Read Your Own Books Read-A-Thon Wrap-Up Post

The Read Your Own Books Read-A-Thon created by The Bibliophilic Book Blog has come to an end, and I'm a bit embarrassed to report that I only got one book read, and am halfway through a second.  Of course I knew getting a ton of reading in this weekend would be hard because of all the family stuff I had this weekend (because of my twin sis leaving for France, which she did yesterday, and is now safely landed in beautiful Montpellier, in Southern France right by the Mediteranean [jealous!]). 

The other culprit was the fact that I decided I wanted to read Upton Sinclair's The Jungle for this read-a-thon.  I bought the book years ago (like....5 years ago....) and never picked it up because at first I didn't feel like reading something that "heavy" and then I just forgot about it. 

But let me say that I am so happy I did the read-a-thon!  I probably would have never ever picked up The Jungle for a few more years otherwise.  And I really love it.  Sure, it's depressing and long, but the writing is really good (and totally reminds me of Emile Zola.....certain parts especially are quite similar to L'Assommoir [wedding reception *cough cough*]).  I'm halfway through it and will with any luck be finished within a day or two. 

The other book I finished was N. Scott Momaday's House Made of Dawn, which I love more and more every time I reflect on it.  I definitely want to reread this one in the future because I could probably write a whole dissertation on it.  It is that good.  Review will be coming later in the week.

So what's in store for Kelly's France Blog this week?  I'm going to start The Gendarme soon and will post a review on it's release date (September 2nd!).  I really hope I like it.  It looks like it'll be fabulous.  I also have some other review books I want to get started.  In terms of posting, I'll soon have up my review of The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo (complete with gushes about my favorite car ever, the SAAB).  I'll also have a post this week featuring some new releases I'm looking foward to, and as I stated above, my review of House Made of Dawn will also be posted.

If you participated, how was the read-a-thon for you??  And if you didn't, any good books you plan on starting this week?