Obsessive Reading Binge: Double Bind and The Friday Night Reading Club

For my regular blog readers, you all know how obsessive I can be about reading. I'll go to the library, first peruse the cart of books that others have read to save myself some browsing time, chat with the librarians and come home with about five books. This past week I happened to see a new book by Chris Bohjalian ( Midwives, Buffalo Soldier, Water Witches...) an author with books about Vermont sitting in the return pile. The librarian caught me looking and told me that it was a great book. I had read Buffalo Soldier and Water Witches, two books that I had really enjoyed. ( Have I read his Oprah Book, Midwives, of course not...) So in a time frame of two days, I have read two books and boy, they couldn't have been anymore different!

When I read, I make a lot of self predictions, based on past books, I can usually predict the endings. In The Friday Night Knitting Club by Kate Jacobs, this book was very predictable in it's ending. I enjoyed the story because of the knitting aspect and having been part of a knitting group many years ago. However, I didn't find the book believable due to the characters' lives in New York City, I kept thinking that there was no way these women could afford to live in the City. The author tries to mislead the reader as to which character ends up in crisis, but you just know what's going to happen based on the predictability of the book.

There was absolutely no predicting the ending of Double Bind by Chris Bohjalian, I was put off by the references to The Great Gatsby throughout the book and the ending totally blind sided me. Bohjalian is such an good writer that there is no way I would ever have predicted to this book. His characters are real and if you have read The Great Gatsby, then the story is even better. I couldn't put the book down and was ticked last night when I went to bed, started the book and had to stop because my eyes were tired. ( It's a drag getting old) But then when the change of life hormones woke me up sweating and I was wide awake, I turned on the fan and a light and read from 3 am till 5 am till I was finally able to get back to sleep. Once I was up again at 9:30 am, I picked up the book again, grabbed a cup of coffee and finished it. What an ending, what a book! Wow! This is a book that I would highly recommend, just read it carefully...I went back through it after finishing it.

It's tough being an obsessive reader when you aren't reading a large print book. Only a few years ago, I would have been able to read until a book was finished. What books have you read this summer that have kept you up reading?