This morning I woke up too early for someone who doesn't get to leave the theater tonight until three in the morning. Instead of wailing and cursing my fate, I rolled over and picked up Michael Tolliver Lives. When I finished it, I finished the Tales of the City series, which I've been enjoying since reading period.
I recently had a conversation with Dad about book snobs. I'm the first to admit that I'm a book snob, but a specialized one. For instance, I'm definitely not one that avoids light reading at all costs. The Tales of the City series, despite its often serious themes, is light reading, but it's really good. It's perfect for a 95 degree summer, or a time when you should be studying for tests but instead hole yourself up in a library with a good novel. Or novels, in this case. There are seven of them, and once you read one you'll want to read them all.
The good news: they're short. My mom could read one in a day. I probably could too, come to think of it, but I think for the most part they each took me two days to read. The way I read, I'm not surprised. I'll stop and savor a passage. Sometimes I'll shut the book on a finger and rest my forehead on the spine, giggling or staring off into space. I'm that girl on airplanes, the one who alternates reading with staring out the window, thinking about the book.
So now down to my down-and-dirty stats:
Favorite book of the series: Sure of You
Favorite character: This wasn't have been my answer for the first two books or so, but Brian Hawkins for sure. For his many flaws, there's a lot in him that's admirable. Plus he's hilariously written, and is, in the last book, the kind of father I have: one that celebrates family and friendships and who, pushing sixty, goes tramping through the wilderness looking for some cave or something (see Michael Tolliver Lives for the Brian example, and numerous Cabin examples for the Dad example).
Favorite aspect of the series: Another tough one, but the Dickensian aspect is definitely my favorite part of this series, and it encompasses a lot of my other favorite things (incorporating a group of incongruous but similar people in one series, weird names, finding humor in nearly everything). The first five books were serialized, as Dickens was. Also, all of the characters interrelate in ways that, if they aren't apparent in the first book, become apparent later on. It's a tightly crafted web.
Things I Regret: Mary Ann's character arc. That made me sad. Also, all the cradle-robbing jokes in Michael Tolliver Lives. We get it.
Honorable Mentions: Anna Madrigal, the scene between Jon and Michael in the hospital, Wilfred and his fox, the first line of the first book, the Six Feet Under shoutout, Ian McKellen's dedication, the scenes with Booter in Wimminwood, Irwin (sort of), Thack's trellis and the manner in which he would call people out on offensive things they said, God's Green Earth/Plant Parenthood, Mama Tolliver's final photo, and Mary Ann's Cleveland-phobia.
And if you want to know what any of those things mean, you'll just have to read the books.