It’s Monday! What Are Your Reading? is a weekly meme hosted by Sheila of Book Journey. Be sure to check out her post today to see her selections and the list of links to all the other participating bloggers.

I took a virtual trip to Hawaii last week for some dancing and yoga: Exercising in Virtual Hawaii. My little contribution to the SOPA/PIPA protest fit into the Wondrous Words Wednesday meme.

Read

I finished An Unlikely Countess by Jo Beverly — fluffy and not the most memorable novel I’ve read, even by this author (that award would probably go to Devilish). An Unlikely Countess was pleasant enough and I did enjoy the delight that the two main characters had in each other.

Sister Citizen by Melissa V. Harris-Perry is our Diversity Book Club selection for Thursday’s discussion. I finished it last night so that I could lend it to another member. I went to hear Melissa Harris-Perry speak last week — she was powerful, convincing, and funny. You can get a taste of her sense of humor on this clip from the Colbert Report. Being interviewed by Colbert’s conservative comedic character must be quite the experience.

There is not much humor in the book, but I found it very helpful to understanding some of the core problems in the U.S. and why they are so intractable. It’s fairly intellectual, but just enough allusions to literature and contemporary anecdotes to keep it engaging. And, there is hope pervading the book. We’re going to have a terrific discussion on Thursday. And, our discussion, itself, will be one tiny step in addressing the problems that this book reveals. Much more on Friday when I’ll post my review.

Reading

I would have finished American Nations by Colin Woodard last week but I got distracted by Sister Citizen. I’m sure I’ll finish it this week. I’m not quite sure when I’ll get back to Rick Steves’ Ireland. I only have a bit left so I might just plow through it to be done. I have other Ireland books I want to read in the queue.

I’m currently reading Spirit Bound by Christine Feehan. Oddly enough, given the complaint I had last week about Unlikely Countess, I liked this book the best before the two characters got together. I suspect it will improve before the end, but right now it’s a lot of repetition about their startling and sudden feelings for each other with no particular reason for the reader to buy into those emotional reactions. Or, at least, that’s how it struck me. Now that I’m writing more, I find myself pickier about my reading which is kind of annoying, actually. I like enjoying a good story that isn’t necessarily great literature.

Will Read

What’s next? Uh, I’m not sure. Get back to me on that.