Whatcha Readin' Wednesday

I finished The Versions of Us by Laura Barnett last night. Not a great read. Granted, it was probably just the mindless fluff I needed after the heaviness of War and Peace and KL. And the actual writing wasn't bad. It was just absolutely pointless. It's the story of these couples, the choices they made, then could've made. It explores the paths their lives take along each possibility. But...but...each marriage fails, they all cheat on each other and get cheated on by the ones they cheat with. They have kids, then have different kids in the different scenarios. The only one constant is the main character's best friend, Penelope, who seems to appear steadily in each and every scenario--the rest is such a convoluted jumble and utterly senseless.

I kept wanting something significant to happen, some sort of redemption or resolution but it never came. It left me wondering what was the whole point? Rather Ecclesiastes-like, all of our choices are pointless, chasing the wind--it got me nowhere, only wanting more. Quite shallow and stupid.

So, moving on this morning to a book that was recommended to me by a fellow bookseller back when I worked at Books-a-Million in Tennessee, My Antonia by Willa Cather. I came across a copy at a used book sale last year and it's been sitting there ever since, so I'm actually quite excited to finally begin this one. I have much greater expectations for it at least than I did for Versions--here's hoping, anyway!

The good news, I suppose, is that I'm back on track to meet my reading challenge goal of fifty-two books for the year, and that makes me feel better. What's on your reading list this week?