Books!

Everyone who knows me, knows I LOVE BOOKS! I love reading them! I am a voracious reader, probably an addict if you think about it. When I was a kid my mother would take me to the library on Saturday mornings. That was the one "activity" we did together. We would be in the library for hours. I would have 20 books to check out at one time. And I would read them all during the week and would be ready for more the next Saturday. When my daughter started preschool, I continued the tradition of going to the library with her on Saturdays.

I read all kinds of books. It does not matter the genre...Romance (a fave), chick lit, mysteries, biographies (another fave), cookbooks, crafting/knitting books. Anything and everything, I read it!! I was recently introduced to Young Adult books. My daughter told me about the Twilight saga. I loved it! I am hoping Stefenie Meyer decides to write Midnight Sun. But that is another commentary. I spend about $100 per month on books. I am members of the Barnes and Noble and Borders discount "clubs". That is how serious I am about books. I hate to admit it that I have been known to buy books from...gasp...WALMART!! Anywhere to get a discount!!

Back to the point of this post. One of my favorite books is Dirty Girls Social Club. When I read that book, I was absolutely engaged with the characters. The author, Alisa Valdez Rodriguez, wrote with such passion and description, that I felt the characters were real. She described "Black" Latinas, like me, with such logical reality. I don't know any other way to put it. I had felt like I was all alone in this world...well, I should say in Texas, where Mexicans are the majority of Hispanics. Being a Cuban in Texas is hard, especially being an AfroCuban in Texas. I would get stupid comments like, how is it that a "Black" girl can speak Spanish? How you think, fool?? I digress. I absolutely LOVED this book. I could relate to all the characters, particularly Usnavys. So when the announcement was made that the author would be writing a sequel to the Sucias, I was so excited!!

I just read the book, Dirty Girls on Top. Let's just say, disappointment cannot not even describe my feelings on this book. The characters were destroyed. They became shallow, superficial characters, that were in the previous book, rich and all encompassing. I feel sad that the Sucias are no longer the characters I remembered. The only thing that doesn't piss me off about the book, is the fact that I got it for $2.00 at the local half price bookstore! The book seemed like it was just thrown together, without any thought. It was almost as if the author hated the characters and wanted to just "kill" them off because she was tired of them. I don't know. But I was sad when I finished reading it. I was so looking forward to reading it but now I wish she had just left us with just the first book.

Now I have gotten into Young Adult fiction. Twilight, Vampire Academy, and the House of Night series. So maybe I should say Young Adult paranormal fiction. I have to say young readers have it so much better than I did. The books are intense and fabulously written. I have to say I have been enjoying these books more than "Adult" fiction. Although, I can't put down a good romance. Yay Francis Ray, Rochelle Alers and Brenda Jackson.

So my summer will be spent with hopefully good books and good knitting!

Happy Reading!