My Cozy Book Corner: January 2013

Tuesday, January 29, 2013

Night by Elie Wiesel

The most powerful 120 pages I've ever read.

Elie Wiesel won The Nobel Peace Prize in 1986. At the end of the book is his acceptance speech, it is filled with moving words about remembering and not being silent in the face of human suffering. But even more powerful is the story that proceeds it.

The story of his time in concentration camps. The story of his families deaths.

There is an almost matter of fact voice to the telling of the horrors he witnessed and the horrors he experienced. However as you read on the pain and fear becomes palatable. His thirst and hunger, his guilt and shaken faith, and his anger, all begin to leap off the page.

It doesn't matter what your religion or lack there of is, this is something that must be read and shared, if we forget that this awful, terrible and horrific thing happened then we will miss the signs when it happens again and again we will fail to stop it.

Monday, January 28, 2013

Shindler's List by Thomas Keneally

This book was the basis for the 1993 Stephen Spielberg film.

In the introduction the author makes it clear he used the format of a novel but that this is not a fictionalized telling of the story. He goes to great lengths throughout the book to point out differences in the accounts given by sources and where some stories have taken on a more legendary status.

That being said, this was not a fun book but was very important. It was disturbing and moving and scary and disgusting.

Oskar Schindler may seem to have been out for profit but I would beg to differ if that is your opinion of him. He ended up bankrupt and lived out his days with the help of his Jews. I don't say that with any disrespect, they called themselves that. He saved as many as he could and was always trying to save more, get more on his list. By the end of the war he was beyond obsessed and truly loved the people who he built relationships with over the 4 years he was running a factory to "supply the war effort".

I would never claim he was perfect or a saint, but he was a man horrified by the way his countrymen were treating the Jewish people and did what he could and those who he helped, even those who did not like him, tell of owing him their survival.

(finished January 28, 2013)

Sunday, January 20, 2013

Playing Dead by Julia Heaberlin

I found this book on the buy 2 get 1 free table at Barnes and Noble and the blurb on the back cover sounded like a story I could enjoy so I grabbed it.

I expected a straight forward mystery but it wasn't really like that. Tommie is sent on a search for who she really is when a strange letter is sent to her claiming she is some other woman's long ago kidnapped daughter. What follows is a story about finding yourself aside from who your parents are or aren't and the lengths people are willing to go to protect themselves or their loved ones. Of course there is murder, danger, mysterious papers in locked boxes, people who are not who they say they are and a kidnapping, all the usual pieces of most mystery novels.

One of my favorite thing about mysteries is when there is an outcome I didn't see coming and this book had that. It wasn't the story I thought it was going to be when I first started reading it and did my usual try to figure it out before the reveal thing and I like that.

(finished Jan. 20, 2013)

Friday, January 18, 2013

I Am What I Am by John Barrowman

I adore John Barrowman. I love him as Captain Jack in Doctor Who and Torchwood. I loved him as a judge on the talent search show I'd Do Anything that BBCAmerica aired. I love his music. And now I love his writing.

I Am What I Am is set up as is you were visiting him in his home and he was giving you a tour then telling you all about his life and family. Because of this format there is a little bit of abrupt breaks between stories that may not be noticed when sitting with someone and having a conversation. In conversation it would feel natural to go from one story to another but on paper there are times when it felt abrupt, but it wasn't distracting or hard to read, just noticeable.

The stories were naughty, funny, touching and a few were sad. The pictures were a nice glimpse into his life and John's partner Scott is as yummy to look at as he is. They make a wonderful couple in pictures and in love which comes across every time Scott is mentioned in the stories John tells.

This was his second book, I must get the first!!!

(finished Jan. 18, 2013)

Thursday, January 17, 2013

2013 Book List

The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry by Rachel Joyce

One morning Harold gets a letter from an old coworker, Queenie, that she is dying. It has been 20 years since he has seen her but he is moved beyond words by the letter and writes her back and heads to mail it and just keeps walking.

He walks for over 80 days and over 600 miles. What follows is a story of love and loss and redemption. A beautiful story of what happens when you set out and put one foot in front of the other, both figuratively and in Harold’s case literally.

It is not an easy journey, and as he quickly learns, and the reader with him, it isn’t about the destination. The story of Harold, his wife Maureen, their son David and of course Queenie is weaved throughout the story of the walk across England from home to the hospice where Queenie is and the people Harold meets along the way, some helpful others not so much.

When I first started this book I didn’t know quite what to make of it, but it’s quiet beauty moved me. It was a pure pleasure to read and now I’m sad it’s over.

“He had learned that it was the smallness of people that filled him with wonder and tenderness, and the loneliness of that too. The world was made up of people people putting one foot in front of the other; and a life might appear ordinary simply because the person living it had been doing so for a long time. Harold could no longer pass a stranger without acknowledging the truth that everyone was the same, and also unique; and this this was the dilemma of being human.”

(finished Jan. 13, 2013)

I Remember Nothing And Other Reflections by Nora Ephron

This book, though it is only 135 pages, is in no way a small book. I found this on the Buy 2 Get 1 Free table at Barnes and Noble and it was not long after her death so I grabbed it. All I really knew was she wrote a brilliant piece of work called When Harry Met Sally so I figured this would at the very least be mildly entertaining. And it was free.

Oh my how wrong I was. This was way more than mildly entertaining. It was like a smooth glass of wine. It made me feel. It made me feel warm and I laughed and I teared up and I feel like I learned so much about her but really nothing at all, and I think that was her intent when she wrote the short essays that make up this book.

From her Aruba, dislike of egg white omelettes and love of meat loaf, the fact she wouldn’t miss email and washing her hair but would miss twinkle lights and butter, I Remember Nothing gives a tiny glimpse into the mind and life of am amazing writer.

(finished Jan. 2, 2013)

Sing You Home by Jodi Picoult

I’ve read just about all of Jodi Picoult’s books an liked them. Well not Songs of the Humpback Whale, but all the others I’ve read.

This one was not what I expected when I started it. It wasn’t as formulaic as I felt it was going to be. It’s the story of a family broken by loss and how a new life is formed and how they each handle it. It’s a story about tolerance for family units that look different than your own. It’s about forgiveness and the danger of using religion as a weapon.

I started and finished this today. I was so drawn in that I only stopped to feed the family and play Battleship with my son.

(read Jan. 1, 2013)

Deadly Decisions (Temperance Brennan book 3) by Kathy Reichs

I’ve read the first Temperance Brennan book also (and I’m pretty the 2nd though it seems I didn’t mark it read so maybe not). Again, before I tell you my thoughts, this is the character Bones the TV show is based on but the book Tempe is very different than the TV Tempe.

These books follow a pattern so are a little predictable. Tempe is called in on a case, she gets in over her head because her smarts and her curiosity get the better of her, and the police take time to believe her theories. Someone she cares about ends up in danger, she ends up being correct and case gets solved.

That being said, it doesn’t make it a bad read. The fleshing out of the facts is interesting, the story of the crime isn’t too far fetched, and it isn’t obvious from page one who done it. They really are decent reads. There is a lot of technical language but it’s quite interesting.

(read Jan. 2013)

2012 Book List

The Passage, The Twelve (The Passage books 1 & 2) by Justin Cronin

I first read The Passage in July 2010. I reread it this week to refresh my memory and then jumped in and read book 2, The Twelve so this will be a double review.

While yes these could be lumped into the vampire type story I would beg you not to do that. They are so much deeper, so much more. There is some spirituality, or religion threaded in them, but not in a preachy trying to convert you way, just as part of the store, a thread if you will.

The story is this, some people go on a trip, sick people, people with terminal cancer. And something happens to them, they die in the jungle but there isn’t a trace of the cancer left in any of them. There is some virus out there and so of course people being what we are, someone has to investigate this, and the government has to try and use it, and eventually weaponize it. This starts the train of events that carry the story, which I believe is set to be a trilogy. The original test subjects, death row inmates and the the doctor who was investigating it and got infected are the monsters and humanity has to find a way to survive. This is a bit of an over simplification but I don’t want to spoil anyone. These were not romances (yet there is some), there are no sparkly vampires, this a bloody battle for life over creatures of an undead variety. It is the story of courage and bravery of a small group of humans, it is moving and thought provoking.

(read Dec. 2012)

Reached (Matched book 3) by Ally Condie

Book three of this trilogy feels like the author changed her mind part way in and switched where the story was going. In Books 1(Matched) & 2(Crossed) it felt like it was going to be a love story with this battle of The Society and The Rising as the backdrop. Then in Reached the love story of becomes the backdrop for the redesigning of a nation after a plague used by both sides gets out of control.
Reached was a good book and it raises some really interesting questions, such as:

When a government gets too big and tries to control too much, in what seems to be with the people’s interests in mind and then a rebellion tries to free the people but becomes just another version of the government which side do you take?
How much freedom is too much or is there such a thing as too much freedom?
Is art and free expression dangerous?
How much can a population be trusted to know and understand and how much protecting do they need?

All in all this was a good series in what seems to have become a sub-genre of YA literature that was started with Uglies and made more popular with Hunger Games

(read Dec. 2012)

The Silver Linings Playbook by Matthew Quick

Every cloud has a silver lining, or so the saying goes. Pat is the narrator and main character. He is just getting out of “the bad place”, wants apart time with his wife to end, is an Eagles fan and has no idea years have passed. There was funny, sad, heartbreaking, heartwarming…there was so much here. It really felt like Pat, with his mental status in question, was telling his story, it was manic and frenzied and scary and sweet.

This is another book I liked so much that I’m afraid seeing the movie would ruin it.

(read Dec. 2012)

I Am Nujood, Age 10 and Divorced by Nujood Ali with Delphine Minoui

In February 2008 10 year old Nujood was married against her will to a man in his 30’s. Her father arranged this. Just a couple of months later she managed to make her way to a Yemen court house and asked for a divorce. She is an amazing and brave girl and her sharing her story has helped other girls speak up and cry out for help.
Heartbreaking in the cruelty this child, little more than a baby, faced at her husbands hands, but such an amazing tale of courage and strength.

(read Dec. 2012)

Every Day by David Levithan

What if you were still you on the inside but every morning you woke up inside a different body and lived in it for the day? You were you but you were them. Until the next day when you were someone else. But what if you fell in love? Could the person you love see you inside a body that looks different every 24 hours? And what would it do to the person who belongs inside the body after you leave?
Sounds far fetched, even crazy or even like a book that would be too much…But David Levithan (author of Nick and Nora’s Infinite Playlist, Dash & Lily’s Book of Dares, Boy Meets Boy) makes it work. It is a story about finding out who you are, excepting others for who they are and loving the filling not the shell.

(read Nov. 2012)

Girl in Hyacinth Blue by Susan Vreeland

A could be painting by Vermeer hidden out of the shame of how a man came by it is shared with someone and then traced back through all of its owners until we meet the subject of the painting. Sometimes heartwarming sometimes heartbreaking. I found this a great way to tell a story.

(read Nov. 2012)

the perks of being a wallflower by Stephen Chbosky

I take really good care of my books, I don’t mark them, dog ear them..I love my books.

This is the first time I ever read a book that made me want to highlight and underline the shit out of it.

This book broke my heart, but made me so happy at the same time. The message, if the story of Charlie, Sam and Patrick has one, is “And even if somebody else has it much worse, that doesn’t really change the fact that you have what you have. Good and bad.”

I’m not sure I want to see the movie now, I have this perfect picture in my heart of Charlie and his pain and his way out of the tunnel.

Read this freakin’ book people!!

(read Oct. 2012)

Crossed (Matched book 2) by Ally Condie

This is the second book of a trilogy, the third is due out in November. Crossed picks up where Matched left off.

I liked this book better than the first. Not that the first was bad, but after reading book 2 it felt like Matched was just a long prologue to Crossed.

In this part of the story the main character, Cassia finds out how strong she can be. She and Ky grow so much in this book and you can see them struggling to do it.

One thing about this series that makes it different than Hunger Games is the ambiguous nature of The Society (government). Their intentions seem good but is the way they go about things right? Are the bad guys really bad? Are the good guys really good? It raises interesting questions.

(read Sept. 2012)

Matched (Matched book 1) by Ally Condie

This is another in an ever growing line-up of books about what would happen if the government was so totally in charge that you had no say in anything much like Uglies, The Hunger Games and Delirium.

It isn’t that this is a bad book or that I didn’t enjoy it, it’s just familiar territory. And since it has been done so often lately there isn’t anything overly new here.

That being said, it was a fast read. The writing was fine. The story was featured a very likeable young woman. If you like these kinds of stories book one in what, surprise, is a trilogy, is a good read. It isn’t earth shattering but it was good. It is also a safe book for the tween and up set if they are not quite ready for Uglies or Hunger Games (both series are ones I highly recommend)

Side note: YA books are something of a passion for me, if I can’t get published I will continue my schooling and go on to teach middle or high school English and maybe get my dual Masters in Library Science & Children’s Literature with a focus on the YA genre so this is right in my favorite area.

(read Sept. 2012)

Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer

This book took me a long time to read, it was extremely sad and incredibly painful.

But it was a good book. The little boy will break your heart as he tries to get to know his dad, who died in the Twin Towers on 9/11, through a key he found hidden in a vase in his dad’s closet.

(read Aug. 2012)

11/22/63 by Stephen King

This is not your typical Stephen King, but it is. Kind of.

If you found a portal to the past and could change things what would the world look like after.

That’s what is going on here.

Al, an old diner owner dying of cancer shares the portal in his diner that goes back to 1958. He wants to go back and stop the Kennedy assassination. His theory is if he does then Robert Kennedy, MLK jr and the Vietnam War would be changed and thousands of people saved.

But before he can he gets to sick so he recruits Jake, a local high school English teacher to finish the job for him.

Jake goes and gets as wrapped up in the mission as Al was but also ends up loving the era and what happens changes the course of many lives, or does it?

I totally got wrapped up in this book and enjoyed it. There is a section that references IT which was cool. Pennywise is a scary ass dude and even just hinting at him gives me the chills.

(read Aug. 2012)

Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher

Clay gets a box of cassette tapes in the mail. He is instructed to listen to them and then pass them on to the next person in the story told on the tapes.

A girl he had a huge crush on since Freshman year has recently committed suicide and the tapes are a letter with the reasons why she did it.

The moral is to be aware of how you treat people because you never know what it might do and the snowball it may start rolling down on the person or the other people around.

This is a YA book but some of the content would, in my opinion, be too much for younger tweens and teens. Heck at times it felt too much for me.

(read Aug. 2012)

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

“It kills me sometimes, how people die.” The Book Thief is narrated by death and he speaks that line. It sums up this book perfectly.

The story is of Liesel and the Holocaust and the people who were living in Germany at the time and how life was for them, if they followed the party line and if they didn’t. It isn’t in the camps and it isn’t about the Jewish victims (but it isn’t a pro Nazi book by any means, so don’t worry).

It is the story of how life is lived when the world has gone mad and death is around every corner.

It is about love and growing up and dying.

This was a hard one, very moving and a little hard to swallow in some places because since it is told by death there is a certain detachment and matter-of-factness that took getting used to but then became important because any more intimate and it would have been like dragging a razor across your heart (which it already kind of felt like).

Worth your time and the sadness.

(read Aug. 2012)

A Dance With Dragons (Song of Fire and Ice book 5) by George RR Martin

As with past books, I can’t say much since I don’t want to spoil anyone.

But here is what I can say, the first little more than half of book 5 takes place at the same time as A Feast For Crows (book 4) which is why there are missing characters in book 4. Then their times line join and pick up where we left some of the other characters.

Also, Mr Martin has done something tricky, a character hated is now loved, another hated character has not moved to the like category but has begun to draw pity, while others are just as loved or hated as they have ever been, and one is still loved but is making stupid choices that make the reader want to shake them and say snap out of it.

I am completely heartsick over the fate of someone and with no release date for book 6, The Winds of Winter I am worried for him/her. Damn you George RR Martin, write faster!!!

(read Aug. 2012)

Seating Arrangements by Maggie Shipstead

Ever wish you could be a fly on a wall and know what people were thinking? That’s what this book was like. The story is set during a weekend of activities leading up to the wedding Winn’s daughter Daphne, who is very pregnant.

I found this story slightly uncomfortable, in a really shouldn’t be seeing this kind of way. It felt like I was eavesdropping on the people at the bride’s family summer home for the festivities. There were hookups, missteps, betrayal, self-discovery, healing, letting go and growing up and the reader has a birds eye view of it all.

(read July 2012)

Dark Places by Gillian Flynn

I am enjoying reading Gillian Flynn’s work (Gone Girl, Sharp Objects). They tap into this dark part of the human condition that many people shy away from.
Dark Places is another example of this. In the cold hours of a January morning a mother and two of her four children are murdered. One gets away and the other ends up in prison for the crime.
The story is told in the past and in the present in different voices as Libby, the one who lived tries to find out what exactly happened to her family.
Dark and twisted and really a bit sad too…

(read July 2012)

Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn

A child is murdered, the second in less than a year. Sharp Objects is a who done it wrapped in a family drama about the damage those who are supposed to love and care for one another can really do to each other and how it passes from one generation to the next.

As with Gone Girl, Gillian Flynn does more than tell a story, she gets in to your mind and messes with it. I thought after about 130 pages I knew what was going to happen and I was only part right, I didn’t see the final moments coming.

(read July 2012)

A Feast For Crows (A Song of Fire and Ice book 4) by George R.R. Martin

This is the hardest series to review each time I finish one, people are not as far along or are only watching the TV series and I don’t want to spoil anyone.

A basic review would be this, I enjoyed this book very much. I was a little thrown off by missing characters until I read the first page of book 5. Also a little disconcerting was the change in feeling from totally despising someone to liking them to loving them.

Not as long as book 3 or book 5 but still very full of story, and shorter is relative here since books 3 and 5 are over 900 pages and this was only 685ish.

(read July 2012)

Guilty Pleasures (Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter book 1) by Laurell K. Hamilton

I got this from the library. I put aside, yet again, A Feast For Crows, to read a book I got from the library. The first two were so good that it was easier to put aside the book series that keeps me wanting more. This one however was not on that level.

But had I not been reading the Game of Thrones series this would have been fine.

It was an escapist, gory, vampire book. The writing was readable, the story had its moments. It was not great literature but it was ok.

Anita works with the cops on cases involving vampires. She is tough and has an attitude. She is a strong female character. Oh and she raises the dead, creates zombies. So there is a little of everything.

Not the best book I have read but by far not the worst, that book, if you are wondering, is The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake.

(read July 2012)

the diary of darcy j. rohne by Emily Giffin

This very short book, about 60 pages, was offered as a free nook (or nook app) book on Barnes and Noble's webpage. It’s a mini prequel to Something Borrowed (and its sequel Something Blue) so I figured why not. It was ok. Not much new here, just some glimpses into the teen years of Darcy and she is pretty much exactly as you would expect. It took me about 20 minutes- a half hour to read and was free so I can’t complain but it really was only ok.

(read July 2012)

Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn

On the fifth anniversary of the wedding of Nick and Amy something happens. Amy is missing. What follows is a well spun tale.

I can’t say too much without spoiling so I will just say this was a crazy, mind-fuck, dizzying and delicious read.

(read June 2012)

An Available Man by Hilma Wolitzer

Edward is a middle school science teacher mourning the death of his wife and trying to figure out how at age 62 to live without his love. He irons her shirts because she died with them undone, he tries out a support group, the reawakening of his erections, and dates.

This reads like a really intimate peek into the real life of a man going through this.

This passage from chapter 9 struck me as a good example of the depth of this novel. “So why would anyone choose to pursue Science Guy, a man who ironed women’s blouses for recreation, an aging, balding middle-school teacher with a basement laboratory, to which he’d often retreated to cry like a baby, or to fantasize about cloning his dead wife from the DNA in the hairs still trapped in the bristles of her brush?”

I read a review of this in Entertainment Weekly and I got an ebook copy to read from my local library. I but aside Game of Thrones for it and have no regrets. This was a moving and touching book and well worth reading.

(read June 2013)

A Storm of Swords (Song of Fire and Ice book 3) by George R.R. Martin

Book 3 in the Game of Thrones books is a book ahead of the TV show so I won’t include spoilers.

I will say I am so wrapped up in the characters and have been drawn in. I love that in a series, the desire to keep going and find out what happens to the characters I love (Tyrion, Arya, Jon Snow, Daenerys, Samwell) and the ones I love to hate (The Hound, Stannis, Melisandre, Cersei, Tywin) Also, some characters have moved from one category to the other.

This one was the really, really long at about 924 pages but it was well worth the investment.

(read May 2013)

Between Shades of Gray by Ruta Sepetys

In June 1941 Stalin started deporting people considered to be anti-Soviet from the Baltic states the Soviets occupied.

This is the story of Lina and her family who were among those deported. Lina is a budding young artist. At 15 she has been accepted into a prestigious art program but her family is rounded up and deported before she can go. They spend time in horrific conditions including a camp in the arctic circle. Using her drawings and passing them along she tries to contact her father and let him know where her, her mother and her brother are.

I can’t say enough about how amazing this novel was even as it broke my heart. But here are some of the author’s words about the Baltic people “These three tiny nations have taught us that love is the most powerful army. Whether love of friend, love of country, love of god or even love of enemy- love revels to us the truly miraculous nature of the human spirit.”

(read May 2012)

What We Talk About When We Talk About Ann Frank by Nathan Englander

This book is 8 short stories that while they have hints of humor all make for deep thought about right and wrong, black and white vs. shades of gray, choices made when faced with impossible situations, the the place the Holocaust plays in the modern life of Jewish people and the weight of the past on the present.

This was a fast read, but it was deep. I am left mulling over the last one in particular.

(read May 2012)

A Clash of Kings (Song of Fire and Ice Book 2) by George R.R. Martin

First, yes this book, heck all of the books in the series are long. But as in the first book, the chapters are each the goings on in the word of Game of Thrones from a character’s point of view. They are small bites that by the time you are done have provided you with a literary feast. There is suspense, war, bloody battle, treason and even romance.

I don’t want to say much since this book coincides with the current season of the HBO series and I don’t want to spoil anyone.

So I will just say that I recommend you ignore the page count and read this.

(read May 2012)

Defending Jacob by William Landay

Is there such a thing as a “murder gene”?
Can someone be born bad, a killer?

How far can a parent go to protect their child before it is too far?

That is the story tackled in Defending Jacob.

The story is told in the form of current grand jury testimony and flashbacks. The story unfolded in such a way that I was drawn in and felt invested in the Barber family. I found this a quick read despite its over 400 page count.

Well written, heartbreaking tale.

(read May 2012)

A Game of Thrones (Book 1 of A Song of Fire and Ice) by George R.R. Martin

Holy Fucking Shit!!!

This book was amazing.

I picked it up to read after getting hooked on the HBO series. I haven’t been this excited by a TV show since LOST so I really wanted to read the books.

It is a long book but it doesn’t read like one. It moves fast, and is really beautifully written. You can the dark gritty world of The Seven Kingdoms. The lore is well crafted and it is easy to get sucked in and not want to leave.

I am on to book 2 now and so excited to see what happens next.

Knights, Kings, Dragons, Love, Sex, Murder, Betrayal…it’s all in here.

This series has bumped Harry Potter down to my 2nd favorite series.

(read April 2012)

Hamlet’s Blackberry: A Practical Philosophy for Building a Good Life in the Digital Age By William Powers

I am a little slow in reviewing this, it was 2 books ago. I read it for The Art Of Being Human (my humanities class for Spring 2012).

The book basically says we are such a connected society through our gadgets and screen time and debates if this is good and how to balance it. Powers uses examples from his life as well as 7 men who could be seen as ahead of their time in relation to the gadgets of their day, Socrates, Seneca, Gutenberg, Shakespeare, Ben Franklin, Thoreau, and Marshall McLuhan.

I found myself both agreeing and disagreeing with parts of Powers theories. But over all I found it interesting and fairly enjoyable.

(read April 2012)

Cloisters By Kristin Bock

I loved this book of poetry. It was small, 69 pages, but a gem. It is as lovely to look at and hold as it is to read. Kristin came to my creative writing class and was so amazing and charming.

Her poetry is haunting and beautiful. The imagery is breathtaking. I carried this book with me all semester and read it a few times.

(read a number of times throughout March-May 2012)

Pandemonium (Delirium book 2) by Lauren Oliver

Love is a deadly disease and there is a mandatory cure.

Lena’s story since leaving Portland is told in a back and forth between THEN (her time in the wilds) and NOW (her time undercover for the resistance).

I don’t want to give away anything because the first two books in this trilogy are worth your time and I don’t want to spoil you. I will say that they do have some common threads with books like Hunger Games and Uglies but not unpleasantly so. Lauren Oliver has a writing style that makes the journey on somewhat familiar turf enjoyable. My review of book 1 is here.

Lauren Oliver is the author of before i fall which was an amazing book.

(read March 2012)

Look Me in the Eye: My Life With Asperger’s by John Robison

I love finding books on the sale table that I may have never come across otherwise that turn out to be amazing.

This is just such a book. Because of my son I am drawn to this kind of book. John Robison is an Aspergian. He was not diagnosed until he was in his 40’s. He grew up being told he was all kinds of wrong and freakish.

His story was so sad and yet not. He is open and honest and blunt and real. The lesson learned here is that we are not all cookie cutter copies of each other, different isn’t bad. Tolerance is not overrated.

(read March 2012)

The Imprefectionists by Tom Rachman

Each chapter follows one member of the staff of an English language newspaper based in Rome. The staffers are flawed and interesting and so very human. This was a quick read that I had to pick up for book club. I probably never would have read it otherwise so I’m glad it was the March selection.

It was quirky and very well done.

(read March 2012)

Moab Is My Washpot by Stephen Fry

Reading this, Stephen Fry’s first autobiography, was like sitting down with him and listening to him tell you his life story, at least the first 20ish years of his life. He meandered and digressed and weaved his story out in a tapestry of words and emotion.

(read Feb. 2012)

The Constant Princess (The Tudor Court, #1) by Philippa Gregory

Not as good as The Other Boleyn Girl but another good read set in the heart of The Tudor Dynasty. This one follows the story of Henry VIII’s first wife Katharine of Aragon from her childhood in Spain as the Infanta through her trial as Henry tries to divorce her to marry Anne Boleyn.

Not surprising is the image of Henry as the spoiled and selfish child considering the spoiled and selfish man her turned out to be.

(read Feb. 2012)

Down the Darkest Road (Oak Knoll book 3) by Tami Hoag

Another trip into the sleep town of Oak Knoll CA. Populated by characters from the first two books set there (Deeper Than The Dead & Secrets To The Grave) this time around we are given a question of right vs lawful.

Lauren and her daughter Leah are living in the Oak Knoll home of friends after having left San Diego. Four years prior Lauren’s older daughter Leslie was abducted and has never been found. Then her husband killed himself. Oak Knoll seemed like a place to get a fresh start. Or is it? Lauren and even the San Diego detective on Leslie’s case know who is responsible but he has been so careful they can’t prove it. Now he is back, in Oak Knoll. Lauren is at the point where she feels like the only recourse she has is to take matters into her own hands.

What follows is typical Tami Hoag mastery in spinning a tale that cranks up the tension until the final moments. This time laced with the question of if it’s ok to defend yourself and your family by any means necessary when those who are supposed to can’t.

(read Feb 2012)

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

My favorite line in this book was about being brave being when you know you’re beat before you begin but you begin anyway.

That sums up the bottom line here. Courage and doing what’s right no matter how hard the road.

This was the first time I read this, yes I missed all the classics most people read in high school.

Now I want to see the movie.

(read Feb. 2012)

Those Who Save Us by Jenna Blum

This was more than a Holocaust book. It’s the story of a mother and daughter. The sacrifices a mother makes for her child. Ones she can not speak of long after the fact.
Anna is a young German woman with a child during WWII. She lives in Weimar near the Buchenwald camp. The things she goes through, the things her toddler daughter Trudie witness as she tries to keep them alive. That is the story taking place with war as its backdrop.

The story bounces back and forth between the war and the mid 1990’s. Trudie is a grown woman, now Trudy, and she is a professor of German Studies. Her mother still doesn’t talk about what happened and Trudy has been haunted her entire life by dreams and vague memories.

There is also shame and guilt and pain both women are suffering through but can’t talk about to each other.

That sometimes we come to love those who save us is a hard thing to understand but one that makes sense when you stop judging and think about what the world was like for Anna.

And again, the heart of this story is mother/daughter relationships and how sometimes they are painful and difficult.

(read Jan 2012)

Déjá Dead (Temperance Brennan, #1) by Kathy Reichs

I grabbed this book because I like mystery/thrillers and I love the TV show BONES which is loosely based on Kathy Reichs books about Dr. Temperance Brennan. Before I tell you about the book I need to say that the Dr. Brennan in the book version (there are a bunch, I’ve only read this one so far) is VERY DIFFERENT than the way she is portrayed on BONES. She’s older, has a daughter, works in Canada and at least so far there is no Booth.

The novel is tightly written and the attention to details, as gory as they are, is spot on. One of the things I love is that book is told in first person in Tempe’s voice and she feels so real, she even chides herself for noticing the amazing blue eyes on one of the cops.

In Déjá Dead Tempe picks up on a pattern between the deaths of at least 4 women all found murdered and mutilated. Problem is she is the only one who sees it and convincing the police isn’t easy. Can she before the psycho kills again?

Well laid out and paced with perfect amounts of tension. I’ll be reading more of the books about Dr. Brennan.

(read Jan. 2012)

American Dervish by Ayad Akhtar

I find a lot of book suggestions in EW, this one among them. The book opens with Hayat Shah having his first taste of pork in the form of a Brat at a college basketball game and the amazement and joy he finds in it. It also mentions his Survey of Islamic History taught by Professor Edelstein (chuckle) and the girl he is falling for, Rachel.

American Dervish is the story of Hayat and his journey through childhood growing up Muslim in the Midwest. His story is at times funny, sad, confusing and heartbreaking. The story is told in his voice as he tells the Jewish girl he has feelings the story of his faith.

I was moved by him and found it an interesting insight into the life of a Muslim in America.

(read Jan. 2012)

Dust to Dust by Tami Hoag

This book stars Sam Kovac and Nikki Liska from Ashes to Ashes.
The police are there to protect us but what happens when it is the police people need protecting from? The IA department is hated because cops are supposed to look out for each other, but where is the line drawn on when it’s time to police your own?

In Dust to Dust an IA cop who happens to also be gay is found hung. It gets chalked up as a suicide and ruled an accident to spare the family of the officer. His father was also a cop left in a wheelchair after getting shot on the job. Then he is found dead also by what looks like is at his own hand. But is two cops, father and son, both committing suicide really what it looks like or is it murder staged to look like suicide?

I really liked that I was wrong about the outcome.

(read Jan 2012)

Goodnight Nobody by Jennifer Werner

A change of pace from Werner’s other books which I have really enjoyed. This one was not bad but not like her others.

Kate is a mom of 3 kids who has moved from NYC to CT and is not very happy there. Then she finds another mom dead and her life becomes about investigating the crime and she starts to feel useful and alive.

Not great literature, but not bad for what it is, chick lit fluff. Not a waste of time and a rather quick read but if you haven’t read her other works I suggest you start with Then Came You, Good In Bed or Little Earthquakes.

(read Jan. 2012)

Betrayal at the Vel d’Hiv by Claude Lévy and Paul Tillard

This was to date the most heartbreaking thing I have ever read. It read like a documentary and was so straightforward and concise.
On July 16, 1942 the French police in Paris rounded up as many Jews as possible. For 7 days they were held at the Vélodrome d’Hiver and eventually moved to Auschwitz. Of those taken 4.051 were children not one of which made it back home. Only about 30 adults from what the Vichy Government and the Germans called Operation Spring Wind made it back to Paris.

Filled with supporting evidence and first hand testimony there is much by way of information and pain in the pages of this book. It left me wondering, even more than I already had been, how something like this could happen. And fearing that if this question never gets answered it could happen again.

(read Jan. 2012)

Secrets To The Grave (Oak Knoll book 2) by Tami Hoag

A women brutally murdered in her own home. Her 4 year old daughter left for dead by the killer survives and knows who the killer is. A very twisted 12 year old boy and his acts of violence. An upcoming trial of a serial killer. Oak Knoll is not as sleepy and peaceful as it seems.

Tami Hoag is master at weaving a tense and well paced mystery. The best part of this one is not seeing the slap coming before it hits.

(read Jan 2012)

The Fault In Our Stars by John Green

First let me tell you this, do not let the fact that John Green writes YA books keep you from reading them just because you are not a young adult anymore. If you do you will miss out on something amazing. Trust me.

Now my review:
Sometimes a book comes along and worms it’s way into your heart and rips it. Makes you sob like a baby. The kind of cry that makes your body shake. But you continue reading and feel the better for it. This, The Fault In Our Stars, is one of those books.
Hazel has cancer. She can’t breathe without her oxygen tank. She is going to die and she knows it. She is 16. Gus had cancer, he also had two legs. Now he has one and is in remission. But at cancer kid support group he and Hazel meet. I can’t, I wont say more. Don’t let the fact this book is about two teens with cancer keep you from reading it. It isn’t about the cancer, it’s about life, love, Hazel & Gus. You will be moved and maybe even slightly (or more) changed by this read.

Trust me!!!!

(read Jan. 2012)

Ashes to Ashes by Tami Hoag

A serial killer, a victim advocate who is former FBI and an FBI profiler are key players in this thriller/mystery. Tami Hoag is a master at laying down clues so riddled with red herrings it’s always a crazy thrill ride to the conclusion.

So far I’ve not been disappointed in any of her books.

(read Jan. 2012)

The Queen’s Fool (The Tudor Court, #4) by Philipa Gregory

Begged as a fool first for young King Edward and kept in service for Queen Mary and used a pawn by those supporting Princess Elizabeth is Hannah Green. She is living in a very dangerous time and place for a girl who is not only not Catholic or even protestant but is a hidden Jew. And Hannah has the gift of sight.

In the middle of all of the royal drama is the story of a young girl who grows into a woman and learns about life and love.

Philipa Gregory paints such beautiful and life like pictures of life in 1500’s England with her writing.

(read Jan. 2012)

Deeper Than The Dead (Oak Knoll book 1) by Tami Hoag

In this book Tami Hoag did one of my favorite things that can be done with a mystery/thriller. She laid out a trail, a living timeline and for the first 3/4 of the story she slowly ratchets up the tension until all of a sudden BANG and you feel things begin to speed up and get even more tense and you can feel it all start to spin towards the conclusion. And she does it well.

Deeper Than The Dead is the story of what happens in the peaceful town of Oak Knoll when 4 children stumble across the dead body of a woman who has her eyes and mouth glued shut.

(read Jan. 2012)

The Other Boleyn Girl (The Tudor Court, #2) by Philippa Gregory

This book is 661 pages long. But it was worth it. At first I felt like I was trying to push through Austen again and everything felt wordy and heavy even though it was beautiful. But then it started to fly and the grasp of the writers word paintings became fluid and before I was ready the story was over.

The Other Boleyn Girl is the story of the rise and fall of Anne Boleyn as seen through the eyes of her sister Mary. I am left with an even stronger dislike of Anne than I had before I started this book. But I also have more of an appreciation and sadness for the damage done these girls by the men in power over them and the neglect of a cold and hateful mother and how it shaped them.

(read Jan. 2012)

A Secret Kept by Tatiana De Rosnay

This book is by the author of Sarah’s Key.

A Secret Kept is a moving and beautiful story of pain and hurt and love and joy and heartache and healing. Some of our deepest and hardest to recover from hurts start in childhood and how the adults around us deal with us and with life often shapes who we become.

So far I’m 5/5 this year in finding wonderful books to read.

(read Jan. 2012)

Faithful Place (Dublin Murder Squad, #3) by Tana French

The third book in this sort of series (first is In The Woods and second is The Likeness) “stars” Frank Mackey who first showed up in The Likeness.

It’s the story of dysfunctional family, long held grudges and secrets, murder and love. As in the other two books Tana French uses words to paint realistic images of Irish life in and around Dublin. You can hear their accents, you can feel their agony and you get lost in the words. Another well written selection.

(read Jan. 2012)

Brooklyn by Colm Tóibín

While in Barnes and Noble the day after Christmas this book on the bargain table caught my eye because I was born and raised in Brooklyn. It sounded like a charming fast read and I figured why not. And I was not disappointed. Sometime after WWII while the Dodgers were still in Brooklyn and baseball was still played at Ebbets Field a young girl comes from Ireland to Brooklyn to try and make a life for herself. Sponsored by a Priest she gets work in a shop and starts classes at Brooklyn College and meets a boy she falls in love with. But when a tragedy strikes and she goes back to Ireland will the new life she built survive? I’m not telling, you’ll have to read it for yourself. You wont be sorry.

(read Jan. 2012)

Sarah’s Key by Tatiana De Rosnay

Sarah is 10 years old on July 16, 1942 when the French police come knocking at her door. She is a daughter, a sister and she is Jewish. Thinking that they will be back soon she has her 4 year old brother Michel hide in their secret little cupboard. But she doesn’t come right back. She is among those taken to Vélodrome d’Hiver then moved to french camps.

Julia is an American journalist living in Paris with her husband and daughter 60 years later. An article she is writing for the 60th anniversary of Vel’ d’Hiv’ opens a Pandora’s Box that entwine her life with Sarah’s.

This was a heartbreaking but beautiful book. Tatiana De Rosnay does a masterful job telling this fictional tale placed around a real and horrific event without it feeling forced or disrespectful. This one left me feeling raw and vulnerable and will stay with me for a very long time.

(read Jan. 2012)

The Likeness (Dublin Murder Squad #2) by Tana French

This is the second book featuring Detective Cassie Maddox (In The Woods was the first). In The Likeness Cassie goes undercover to investigate from the inside the murder of a girl who shares her face and the name of a prior undercover identity she used on a case years ago.

As she is recovering emotionally from the aftermath of her last big murder case she gets in deeper than she thought she would and what follows is a gripping who done it. I didn’t figure this one out until close to the end, something I love in a mystery. And Tana French has such an enjoyable writing style. The use of “arse” & “shite” and her way of painting a picture of the Irish settings make her stories well worth the 300-400 pages they take to tell.

(read Jan. 2012)

2011 Book List

1984 by George Orwell

This one disturbed me greatly. I won’t go on about the story details, most people know at least a little about it, Big Brother, being watched all the time etc. But the imagery was disturbing and the story as well because it really isn’t that large a leap to think this could really happen.

I never read this back in High School so I am a bit late in adding this book to my knowledge base. I’m glad I didn’t read it when I was younger, I think its power would have been lost on me.

(read Dec. 2011)

Goliath (Leviathan trilogy book 3) by Scott Westerfeld

The last book of a fantastical retelling of WWI. In this world it is Darwinists vs Clankers. It sticks pretty close to actual history but with fantastic beasts and machines. At the heart of the story is Prince Alek son or Archduke Ferdinand and Midshipman Dylan.

I enjoyed the story very much. There is action, mystery, spying, Tesla cannons and romance.

And on top of all this is some amazing Steampunk Art by Keith Thompson

Scott Wasterfeld is also the author of the Uglies Series and Peeps

(read Dec. 2011)

Lucy by Laurence Gonzales

What does it mean to be human? Is it genetics only or is more?

That’s the issue behind the story of Lucy, a teenage girl who is born as the result of a shocking experiment.

This is such a moving story and one that feels like it could really be happening.

(read for this review Nov. 2011)

“B” is for Burglar (Kinsey Millhone book 2) by Sue Grafton

Much like the first this one was what you expect for its type. I was a little more surprised this time around at "who done it". I like the character of Kinsey, she is flawed but not overly so she is likable.
I will read more of this series

(read Nov. 2011)

“A” is for Alibi (Kinsey Millhone book 1) by Sue Grafton

Just recently I saw the newest, “V” is where this series is up to I believe, in the the bookstore. I’d never read any of them but know people who love them. So I grabbed a this one on sale for $2.99 on my Nook.

It was a pretty fast read and not bad. It’s not classic, it’s detective pulp lit and it’s enjoyable as such.
The character of Kinsey, a smart woman in her early 30’s, was someone I liked enough to want to read more about her.

The case she was working on was more interesting than not and I only half figured it out before the reveal.

I wasn’t expecting anything life altering or overly gripping or moving but rather a book that held my attention and I liked so in that this lived up to my expectations.

The “B” book is on sale as well, for $3.99 so my broke self can swing it and I will get it.

I noticed some of the ones after “B” also in the under $5 range (these are Nook versions) and if I like “B” I will get them eventually too.

(read Nov. 2011)

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows

During WWII the German forces occupied the channel islands between England and France. This story takes place after the war and is told in the form of letters and revolves around what the Islanders went through during the time the Germans were there.

There is sadness, hardship, people sent to the camps and death. But at the same time this book is uplifting, charming, and the characters are timeless. There is love and survival and humor.

I read this book for the first time about 2 years ago and was only too glad to read it again, and will read it again and again in the future for sure.

(read for this review Nov. 2011)

Zone One by Colson Whitehead

Last Night. The end of the world. A plague. A zombie virus of sorts that has mutated. This is a zombie story. This is a wordy painting, a picture of life after for the survivors. It’s a smart book. Yes I said smart and zombie about the same story.

Set in my hometown, NYC, Zone One is the story of Mark Spitz, no not the actual Olympian but a sweeper, that is one who goes into buildings and stores checking for the dead as they call them, but really they are the undead. His unit’s job is to help the new government get NYC ready to be repopulated.

Will it work?

(read Nov. 2011)

Hiroshima in the Morning by Rahna Reiko Rizzuto

I had to read this book for Women’s Literature class.

I ended up really liking it. It’s a memoir written out of what happens when the author gets a grant to go to Japan for 6 months to do research and write about the personal accounts of the aftermath of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima. What she ends up learning is more than she ever bargained for. She learns more about herself than any of the people she interviews and their stories become interwoven with her story and that of her ailing mother, a woman who as a very young girl was in one of the US internment camps after the attack on Pearl Harbor.

What this book ends up being is an intimate look into the author’s journey of self-discovery.

(read Nov. 2011)

Good In Bed by Jennifer Weiner

Cannie is a writer, Jewish, funny, smart, pretty and big. Her father told her when she was a tween that she was getting fat and no one loves a fat girl. Her ex-boyfriend writes an article about loving a larger woman.

But what none of that tells you is how she finds her strength and the love of those around her and more importantly to love herself.

The story was a bit cliche, love the wrong guy while the right one is right in front of you if you’d only open your eyes and look. But it is well written and moving so it doesn’t feel old hat.

(read Nov. 2011)

Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson

Say what you want about Steve Jobs, love him or hate him, this book is still a must read. Besides the life story of the man behind the “i” age there is a rich and wonderful history of the home computing industry.

But of course the focus of this book is Steve Jobs. It is the only authorized biography about him. But you might be wondering if it is biased. No not at all. It paints a full picture of Mr. Apple, the good the bad, and the very ugly.

The most telling proof is a conversation Walter and Steve had very near the end of Steve’s life. He asks if there is going to be stuff in the book that he won’t like. Walter tells him yes and he replies good, but he probably wont read it right away, maybe in a year, if he is still around. He won’t be. He died never reading it.

Steve Jobs asked for no control over content, didn’t ask to read the finished manuscript before publication and didn’t hold back in sharing. Having now read this and having learned what I have about the man, this is truly surprising.

I loved and hated him while reading this book and by the end cried over his the last moments shared. You don’t have to be a lover of or even like the man behind Apple & Pixar to find this a fascinating read.

(read Oct 2011)

In The Woods (Dublin Murder Squad, #1) by Tana French

In 1984 three kids go into the woods in Knocknaree, Dublin. Two never come out. Flash forward about 20 years and the third child is now a detective with a new name investigating a murder in those same woods. The murder of a child.

Are the cases related? Should he tell the brass who he really is?

With enough tension and beautiful words to leave the readers soul satisfied, this was a good read.

(read Oct. 2011)

The Help by Kathryn Stockett

Mid 1960’s Mississippi. Segregation. Violence. The murder of Medgar Evers. The era of Dr. King’s dream, Rosa Parks and the assassination of a US President.

This is the back drop for the book The Help.

One white woman and a dozen black maids set out to tell the truth. A braver group of female characters I have yet to come across.

Books that make me feel are my favorite kind and this book did that. I was scared, angry, happy, and sad right along with Skeeter, Minny, Aibileen and the rest. I may never be able to look at chocolate pie again, but this was an amazing book.

(read Oct. 2011)

Then Came You by Jennifer Weiner

Jules, Annie, Bettina and India. Four women who find their lives tangled up together. Can they find love, forgiveness, healing and form a family?

I zoomed through this read, not because it was an overly short read, but because I wanted to see where these women would end up.

(read Oct. 2011)

A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry

Read this for Women’s Lit. Unlike the last play, which I hated (Top Girls) I really enjoyed this. The story was well done, the play was easy to read/follow. I was moved by Bennie’s desire to be educated and find her place in the world. I was moved by Walter and Ruth and the struggle to love each other even though things were so hard at the moment. And Mama as a rock of love and wisdom was wonderful. I plan on seeing the film versions as soon as I can.

(read Oct. 2011)

Cocktails For Three by Madeleine Wickham

Maggie, Candice and Roxanne. Three best friends, members of their own little cocktail club and each with some secret. Maggie is about to have a baby but isn’t sure she is ready to be a mom. Candice feels guilty for something her father did. Roxanne is in love with a married man.

Somewhat predictable but still an enjoyable read. Not going to change your life or rock your world but it wont feel like a waste of time.

(read Oct. 2011)

Edgar Allen Poems by Joshua A. Wilson (to many on Twitter he is also HannahSatana)

A collection of fairly silly, often funny sometimes strange poems surrounded by some terrific sketches.
Many are groaners that you still find yourself chuckling over. But a couple are more… they are like gems hidden for you to find. Like Love So Hard It Hurts.
And be jealous because this is the inside of my cover

Check out his page and twitter!!

(read Sept 2011)

Ready Player One by Ernest Cline

I LOVED THIS BOOK!!!

Filled with tons of nerd, geek, gamer, and 1980’s pop-culture this was such a fun book to read!!! It was a game inside a game as an escape from the world and what is has become in 2045.

Ready Player One is the story of Wade and his hunt for an easter egg worth billions. So much of every day life, work, school..is done via virtual reality. Wade wants to win the billions to better his life and get out of his crappy trailer. Adventure awaits in the trip to the future down memory lane.

I couldn’t stop reading this and am sad it’s over.

(read Sept. 2011)

Top Girls by Caryl Churchill

I read this play for my Women’s Lit class. Unlike the last book I read for it (The Awakening) which I enjoyed and the one I have just begun (A Raisin In The Sun) which I am really enjoying, Top Girls was awful!!!! It was very annoying to read, didn’t flow well and was just not a story I enjoyed.

(read Sept. 2011)

Wendy and The Lost Boys The Uncommon Life of Wendy Wasserstein by Julie Salamon

While both moving, funny and very interesting I was most struck by how one woman could be both open and still unknown at the same time. I found myself falling in love with and having my heart break for the brilliant playwrite who shares my name.

Even if you don’t know any of her works, which include The Hedi Chronicles and Shiksa Goddess, this is a heartfelt look into the life of an enigma of a woman.

(read Sept. 2011)

Dash & Lily’s Book of Dares by Rachel Cohn & David Levithan

If this doesn’t grab you and make you want to read this book nothing I can say will:

Upon Dash seeing a women in Macy’s 2 days before Christmas pick up a pair of mittens simulating the thumb of a hitchhiker to the North Pole the following exchange takes place
Really?
Excuse me?
Aesthetic and utilitarian considerations aside, those mittens don’t particularly make sense. Why would you want to hitchhike to the North Pole? Isn’t the whole gimmick of Christmas that there’s home delivery? You get up there, all you’re going to find is a bunch of exhausted, grumpy elves. Assuming, of course, that you accept the mythical presence of a workshop up there, when we all know there isn’t even a pole at the North Pole, and if global warming continues, there won’t be any ice, either.
Why don’t you just fuck off?

This is a novel by the authors of Nick & Norah’s Infinite Playlist.
Sweet, real, sometimes painful. Life, love, being a teenager. I loved this book in such a real way.

(read Sept. 2011)

The Awakening by Kate Chopin

I had to read this for my Women’s Literature class. It’s a short read, 190 pages. This is a book I most likely would not have even heard of let alone read had it not been for this class. But I ended up enjoying it.

Kate Chopin is for sure a woman who was ahead of her time. This book takes place in the late 1800’s and finds a woman, Edna, becoming aware of herself as an individual. She is married to man who is at best indifferent to her feels and at worst emotionally abusive.

In a time when woman are expected to be nothing more than wife and mother (property of first their father than their husband) what is to become of a woman who wakes up to realize she is cut out to be neither?

(read Sept. 2011)

Mocking Jay (Hunger Games book 3) by Suzanne Collins

The third and final book of The Hunger Games story, Mocking Jay is an emotional and violent end to the tale of Katniss. But there is hope too. I can’t say much because I don’t want to spoil anyone. But if you have not yet, please trust me and read this trilogy.

(read for this review Aug 2011)

Catching Fire (Hunger Games book 2) by Suzanne Collins

This is my second read of The Hunger Games Trilogy and I love it more the 2nd time around.

In Catching Fire Katniss faces foes she didn’t even know she had and learns more about herself and what she is capable of.

Love
Hate
Trust
Betrayal
Action
Romance.
It’s all in here.

(read for this review Aug 2011)

Bridget Jones’s Diary by Helen Fielding

I saw the movie a long time ago but had never read the book so I grabbed it at a Border’s sale. It took about 50 pages to stop hearing Renee Zellweger’s voice in my head.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book, chuckling out loud often. And it’s a much better story in print than on screen.

(read Aug. 2011)

With A Little Luck by Caprice Crane

This is the fourth novel by Caprice Crane and I loved it the most out of all of them!! That’s saying something because the others were great!!

Berry is a fear filled, suspicion cripple. But she is also spunky and smart, a DJ on a classic rock station, a best friend, a daughter and has a heart of gold.

Can she overcome her fears and learn to live her life? Can she find love? Can she step on a crack or walk past a black cat?

This was a fun read but packs more of an emotional punch than I expected and it is wonderful.

(read July 2011)