Exceedingly Mundane

Last night, I finished a library book I got on a whim last week. I went looking for two of the books on my Fall Reading Challenge list, and since they only had one, I picked up this book instead. Since I just loved and adored “The Red Tent” by Anita Diamant, I had high hopes for this other book by her. But, either I wasn’t in the mood, or more likely, I just didn’t like the subject matter as much, because I didn’t enjoy this book nearly as much as Red Tent. It’s about the people living in a dying area of Massachusetts called “Dogtown”, in the early 1800’s. There are several interesting characters, but the book just sort of meanders and basically all of the inhabitants die or move, thereby leaving Dogtown to a memory. It was a bit depressing, and not all that interesting, really. I am not sorry that I read it – it does me good to break out of my mold of only reading women’s and Christian fiction, so good to broaden my horizons a bit. But, I don’t think I would recommend it to anyone.

For the record, that makes #57 for the year, with a total of 20,102 pages read. Up next is a book on my Fall Challenge reading list, one that I am really looking forward to, called “204 Rosewood Lane”. Since I discovered Debbie Macomber last year (“The Shop on Blossom Street was the first I read by her), she has since become a favorite. I recently started her “Cedar Cove” series, and have read the first book. The sixth book, “6 Rainier Drive” was recently released in paperback, so I look forward to reading the next 5 books in this series. They should be quick reads, and if the subsequent ones in the series are anything like the first one (“16 Lighthouse Road”), I will thoroughly enjoy them. 🙂