Friday Reads 12/2/16

It's Friday!!! DO you know what that means? We have a weekend full of reading ahead of us! YAY!!! I read three books this week so let's get to it.


The Piano Shop on the Left Bank by Thad Carhart
In this sweet memoir Carhart writes of his love affair with the piano. Not just with playing the piano or with music but with the piano as an object. The history and the mechanics of it and what makes each instrument unique and different. As a pianist myself, I loved this book. And as someone who has a decent understanding of music history I discovered many little tidbits that I hadn't previously heard. If you are not a musician yourself I don't know if you would find this book nearly as interesting as I did but if you have even the slightest interest in things musical I highly recommend it.





A Room with a View by E.M. Forster
This was my first venture into Forster and to be completely honest, I only read it because my book club is watching the movie next week...so obviously I had to read the book first. Generally, books like this are not my cup of tea. The plot lines tend to be too predictable for my taste. (Girl is in love with an unacceptable man, oh no!) However, this was an enjoyable read. The characters were engaging and humorous. And it will be interesting to compare it with the movie while it is still very fresh in my mind. 





The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

I read this book today...like...I literally binge read the entire thing...that's pretty much all I did today. Yes, this is a reread. I have a very distinct memory of reading it 3 or 4 years ago. I got home late in the evening and decided to read a chapter before I went to bed...and then it was 4am...so going into it a second time I did not expect that to happen. I know the story now. I know who lives and who dies. I know how it ends. But, here I am, having cried more tears the second time around and being even more struck by some of the themes that seem even more timely today then they did a few years ago. If you haven't picked up these books yet, you probably should do that soon.



What am I currently reading? Oh I'm glad you asked. In the last two days I have started two books: Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke (which was on my November TBR and I am just now getting to) and The Help by Kathryn Stockett (which is the first book I pulled randomly off of my December pile of wrapped books). So those are the two I will be working on this weekend. Although, I wouldn't be surprised if Catching Fire and Mockingjay manage to make their way onto the stack...