With little work this week, I can get back to one of my all time favorite activities, reading. There wasn’t much on the shelf when I went to the library last weekend, so it was a very thin week of reading.

Otherwise Engaged, by Eileen Goudge.

Ok, I like women’s fiction (and romance, and thrillers) because formula gives you exactly what you expect. It’s like going to McDonald’s, I suppose. Otherwise Engaged didn’t disappoint, but it didn’t give you much either. Mid-thirties women wonder how life would have turned out if only . . . . They ’switch places,’ and discover love, success, happiness - you know the drill. Oh, and sex with a half-Native-American-hottie thrown in for good measure. I won’t remember it after I return it today.

Characters, Emotion & Viewpoint, by Nancy Kress

I like to write. I feel compelled to write. So, I read books on . . . writing. They generally suck. Why? Because how many thousands of pages can you read that say, ’show, don’t tell,’ without getting bored. What I was looking for was a book with character exercises so I could more thoroughly explore the characters in my latest novel. I kept putting it down thinking I should be writing, not reading.

The Baby Trail, by Sinead Moriarity

I think Irish writers are hilarious, but other than Bridget Jones’ Diary, I’ve never understood the popular ‘chick lit’ trend. Nutter Irish make-up artist in Dublin drives her English rugby coach husband crazy as she spends a year or so trying to get pregnant. Funny, but I don’t really care about the characters. They’re too stock.

At First Sight, by Nicholas Sparks

I’m trying to finish this. Lexie, despite suffering from some odd pregnancy thing, I’m sure will come out okay in the end. Years ago I read the Notebook. I think it’s interesting to read popular romance written by a man, who seems obsessed with the Carolinas. Halfway through this book, I stopped to read the reviews on Amazon and other on-line sources. Yep, it turns out that others hated the characters as much as me. They’re duplicitous, and shallow. The hero is ‘almost’ sterile, his girlfriend, if you can call her that after their casual fling, gets pregnant, so he gives up his NYC apartment, friends, family and career to marry her. Only then does he consider he might not be the father. He buys her what ever she wants even though it’s making him go broke, but he doesn’t talk to her about it. She’s seeing her ex crush on the side, but doesn’t tell the hero. I wanted to kill them all. Since I only have a few pages left, I’ll assume Lexie has her baby and they live happily ever after. Ugh.

Maybe next week will be better.