Book, book... opera?

I have been doing plenty of reading, although I feel like I have been just slogging through the books on my list (#69).  It almost feels like there is the pace for when I read normally and then a much, much slower pace for when I get to the books on my list!  I think maybe it's the type of books, but I can't quite put my finger on it.  Anyway, I have finished two more books, which does tip me over the half-way point!  woo-hoo!

The first one was Life of Pi.  I really enjoyed this book.  It was a good story in addition to being the kind of book that makes you think.  One thought I kept having throughout the whole thing was, "wow, I would have been dead within the first 10 minutes of this whole disaster, and if I had survived to that point, I definitely wouldn't have made it past a few days".  This guy had survival skills that I can't even fathom.  Overall, this was a pretty quick read, and I would definitely recommend it to just about anyone.

My most recent accomplishment was finishing Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia Marquez.  This is one of those things that confuses me, because I generally reading this book but it just seemed to last forever.  I think it took me over a year to finish this book!  It was one that I would read for a while, then have to put it down and come back to it.  It's an award-winning book, and I can see why, but it seemed that I would read for an hour and only have gotten through six pages.  Granted, the print was small and it is an oversized trade paperback, but still!  This is a love story that begins when the two main characters are in their teens/early twenties and lasts through into their eighties.  My biggest pet peeve was that for almost all the characters, their full names are always used.  Every time.  Through the whole book.  The book would probably be a full third shorter if they would just call the main characters Bob and Ann!

I am currently reading The Odyssey, and I have to say is miles and miles from The Iliad which I had to read in English class freshman year of high school.  It's still a little slow-going, though, because I have gotten horribly behind on my magazines and have been making a concerted effort to get caught up with those.  Consequently, my attention span for reading is down to only a few pages at a time.  So, we'll see... I basically need to finish about a (list) book per month to finish in time.

Also thought I would throw in that I finally attended an opera (#30)!  I have listened to opera music (in very tiny doses) and never cared for it, but I thought it might be different seeing one live.  Mmmm.... nope.  Still don't like opera.  I went to see Amahl and the Night Visitors at Christmas time, specifically chosen because it is short and was originally written to be performed on television, so I thought it would be more interesting and easier to follow.  Plus, it's in English.  And it was all of those things.  But I truly do not like all the vibrato that is involved with "proper" opera voices, and I have a hard time getting past that.  So I am resigned to being one of those people who can appreciate opera but will never really love it (as Richard Gere's character explains it in Pretty Woman!).