Picking up the pace?

Not really, but add three more notches to my library card (or something like that).

Angels and Demons, by Dan Brown. I sped through this book so that I could see the movie. Have I seen it yet? Well . . .I'll get around to it. Either way, while the story is different in lots of ways from The DaVinci Code, it still has the same feel of a suspenseful if fantastic story. Sure, I'd know how to find an ultra-deadly assassin who is motivated as much by principle as he is greed, just like the least likely character in the story. Sure, one assassin can confine and murder four cardinals in some very creative ways, in public places, all while avoiding detection. Why of course, Robert Langdon is so brilliant that he can decipher in 24 hours, with limited sleep the clues that would lead to the Illuminati headquarters, clues so difficult that only the most worthy wuld be expected to even try. It was good. It was a quick read. It wasn't time wasted. Ultimately, it'll probably stay with me to about the same degree as TDC: I know how it started, I know how it ended, I don't remember much else.

Washington Square, by Henry James. What a sad, pathetic life led be all of the main characters of this book. Poor Catherine. Denied the only man she ever loved. Too afraidto defy her father. An old maid, albeit a rich one. But doubtful her life would have been any better had she indeed married Townsend. Poor Aunt Lavinia. So simple and so easily taken in, living her life as little more than an observer and would be melodramatic orchestrator of the lives of others. Poor Dr. Sloper. Never finding enough good in anyone to measure up the possibly vaunted view of his deceased wife and son. How perverse that he could enjoy winning the battle with his daughter.

Like Daisy Miller and Portrait of a Lady, this book was well-written and thought provoking and yet another reminder of why I'm glad Ilive in this era where women are independent.

The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, by Junot Diaz. "What does fuego mean in English." The answer to that is definitely the "wao" factor in this book, a parable of sorts, about life and love, with a bit of Dominican history thrown in for good measure. The story ran a little long at parts, but the family history was intriguing. I'd give this book an 8 on a 10 point scale.