Abbreviated beach vacation

I think it took me longer to drive there and back than I was actually on the beach... but I have impressed myself with my ability to drive for long periods of time. Genevieve's suggestion (and loan) of listening to audiobooks was a good one too. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix kept me company most of the way down and all the way back, and I still only made it to disc 11 out of 24. But now I can't return it until I listen to the rest....*laughs* which is rather ridiculous; when am I going to find the time? Oh well.

Just finished reading: My Sister's Keeper, by Jodi Picault. A perfect beach read... I was actually being good and reading my book for class first, when my sister picked it up and asked if it was any good. I told her I didn't know, since I hadn't read it yet, but I heard it was; so she read the back cover and then flipped to the front to check out the first few pages. When I looked up 20 minutes later, she was still reading! (This hasn't ever happened, for my sister to be that interested in what I was reading.) I was surprised and amused. Eventually she gave it back to me, and I ended up reading the whole thing that day.

I liked having each character give their view of the situation at different points in time throughout the story. I think that worked very well with how a difficult situation can affect a family. The plot really drove the story along, too. Though I must admit I guessed Campbell's secret before it was actually revealed.

SPOILER ALERT! SPOILER ALERT! Do not read further if you intend to read the book!

Ok, now that that's stated, I hated the ending. It was really unfair, to put it in childish terms. But I tried to get behind my instinctive reaction and figure out why it disturbed me so much...especially because in the reader's guide (which I dislike, but see this for more about that) Picault said that she couldn't find any other way of ending the book, it had to end with Anna's death. But the way I see it, why would you end a book all about choice and consequence by taking away the choice? That basically makes everything that has happened up to this point inconsequential. If you can't control anything, why bother to try? Why bother to fight the disease, your son drifting away? I think it works against everything she was trying to do in the first half of the book. Maybe someone else can show me how or why it works the way it does...I'd be interested to hear that view.