My Bookshelf - Inaugural Posting

My love for books began when I was a little girl, so long ago I can't remember a time when I went anywhere without a paperback tucked away here or there. There is always a stack of books at my bedside, and if you were to venture into my mother's basement - within the maze of boxes of storage, you'd find box after box of all of the books I've accumulated in my lifetime. One day, in some future home, I'll have a room full of floor-to-ceiling bookshelves, and I will dig them all out, dust them off, and give them a proper home. I consider it a life gift to have such a love of reading...No matter what is happening in my own life, there will always be another world I can disappear into...and no matter where I am, I'll never be bored.

One of my favorite pasttimes at home in Chicago, I have with a group of my girlfriends and cousins. We scour bookshops, choosing new authors and new titles, and finding new favorites. These books get discussed and passed around from person to person, until the pages are bent and covers faded, and no one can remember the original owner. Being here in Italy, it is not as easy for me to take part in this tradition - so I am continuing it, in my own way, here on my blog. If I read something great, I'll post it here. I can't actually hand over the book, but at least I can hand over my thoughts.

Without further ado, here is my latest literary find: The Passage by Justin Cronin

The Passage is a post-apocalyptic tale of an American government human experiment gone terribly wrong. A man-made virus creates a new breed of "human" (I use that term loosely) which quickly destroys life as we know it, and wipes out almost all of the population of the world. Very few survivors remain. The novel follows them through their struggle for survival in a new era,  in particular a young girl who may hold the key to saving the world. The story is a thriller - part sci-fi, part mystery - with a whole lot of heart. It's not an easy book...at close to 800 pages, it's not a quick read. But Cronin's writing is beautifully done. He is a master storyteller, and despite the size of the book, the quick pace of the story never lets up. I had a hard time putting it down - Roland joked about me carrying around my "encyclopedia" everywhere we went. One of the marks of a great book is, for me, the feeling you have when it's over - when you are standing in the bookstore, looking for the next story, thinking "How am I going to top that?" This book had that for me...and I look forward to the next installments, as this is the first in a trilogy. I've also read that the movie rights to the novel have already been purchased, and Ridley Scott is signed on to direct. Not surprising to me, as I figured all along that this was a story destined for Hollywood.

That wraps up my first installment...I am looking for my next great read, so please suggest away!