Recently finished

Over the weekend, John and I took a road trip to Ely to pick up the boys from their respective Y camps. On the drive, we listened to Lethal People by John Locke (the New York Times-bestselling author, not the 17th century English philosopher or the Lost character named after the English philosopher). Mr. Bibliotonic happened to have the audio file on his phone, probably to keep him company on walk/runs, and since my car stereo is bluetooth-enabled, we were able to listen to the book on his phone through my car stereo. Brave new world, indeed!

Aside from the technological marvels, Mr. B and I don't even remotely read the same books. So I was pleasantly surprised by this thriller. As I was logging our progress on Goodreads, I glanced upon the most recent review, which indicated a crazy statistic about the book: the first self-published e-book to hit #1 on Amazon, and the first self-published author to sell a million copies on Amazon. Wow! These statistics wouldn't drive me to pick up the book, but I find them intriguing after the fact.

The novel stars Donovan Creed, a former CIA assassin, who now kills terrorists for Homeland Security with odd jobs in between contracts. This story was filled with outrageous characters, including a midget and circus clowns, and laugh-out-loud situations, many of which were inappropriate for our children. But what the hey?! I would listen to more of these.

Over the weekend, I also finished My Salinger Year by Joanna Rakoff, which I had started on our UK vacation earlier in the summer, but only got a little way into before the electronic library loan ended. Initially I had checked out the book because it was available. As I started reading it, I found I enjoyed Rakoff's voice. And, I made a strong connection to the author's experience in publishing, which brought on a nostalgia for working in the industry that formed my early adult professional (and personal) life. The Salinger angle amuses me but I think any cult author in which I had a passing interest would. I liked Catcher in the Rye and many of his stories, but don't have a fangirl love for Salinger, and neither did Rakoff, which endeared me to her.