1Q84; Tumbleweeds

I've been wanting to read Haruki Murakami's "1Q84" ever since it came out, but it's such a brick of a book I haven't had time until now. It still took me almost 5 weeks to finish it, but it was worth it. It was very good, just hard to sum up. I'll try :) Aomame is a female assassin who finds herself in an alternate world after going down an emergency staircase on a highway on her way to kill a man. Alternating Aomame's story is Tengo, a math teacher who writes fiction. Tengo's editor gets a hold of a promising manuscript called "Air Chrysalis" by a teenage girl that needs rewriting. Against his better judgement, Tengo rewrites the book and it's a smashing success when it's published. Aomame and Tengo's stories and lives intersect in an interesting way. The only complaint I had about this book was the ending: it felt like Murakami had written himself into a corner and didn't *quite* know how to get out, so the ending didn't do much for me. But it didn't ruin the book, it was still very interesting.

I didn't think much of Leila Meacham's "Roses", but I hoped "Tumbleweeds" would be better. It really wasn't. At least it wasn't a time suck, it was a pretty quick read. John, Trey, and Cathy grew up in the Texas panhandle, close as could be. Both John and Trey loved Cathy, but by high school it was Trey she choose. Trey and John, both football stars, are accepted to the University of Miami. Trey finds out a bout of mumps left him sterile right about the time Cathy tells him she's pregnant. Feeling betrayed by his best friend and his girlfriend (because obviously who else's baby could it be?) Trey takes off for Miami, refusing to have anything to do with Cathy, who is left wondering why he'd abandon her and their child. Other stuff was happening, too, but honestly, it isn't worth remembering, it was mostly preposterous. Oh well.