The Pilot's Wife

The Pilot's Wife by Anita Shreve was one of my beach reads this year. When will I learn. It's an Oprah book club book. I need to stop reading those. Like the other ones I've read, this one was not great.

It's about, you guessed it. A pilot's wife. The pilot dies, leaving his wife with lots of questions. It was good enough to finish (I am not shy about putting down a book), but not good enough to recommend.

Year of Wonders

I loved this book. It had romance. It had tragedy (I mean, it's a fictional account of the Plague...just about everyone dies). It had witches. It had religious controversy. Geraldine Brooks may have struck out on People of the Book, but hit a home run with both March and this one.

I devoured this book. I couldn't put it down. Here's the story line:

All the people in a country village decide to take a pledge to stay in town when the plague strikes, so as not to spread it more.

It's an amazing book that I think I'll recommend for book club next year...mainly because I want to discuss the ending with people. I'm not sure if I liked it.

The more I read, the more I realize that the ending of a book is the hardest part. 

I'm pretty sure this book ended the only way it could have, but it was just so strange that I'm not sure if I liked it. In any case, it's a great book. And where it not for the odd ending, would have made my list of favorites.

Cage's Bend and Mudbound

I tried to read it. I got halfway through. Then I realized I didn't care about the characters enough to finish the book. So, I put it down. I don't recommend this one.

I've seen this book everywhere so I decided to read it. A good friend of mine said that she has been reading it on and off for a year. A YEAR. She said it's not interesting enough to keep her reading, but interesting enough to pick it back up occasionally. So, I tried to read it and guess what....she's right. While not a terrible book, it didn't capture me at all. The first page is written in a way that I thought to myself: "Wow! This is going to be a great book!" Well, it wasn't. I put it down after a few chapters. There are too many good books out there to read mediocre ones.