March 25th, 2010 - 12:51 pm
» 24 Books: March
Confession: When Jocey gave me a copy of Georgette Heyer’s The Foundling, I peeked at the back cover. Normally when I get a book recommendation from someone I trust (and Jo’s taste in books is impeccable) I like to go in blind, but I was excited and couldn’t start reading it immediately (bad hosting form to ignore guests for a book). Anyhow, I came away with the impression that this was a Regency romance novel — and it is, but not like any romance novel I’d ever read before. That is: it’s not smut. But it is fantastic.
The story centers around Gilly, the young, sheltered, fabulously wealthy Duke of Sale. (He has a very long name and seven thousand titles, but mostly he’s Gilly.) Orphaned as a boy, he’s been surrounded by well-meaning but over-protective people his entire life; at twenty-four he finally decides to slip away and test himself a bit in the world. He’s wonderfully likeable, kind, and plucky. The book is fantastic fun, and as everything pulls together toward the end I was literally bopping around in my chair, wishing Jocey were around so I could exclaim over particular turns of event. Thumbs very up for this one. Jo passed it along to me after getting it from another friend, and I’ve in turn handed it over to Steph — so call dibs with her if you want it next!
I just now finished SuperFreakonomics, by Steven D Levitt & Stephen J Dubner. The subtitle is “Global Cooling, Patriotic Prostitutes, and Why Suicide Bombers Should Buy Life Insurance.” It’s pretty delightful. Have I gone on before about how I don’t read much non-fiction? I can’t remember. Well, I don’t read much non-fiction; I think I have a lingering prejudice from so many years of dry textbooks in school. Anyway, I loved Freakonomics, their first book, and this one is more of the same. They ask lots of quirky, interesting questions, and then answer them. There are things like a garden hose to the sky (to combat global warming), and the first recorded incidence of monkey prostitution, and the changing price of oral sex over the last 100 years. It’s awesome.
Incidentally, if you’re like me and think you dislike non-fiction, I also recommend Bill Bryson’s A Short History of Nearly Everything: informative and fantastic! I listened to the audiobook a couple years ago, and still remember it fondly.
2010 Book Count: 8 (+3 fluff)
January: 2 (+3 fluff)
February: 4
March: 2