsey mysteries), Dorothy Gillman (Mrs. Pollifax series), John Ridgely (ironic multicultural crime in LA) and Laurence Sanders (McNally series). Sanders has the distinct honor of being the author of the most hated book this year (Guilty Pleasures) and the most favorite series that I discovered (McNally’s Dilema). I have now read every single book that John Grisham ever put out the same goes for Nick Hornby. Well, maybe not completely for Hornby I believe he edited a book of short stories that I have’nt read yet. Also this year I read, YES, read an actual book by John Grisham book.

????????????[written by gail ]