Musings of a Loquacious Mind

A Challenge, A Book, and A Spoiler

My no-longer-Secret Pal, Lori, has challenged everyone to join her in the 50 Book Challenge 2007 (if that link doesn't work for you, it's because you might have to be a registered member of that forum to read it. I can't remember.) Basically, the name says it all - read 50 books in 2007.

I don't think it will be very hard to do this, but I think it will be interesting at the end of the year to look back on what books I read this year.

The first book I am counting (I have read some others recently, but I'm only counting books I've finished since I decided to do the challenge) is Timeline by Michael Chrichton, that I wrote about two days ago.

Since I last read a Michael Chrichton book, I have read several Dan Brown books, and I think all of them are what I refer to as Grishoms (can you guess why?). This means, they have a niche, and they stick to it. Their works are fine, their works are popular, but their works are all, to an extent, indistinguishable and ultimately disposable. This book was very different from Jurrasic Park on the surface, but when it comes down to it, they just substituted medieval folk for dinosaurs. Really, there are more similarities than differences. Luckily, I liked Jurassic Park just fine, so I liked this book just fine, too... but I'm not going to really remember it too much.

The reason I mentioned Dan Brown is that I find I like his brand of "thriller" more - they are actually more "thrilling". And Dan Brown works better for Mommy Books. Mommy Books are books that I can read while keeping one eye on the baby playing in the den or at the playground. Mommy Books can be read in 1-3 minute bursts, without losing a lot. And Mommy Books are mostly what I have time for as of late.

So, if you like Michael Crichton books and haven't read Timeline, I say go for it. For the spoiler, even telling how I was spoiled provides a spoiler, so I am going to "black box" the whole thing. If you have already read the book or seen the movie, or if you just don't care if it spoils you because you probably never will, go ahead and highlight it - but don't say I didn't warn you!

Labels: books, movies

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