Best Laid Plans

"I watch her go, envying the certainty of her youthful confidence - the confidence of thinking that everything will go according to ones plans." Truth.

4.14 Arcadia falls

When I got back into reading, and began blogging, I never thought that I would lose my footing again. And then last year I lost all my footholds at once and I was shocked to see the salvation I had found in reading fade into the either of daily drudge. It also didn't help that my son stopped napping.

I made lists, I made stacks. I read the old blog posts to remind me how much the reading had helped me normalize the last time my life felt listless. I finally stormed through a book and thought I was cured only to languish again. In 2011, I read 67 books; in 2012, 23. My brain has felt the effects, and so has my soul.

As the 2014 started, I saw tweets about Goodreads already scolding participants of their reading challenge that they were behind. I'm not great at accepting scoldings but I thought joining the group might give me the right kind of push. I set my goal at 25 books, not lofty I know but I'm still feeling a bit fragile. And so far I am on track having just finished my fourth book - on track but certainly not burning up the highway - but what I love is that I am picking books based on the challenge instead of what I see going on in the reading world. Fact is, some books can be read in two days and not need to be anguished over and analyzed to death. So if I start falling behind it's time to pick something quick. Arcadia Falls fits that bill perfectly.

I read a lot of Carol Goodman when I was teaching high school. Mainly because a good escape was needed but also because the older girls liked to read them as well and I never recommended or lent out anything without reading it myself first. The blueprint here is the same as her others: Eastern boarding school, new teacher, some sort of literary mystery leads to a modern murder, final twist that I see coming a mile away. And a book read for my challenge in three days while feeling the awesome sensation of looking forward to finishing it.

Great literature it may not be, but turns out Goodreads doesn't judge.

Old School

This post disappeared but it was for Nancy Drew's The Bungalow Mystery.  This is what I said on Goodreads.

I picked this up at the library because it said it was the original story printed in 1930. I’m sure I read the 1957 reprinting.

The first page is basically a disclaimer from the publisher saying that readers may be “extremely uncomfortable” with the stereotypes and racial language used. I didn’t see any racial language in this particular story and while I was always impressed by Nancy when I read the books as a child, I had to laugh at the fact that she didn’t do any sleuthing to solve this particular crime. She instead overheard the bad guy, who conveniently spoke out loud to himself and detailed all of his plans. I know these are for younger readers – but come on!

3.14 The Bungalow Mystery