A Salty Piece of Land by Jimmy Buffet

My book club at work, the Pivot Book Club, decided to read a book by Jimmy Buffet and chose this one. I'd describe it as okay. It was kind of fun as an escapist read; you got that I'm-on-a-tropical-island feeling. But even that meant suspending disbelief in a big way for me -- I hate humid heat and I know how miserable I am in places like Florida, so I kept thinking, "This sounds beautiful but I bet if I were there I'd be all sticky and hot and crabby."

One other member, Sherri, read the book and pretty much felt the same way about it -- okay but not compelling. It was kind of like a series of short stories, which he writes, too. And I felt it had a real man's voice to it. Not that that's bad but to me it felt almost like what you'd hear men talking to men about.

Twilight

So, I thought I'd write about some other books I've read in addition to those for the book club. One is Twilight by Stephenie Meyer, a very popular books especially for "tween" girls. It's been made into a movie.

A co-worker of my daughter's recommended it to her and she liked it. A while back I saw it on a bookstore shelf and thought I'd get it and see what I thought.

Well, I can't say I think so much of it. My daughter did enjoy it and went on to read the others in the series. It's interesting, in a way. It is interesting that a story can be written about a young girl falling in love with a vampire who is part of a small group of vampires who are sort of "vegetarians" of vampires. They don't drink human blood, only animal blood. It's pretty bizarre that anyone thought of it (and strange that there's also a t.v. show out with a similar thing, only the vampires on the show drink a man-made, sort of substitute blood and have come out in the open claiming that they should be treated better now that they don't harm anyone).

Anyway, I can see that this is an intriguiging concept, and it does say something that the story in no way grosses you out. But I just didn't feel a compelling need to read more of the story. I did complete the entire book, but I'm okay with that being the end of it.

I don't plan to see the movie because people who adore the book say the movie is so-so or don't like the movie, so I am pretty confident I would not find the movie any more compelling than I did the book.

Flannery O'Connor

O boy, Flannery O'Connor. Everyone who knows me and talks to me about books knows my sad story of Flannery O'Connor. I love to read and when I went to Calvin I thought I would major in English. My first English class, though, was taught by a professor who ONLY had us read Flannery O'Connor, the whole semester. I was so sick of the grotesque.

And then on top of that, I could not get an A in that class, no matter how hard I tried. In high school I was basically an A student with little difficulty, even taking honor courses. But in this class, I couldn't get above a B+ on my papers. I even met with the prof and asked what could I do to this paper to make it an A- instead of a B+. He couldn't give me an answer except that it wasn't A material.

So, stupidly, I told myself I shouldn't major in English if I couldn't get an A. How dumb. I majored in Elementary Education but you also chose a subject major. I chose Psychology and History. I didn't even like History. How stupid was that?

Anyway, to get back to Flannery O'Connor, the group decided to read some of her short stories because they are classics. Dan, one of our members, taught high school English and included a unit on Flannery O'Connor. He brought along his materials. We had a really good discussion. If I'd have kept up on my blogging I could have written more about it. One thing I remember is he said that her stories point out the need for grace. And I guess that is certainly true. I, though, like the stories to actually include grace, and hers really do not.

So, I liked our discussion of these stories and I'm glad we read her. But I don't plan to read her again unless it's some similar situation as this. I was talking to my mom and dad about it and said I didn't enjoy her stories at all. My mom said, "Do you have to enjoy what you read?" And I think my answer is yes, if not have to, I want to.