Without the internet to distract me, I’m always
looking for something light to read while eating breakfast. The local library has this great little
monthly “Book Page,” which is filled with reviews of all the latest books,
author interviews, a few columns and, naturally, many advertisements from
publishers that are nearly as entertaining as some of the reviews.
I have a bad habit of reading about stories rather
than the stories themselves. Leonard
Maltin’s Movie Guide gathers no dust in my house. I probably haven’t seen the movie you’re
talking about, but I can summarize it and maybe even name some of the actors. (Recently someone asked me if I’ve ever seen Never Been Kissed. “You mean the one
where Drew Barrymore is an investigative reporter who goes undercover at the
local high school and has a student fall in love with her, even though she’s
falling for one of the teachers? Yeah, never seen it”).
“Book Page” fulfills my literary needs in the same
way. Literary fiction doesn’t hold my
interest. Current murder, suspense and
crime stories are too dark for my taste.
Biography, history and memoir have to be about something or someone I’m
very interested in for me to invest that much time. But I’ll read about anything and everything.
I’m ashamed to say, the first page I look for is
always the one with the reviews and ads for the latest romance novels. Again, books I’d never read, but the
summaries are insane. Here’s one from
this month’s “Book Page” that I promise, I am not making up: “New York Times bestseller [redacted]
takes the passionate action way out west, as a vamp and a werewolf go
undercover at a Wyoming dude ranch… with sizzling results!” [ellipses theirs].
Wait, what?!? Even in a post-Twilight world, this is
weird.
