Time Flies

Back in January when I posted the book I planned to read from the Read From Your Shelves Challenge, I was completely motivated. Realistically I knew even at that point that I would probably lose steam and become distracted by other books that were published or looked interesting, but I so enjoyed making the list that even knowing I was bound to fail, I wanted to at least attempt.

With just 15 days left in 2011, I can verify that I will fail - at least if the goal was reading all the books on my list. However, in some ways I have succeeded. I still have a bit more time left to crank out a few more titles (I do seem to work better under pressure). And I did manage to get a few titles read -and some of these have been lingering far too long.

Today I was home sick with a sore throat, fever and chills. I was sick, but not too sick to want to read. So in between my naps I enjoyed The Actor and the Housewife by Shannon Hale and can now check another book off this list.

I will admit that for the first 130 pages I was not thoroughly engaged. In fact, I think I used the word 'dumb' to describe this book, which is unfortunate and a word I rarely use to describe books I read. And then, after I got into it, I began to enjoy this one. The Actor and the Housewife has been blogged about all over the place. After reading many reviews I decided it was a must read for me. So, I stuck with it longer than I might have otherwise, valuing the opinion of some bloggers quite a bit and trusting their judgement. Turns out, they were right. This is a fun book.

Becky is a Mormon housewife turned screenplay writer who meets heart throb Felix Callahan while she is in California selling her screenplay. The two strike up an unbelievable - and bizarre- friendship. As years pass they continue to meet up, sometimes in close contact, and other times not speaking for months. Both weather some tough times in their personal lives, yet despite their vast differences in lifestyle and beliefs the two remain close friends. Throw in a bit of romance, a little heartbreak and that pretty much sums up this story.

I wasn't sold on this one entirely mostly because the humor that characterizes Felix and Becky's relationship is so odd. But as I really got into this one it became evident that there was more to this book than I initially thought. Having read The Actor and the Houswife, I would pass it along to other readers with the advice to really give this one a chance. What might seem very silly at book's beginning changes as the story develops and becomes a rather interesting novel.