50 Book Challenge

I decided to take the 50 Book Challenge this year, at the invitation of my friend Casey on Facebook.  On first thought, I should not have any trouble reading this number of books over the course of twelve months.  However, in spite of the fact that I am always reading (and typically reading multiple titles), I am not always the fastest reader.  I like to think this is because I am a close reader, one who reads every word and pauses often to absorb things.  At any rate, I'll be doing my best to reach the hallowed goal of 50.  Between my two book groups and all my other reading, I think I'll make it with no problem.  And I plan to update my progress via this journal.

So, I started the year off with Exley, the third novel by Maine resident Brock Clarke, which just happened to be the January pick for my work book group, The Bailey Title Waves.  Brock Clarke spoke at the library at which I work (Bailey Public, in Winthrop), and he was fun, engaging, and animated.  He read a couple of passages from the book.  I enjoyed the novel, which chronicles a boy named M's search for the author Frederick Exley, whom his father is obsessed with, in the hopes that meeting Exley will help heal said father, who is in the hospital after a stint in the Iraq War.  Or is he?  I won't give away too much, but let's just say Clarke has created a very unreliable narrator in this novel.  I gave the book three stars, and then moved on to a non-fiction book, Talking To Girls About Duran Duran, by one of my favorite music journalists, Rob Sheffield.  This book is right up my alley, with Sheffield using songs from the 80s (by artists as diverse as Ray Parker, Jr., Madonna, and Psychedelic Furs) as touchstones for certain periods in his life, and the memories attached to those periods.  Beautiful writing, filled with great analyses of the pop music I love so much.  Five stars for this one!

Now, on to Book #3 in the 50 Book Challenge, one of Agatha Christie's most well-regarded mysteries, And Then There Were None, which I've wanted to read for years!