Exceedingly Mundane

I finished my second book in Annie’s “What’s In a Name Challenge” yesterday. It’s a book I bought the week it came out, since I absolutely loved the Mitford books by Jan Karon. Normally, I don’t read books like this right away, no matter how much I look forward to getting them. I know it doesn’t make sense, but I like to hold on to them, and savor them, and “save them for a rainy day”, so to speak. Mostly, I don’t like to read them right away, because that means it will just be all that much longer before the next one comes out. I think, somewhere in my warped mind, that the longer I force myself to wait, the sooner it will be until I have a new one by a beloved author to read. 😕

That said, I went ahead and read this, as I chose it for my “Place” category in the reading challenge. So, I have now completed 2 of the 6 books I chose for the challenge.

I wish I were better at reviewing books. I don’t feel like I’m articulate enough to convey what I felt about the book, or give it an honest review. Mostly, my reviews consist of whether or not I liked the book! In this case, I’m even hard pressed to come up with a good answer for that. Yes, I liked “Home to Holly Springs”, but there were things about the book I wasn’t thrilled with. I was so happy to return to characters I know and love, like Father Tim, Cynthia and Dooley, as well as others that were just mentioned in passing, like Peggy, Tommy Noles and his parents. On one hand, I enjoyed Father Tim’s flashbacks to his childhood and reading about his early life. On the other hand, sometimes the jumping back and forth really got on my nerves 🙂

I will admit, the plot was not what I expected. I’m not sure what exactly I did expect, but this was not it. I did enjoy the book, don’t get me wrong. I love Jan Karon and the way she writes. She’s like a comfortable old quilt to me, even with the “Southern drawl” she gave a lot of the dialect in this new book. The thing is – you see – is that I tend to talk like that, and know many people who do! 😀 I think sometimes that bothers me about a book; that people will think my corner of the world just a redneck, backwards, hick kind of place, and it’s not. I think she did a good job to portray it as more, full of average and even good people. Granted, I’ve never been to Holly Springs, but there are many other places in Mississippi that I have been, that are very similar to what she describes. Anyway, I did like the book, but I didn’t just love it, like I had thought I would. I am looking forward to the next one though, to see where she goes from here with the story and characters.

For the record, I’ve read 5 books so far this year, for a total of 1,830 pages read. Up next is the second Ashley Stockingdale book by Kristin Billerbeck – “She’s Out of Control“. I’m looking forward to some light, very funny Christian chick-lit after completing “Home to Holly Springs”.

Happy Reading!!!