"The Mysterious Flame of Queen Loana" by Umberto Eco

Before I started reading this book, I read some reviews in Amazon.com and they were pretty scathing. I have to agree. The book is pretty much a waste of time unless you are really  interested in Italy during the war, and in the type of reading that someone like Eco did. One thing I can say of it is that the illustrations are very nice. I skimmed the book and did not do it justice, but there are other books I would much rather be reading. One useful thing I gained from it was a good idea of what it's like to have no memory of who you are after a stroke. Ah, the challenge of rediscovering yourself based on clues such as old books and comics! And then he has a second stroke and his memory comes back while he is in a coma. And then he realizes that all his life he has wanted to finish off a scene from Cyrano de Bergerac with a girl he met in high school, who, just before his first stroke, he found out had died at 18. His wife and family were secondary to this goal. And then he dies. Gross book!

"Tree and Leaf" by J.R.R. Tolkien

This book, which I acquired during the FOPLA sale on Saturday, contains a somewhat interesting essay and a fairy tale. The essay was ok for an essay on fairy tales. I read the first few pages rather carefully, then skimmed the rest. I was disappointed in the fairy tale itself. Nicely written, but rather dull. It did, however, have the atmosphere of a fairy tale, so that's something, I guess.

"Belling the Cat" by Mordecai Richler

Finally finished skimming this collection of essays. Some of them were amusing because Richler was a good writer, but they have become quite dated. I am going to donate the book to the Salvation Army.

"Star Trek Typhon Pact: Paths of Disharmony" by Dayton Ward

My adventure for the day on this past Wednesday was going to St Laurent branch of OPL to borrow this book. I had considered getting it for Christmas, but am awfully glad I didn't. I only care about the Crusher, Picard, baby parts of the book, and those got boring after awhile. Skimmed most parts that didn't have these characters. Finished as soon as possible, and now on to a real book again.

"Bag of Bones" by Stephen King

Decided to read this book when I read that it is going to be televised in December. Pretty good story, but I'm tired of Stephen King. He stretches credibility too much for my taste. I think that Pierce Brosnan is going to be too old in the role of the protagonist.