The pile gets smaller for now

We are in the second full week of summer vacation and I have read 1.6 books-a pretty good start if I say so myself!  My first pick was gods in Alabama, by Joshilyn Jackson:

What a great choice to start my summer!  This book was a quick read, but wasn't "fluff" by any stretch of the imagination.  With fully developed and relatable characters and an intricately woven series of flashbacks, this book drew me in and kept me reading obessively until the very last page.  As good books often do, it also left me wishing there were a few more pages (those darn "reading group" questions at the end always make it seem like there is another chapter!). 

I love Southern Literature, Southern fiction-all things southern.  I took a Southern Lit. class in college and fell head over heels for Eudora Welty and others, all with the lush heritage and amazing language they could have only learned in the south.  Jackson's narrator couldn't have seemed less southern at the outset of the novel, but as I read on, I learned that Arlene was a bit a of nomad in her childhood and came a little late to the Alabama home where she spent her teenage years.  The story unravels like a phone call from a good friend with a crazy but enthralling story to tell.  One minute you are getting a play by play of her day, the next you are getting the backstory you need to make sense of it all.  I won't give details about the book, just go and read it.  I think her others will be in the pile of books that is getting smaller and larger at the same time. 

As quickly as I read gods in Alabama, I am reading The Life of Pi that slowly.  I know so many people who loved this book and Amazon, Paperbackswap and WeRead are all telling me that people who liked books I like also recommend Life of Pi, but UGH.  I won't let it defeat me, though and today is the last day of both Pi being on that liferaft and me reading about it-if it kills me I will finish this book.  I love some little pearls from this book, but it is way too much like science class for me. 

Read any good books lately? 

I will leave you with a picture of sweet oreo goodness.  I think I like taking pictures of these almost as much as I like making them, and let's be honest, eating them.  I made these for a fundraiser one of my friends did for her participation in the 3-day Susan G. Komen walk for breast cancer.  It was "yoga for the cure" and you can read more about it by looking at the blog in my sidebar:  yoga wisdom for everyday