A Good and Happy Child

It's been forever! Okay, yes, I HAVE read things since my last post, but NO I did not feel like posting about them. Today's post is a literary thriller by Justin Evans called "A Good and Happy Child". Rob bought it and a couple of other books for me for Mother's Day and I give it a good solid A-. Certainly not a bad read, but not the best I've ever read either. It had tones of the Exorcist about it, though it wasn't specifically Catholic, like the Exorcist was. It's a book told through the memory of a now grown man who is having trouble bonding with his baby son, for fear of contaminating him with the dark spirits of his past. An interesting premise, but the majority of the entire book is in the past, events that took place when this man was around 11. He becomes convinced that demons are trying to take over his mind, and some of his late father's university friends believe it as well, though his mother and psychiatrist think the boy is simply suffering from mental illness. It was a spooky book, and it gave me the chills when I thought about it too long. It reminded me of a book I read about 6 or 7 years ago written by a priest who had performed several exorcisms and frankly, I had to stop reading it. In fact I had to get the book out of my house entirely, I couldn't put up with it touching anything I owned. Perhaps because I know A Good And Happy Child is fiction, I could enjoy it more, but still, it was very creepy. Anyone wants it, let me know. I'll send it to you.

A Whole Lot Lately

Okay, I have read a bunch of stuff since my last post but I've become rather lazy about posting. The most recent novel I finished is Digging To America, by Anne Tyler and I definitely give her an A. A nice solid, enjoyable book with good characters. Not going to go into great detail, but I recommend it. Another book both Rob and I both just read is The Glass Castle, by Jeanette Walls. It's a memoir about this woman's crazy childhood. I loved it! I highly recommend it. It's extremely compelling and very well written. Right now, I'm reading East of Eden by John Steinbeck. I actually started reading it a couple of years ago and stopped even though I liked it. So I'm reading it again so this time I can find out how the story ends. I'll post more soon. Reading some non fiction too.