'The God Of Animals' ...

At the beginning of the year, Mercurie challenged me to read one book of fiction per month in 2008 because he thinks we just don't read for pleasure enough anymore.

I have a bit of a book habit. I love buying books. I don't buy a lot of them, but it's not for lack of interest. If someone handed me a credit card and let me loose in Borders, I could do a lot of damage.

Instead, I've started using my library card again. Libraries. What a great deal! Books! For free!

I don't read most books more than once. Some books I buy and read and then put on them my shelf. Some books I buy and read and then give them away.

So the last time I was at the library, it was to check out a book that was already on loan to someone else. (I ordered it from Amazon today. But Stephen King recommended it, so I told myself that I need to own it to study it.)

I keep a list of books in my wallet, titles that I've run across in my Internet wanderings, titles others have recommended. And I found myself standing in front of The God Of Animals, which was on the list. Far be it from me to ignore a sign.

So I checked it out and headed home and plopped myself on my deck and packed away 70-some pages before the bugs started to really annoy me.

It's a good read. Not fluffy-beachy but neither Beckett.

It's the story of Alice, a pre-teen girl, and her dysfunctional, horse-farm dwelling family in the Colorado desert.

I don't like to go into details about books or movies because I want everyone to experience them from their own perspectives, but Aryn Kyle weaves a substantial story with many thoughtful threads, adult themes processed through the intellect and emotions of a 12-year-old, wise beyond her years.