Deathly Deception

I got about a quarter of a way through this book, then skimmed another quarter then said "it would take a very special person to enjoy this book". Although the 6 reviews on Amazon.com give it a 4 star, it is a very difficult book to read. It had such potential, too.

It's nonfiction about the real story of Operation Mincemeat, in which the allies intelligence agencies try to mislead Hitler by throwing false intelligence documents overboard in hopes they will reach land and fall into the wrong hands. Intriguing, right?

Here's where it went wrong: too much detail. This book is written for really smart people who already know a lot about WW2 and all the ins and outs of military stuff. If this book was written for laymen (and women), it could have been great. As it is, I couldn't get through it and wouldn't recommend it unless you were really into WW2.

The Scarlet Pimpernel

This is one of those books where you finish it and you wish there were 1000 more pages. Everything was perfect about this historical fiction novel. The setting is England and France during the Reign of Terror after the start of the French Revolution. And that makes it sounds dreary. It's not. It's a mystery and adventure book. It's a love story. It's beautiful language.

Caveat: in an effort to be authentic in language and accent it is a little difficult to read at first until you get to know the characters and what's going on. The beginning is setting up a lot of characters and is a little odious but after finishing the book I realize all the tedious set up is very important. It made me understand and care about the characters. Then you get lost in the story, the clothes, the manners, and the gorgeous language of the late 1700s.

I can't say much about this book...if you choose to read it, DO NOT FIND OUT WHAT IT'S ABOUT!!!!!! Was I loud enough?!

Here's a basic plot summary: French people are sending hundreds of French Aristocrats to the guillotine just for being apart of the aristocracy. There is an Englishman who goes by the name of The Scarlet Pimpernel (an English flower) who goes into France and rescues some of them. The French don't like it and try to find out who the man is. That's all you need (and should) know before reading this.

If you are an English major or just love literature...this is a must read. You have to think a little bit in the beginning, but once you place all the characters, it sucks you in and is a page turner.

Champion

I have read a TON of Dystopian genre these past 2-3 years. And I am tired of it. So, when I say that I loved this series (especially this last book of the trilogy) it has some weight. Legend was the first. Prodigy was the second.

The book got off to a slow start for me. I felt that Lu tried too hard in the relationship between Day and June and it felt inauthentic. Although now that I finished the book, her build up of relational tension makes sense since you need to feel a certain way for the end to count emotionally.

Champion is a clever book politically. And I felt the balance between the political angst and the relational angst of Day and June was good. There are interested characters throughout the novel and interesting plot developments.

If you enjoy other books in the genre, you will love this one. The ending was well done as well. Not tragic like Allegiant. Not happy like The Hunger Games. A good balance of beautiful sacrifice that will make you cry, but not leave you heavy hearted.

East

This is not the kind of book I gravitate toward. It's basically a fairy tale. There are trolls, a Troll Queen, enchantment, ice palaces, and more. While it was a good story and it was a quick read, I wouldn't say it's a must read unless you really like reading fairy tales.

However, I did give it to my 9-year-old girl to read. Boys would also enjoy it though. The reading level is high enough for my daughter (it will challenge her a bit because of the names of places and people!), but the material is appropriate for her. There are still some heavy topics in this book (slavery, kidnapping, murder, people tossed overboard in a storm and dying, witchcraft), but no more than a traditional fairy tale. And told in a non-detailed kind of way.

Overall, I enjoyed the book enough to not regret reading it and may recommend it to certain people or if you are looking for a very light read. If you have kids, I would recommend them to read it. I have a feeling that it would be a childhood favorite.

Otherwise, skip it and move on to a more adult book.

A Wrinkle in Time

I never read this as a child. Boy, did I miss out. And while I loved it as an adult, I think it would have been truly magical to read as a child.

The world that L'Engle creates is wonderful, full of good and evil, tessering, and the Trinity in disguise. Not only is the story a good one with good writing, but the underlying spiritual message is wonderful. I highly recommend this book for not only adults, but for children.

Rules

Once again, I read this to make sure my 9 year old could read it. Or at least so I could talk to her about any issues that might come up. I was only a chapter in before I realized it'd be great for my girls to read. But because I wanted to read it as well, I got the audio from the library and we listened together in the car. EVERY MOM SHOULD DO THIS! What a fun way to taxi around.

Back to the book. It was great. The overall message was great, the writing was good, the characters were precious and endearing, and the story was captivating...even for me.

Rules is meant for younger kids. However, the message and themes are ageless. Catherine is a 12-year-old girl who has an 8-year-old brother with Autism. She makes rules for him to follow so he can better navigate his world. Catherine is trying to navigate her own world of being and doing all things for her brother when she meets a boy, Jason, who is wheelchair bound and can not speak. Jason can communicate through his communication book and he and Catherine become friends. Now Catherine has to navigate being friends with Jason and still trying to impress her new neighbor that she desperately wants to be good friends with.

I highly recommend this book - not only for young kids, but for adults as well. It's a sweet story that will remind you of what true friendship is and the value of life, regardless of how different that life is from your own.

The Giver, Gathering Blue, Messenger, and Son - The Giver Quartet

I've been on a Lois Lowry kick these days, so of course I had to read The Giver Quartet. The Giver introduces a world that on the outside looks utopian, but we find out it's actually dystopian. It ends with a boy leaving his government controlled community to find what's outside its borders. He sees a lighted house down a long hill, but readers are left not knowing if it's his imagination as he is dying in the snow or if it's real and he makes it.

Gathering Blue introduces another world and more characters. There is a society where the lame, blind, or just birth marked people are taken to a field to die. Within the society, there is a council who controls the people through manipulation and fear. The protagonist is a young girl who is recently orphaned who ends up living with the council due to her artistic abilities. The book ends with her understanding that her society doesn't have to be like it is and wanting to change it.

The two above worlds meet in Messenger. The boy from The Giver meets up with some characters from Gathering Blue and some the readers finally get some answers to their questions. Human nature becomes more evident in this book. People start trading at a Trade Mart and it turns the community upside down.

Son is the conclusion to the loosely related series. Up until now, I had thought I'd let my 3rd grader read them. However, Son is much darker than the others and so the series really is more appropriate for 5th-6th graders. We see more of the trading that devastated the Village in Messenger. And we see the conclusion where all ends well...a good thing for this series. It's written very well. There are Before, Between, and Beyond sections. And the plot is riveting, even though it's juvenile fiction.



Overall, the themes in the Giver Series are love, sacrifice, strength regardless and maybe because of disabilities, and loss. Perfect series.

Dad is Fat

I like Jim Gaffigan. He's pretty funny. Although sometimes I sense that he tries too hard. Anyway, overall he's a funny guy. I didn't know that he had several books already out, so this is the first (and probably not the last) book of his that I've read.

This has mixed reviews. Honestly, this is my first comedy book, so I'm not sure what I should expect. It's a funny book, some of the time. It's old some of the time. He uses some similar jokes throughout that get a little old.

It's not one of those books that you want to read cover to cover without putting down. It's a great book to read just before bed though since the chapters are super short and not related to each other. It would be a great book to read when you're reading other books as well. I have lots of friends who can read multiple books at the same time. I am not one of those people. I read one book at a time. In fact, once I tried that reading style and picked up 3 different books to read at the same time. They are all still unread and I've read countless books between then and now. Just not those 3.

Back to this book. I'd probably give it a 4 out of 5. But only if you have kids. If not, don't even bother reading it because it wouldn't be funny. Just scary.

Bottom line, I'd recommend this book if you need a break from heavy reads. Or if you just like to laugh.

The Chaperone

This is my first official book on CD. I don't have much opportunity to have someone read my books to me. I have little people around me. All. The. Time. My books aren't all that appropriate for little ears to hear. So sadly, no read-a-louds for me. However, I recently took a longish car trip sans kids and I opted for a book instead of music. Good call. I'm convinced that while The Chaperone is a great book, it's even better being read to me.

The Chaperone is a very well written and engaging novel. The characters are not only endearing, but lovely. Honest. And thought provoking.

The main character is Cora. Moriarty wrote her life pretty much from start to finish and I love that. While there are many books out there that do that, this one is unique in some way. You see her growth and morph in a fascinating way. The people that she comes in contact with change her. Or rather, I should say that she allows them to change her. The complex relationships in the novel are during morally shifting times. The main time periods are the roaring 20s and WW2. Cora's moral compasses shift as she interacts with people different from herself. And while I am weary of shifting moral compasses, Cora's was so interesting because she let her society define morality. Which is so so dangerous. There should be something or someone bigger than us and when/where we live to define morality. Not only does Relativism not jive well with me, it's just not logical. I digress.

The Chaperone is a story about compassion. And while I don't agree with some of the very subtle agenda of the book, I do agree with compassion. Love. Mercy. So when read within the context of the time period and how issues of homosexuality, birth control, and modesty were viewed, it's easy to see no moral agenda. However, if you read it at face value and get wrapped up in the characters without taking the historical timeline in view, you will see a political and moral agenda.

Overall, I highly recommend reading this book. Or better yet...having it read to you.

Unsouled

The Unwind and Unwholly series are great books. Unsouled is the third one. Reader beware: there are four in the series, not the typical trilogy. And while a critique may be that Unsouled seems drawn out, I reserve judgment until the last book is out. It's not quite fair to judge it yet bases only on that. Hopefully what seems stretched out and added just to make the book longer and turn it into a fourth book is just setting up the last book.

I did feel like the characters got old toward the end of the book. I was just a bit tired of the story, setting, and characters. In contrast, I never tired or got bored of the Divergent characters.

I like the questions created and discussed in this book. Shusterman brought in more philosophical arguments and reasoning in this books than in the others.

While I wouldn't say it's bad, I might call it forgettable. I do feel like Shusterman was trying so hard for character development and reconnection with the characters that all the scenes in the book are a little too long. It feels like he added every thing he could. And much of it doesn't seem to further the plot. But I could be wrong. I think with the movie rights already sold that he's starting to write for a movie and not just the book. Which makes the characters seem less authentic.

The book has a lot of Snarky leading the stork army. A lot of Lev and Connor on a reservation. Really a lot of hiding from the authorities. More background and interaction with the people who invented the technology to unwind which is probably the most interesting thing in there.

Overall, it was a quick read. While reading it, I loved it. Afterwards, it was just okay. But still worth the read and hopefully the last book will pull it all together.

Allegiant - Big Spoiler!

There are lots of opinions out there about this book, the final in the Divergent series by Veronica Roth. Some people don't like it. Some people love it. Some think there is too much character development and not enough government conspiracy details and others agree with them, but liked that.

Here's my take on the book. My first critique is that the duel voices telling the story (Tris and Four...because I just can't bring myself to call him Tobias) aren't distinct. They both sound so similar that I had to look back to remember who was narrating. I recall this as a problem with the previous books as well, so I wasn't that put out by it and even kind of expected it. So it didn't bother me.

My second critique is that although I absolutely loved the book, I was disappointed in the lack of details regarding the government role in the whole Chicago experiment. Was David a rouge government agent? Or was the US government in control of him? I think that Allegiant is more about human nature than conspiracy, which was disappointing. While I loved all the human nature and character development, I wished there were more about the government.

SPOILER ALERT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
And the end. Oh. My. I got so involved with the characters of this trilogy that when Tris died, I was shocked. I wept. I went back and forth from hating Roth for her ending to loving her. It's really the first of the genre to kill off the main character. I love it. I hate it. The message that is told about true sacrifice is beautiful. Caleb wanted to sacrifice his life out of guilt and Tris knew better. Sacrifice should be done out of love. With a pure motivation. So while I wept at Tris' death, I also wept at the love and forgiveness her death portrayed. And I also love the redemption of Four and his mom. The overarching themes of forgiveness and sacrifice are amazing in this book.

Overall, great series. I highly recommend it. And while a little disappointed with the dystopian aspect at the end, I think overall it's the best trilogy in the genre.

Gossamer

I've already sung praises for Lois Lowry. And here I go again. Gossamer is an interesting little book. It's a juvenile fiction book that is great for middle-upper elementary school age kids (and apparently adults as well).  It is well written for what it is and highly creative.

The main players are dream givers. A young one is being trained in the art of giving dreams to humans. It has some heavy details of a fathers' abuse in it, so beware. If you let your 8-9 year old read it, they need to know themselves well, have a strong sense of justice, and not be persuaded by other ideas.

Number the Stars

Lois Lowry is one of my favorite authors. Yes, I know she writes youth fiction meant for middle to upper elementary or middle schoolers. But her books are classics or classics in the making. They are well written, great characters, and sweet story lines.

She has written a jewel of a book, Number the Stars, about a little girl in Denmark during the German occupation. Her family helps smuggle out their Jewish friends. It's full of the typical tense solider moments. Will the Jewish family make it or will they get caught? It's written from a child's perspective, which gives a sweet childish innocence mixed in that we rarely see. Great book to introduce kids to the Nazis and WW2. And a quick, easy read for adults.

Phoenix Rising

Phoenix Rising by Karen Hesse is a great little book. It's juvenile fiction but really good. I read it to make sure of was appropriate for my 3rd grader. I'll wait to let her read it until we study chemicals in school since it's a book about a radiation leak, although it is appropriate for her to read now. Maybe a "damn" or two is the only thing in there. The main character, Nyle, is growing up with her grandmother on a farm. There is a radiation leak near their town and the book is about the affects of it. A sick boy and his mother end up living in their farmhouse with them. The relationships in the book are sweet, as are the characters.

I would recommend for adults as well as older kids. If you read it as an adult, just keep in mind it's meant for kids.

Stone From the River

This book is good in theory; it just didn't capture me quickly enough to keep my attention. It is well written though. It's about a dwarf growing up in Germany. There were too many stories about her growing up and not enough plot. Which means the character development was great. And if I could get captured by the plot that was slowly developing, I think it would turn out to be a great book. I gave it 102 pages before moving on. Maybe I'll try again when I have more energy.

Illuminations

Another book for my list of favorites. Maybe even in my top 3 favorites. Definitely my favorite of this genre, which is historical fiction. Are there any other ways I can say this is one of my favorites?!

It's about a woman, Hildegard von Bingen who lived in the 1100s and at a young age was made to be walled up in a monastery along side a mentally unstable woman.

The plot was riveting. I love that it's historical fiction and Mary Sharratt brings the story to life. She writes with authentic language of monastic life in 1100s, but is still very readable.

Leave theology at the door before reading. It's not supposed to be about correct or incorrect theology. And the theology just doesn't matter. It's the psychology and the challenging of gender roles that matters. Hildegard bucked the system of what women did in the 1100s, but did it respectfully and graciously. She lived in compromise, but without sacrificing her beliefs.

If there is one book that you read this year, this should be it. It'd also be the perfect book club book. Men and women alike will like it. People of faith and those without. It's just about the perfect book.

When She Was Electric

This is an interesting book. I picked it up off the library book shelf to take to the beach based on the title and cover alone. I'd heard nothing about it. It was fine. Not great. Nothing substantial. Just a story of a broken family. Perhaps it could be deep if I had put more thought into it or if it was a book club book. Boiled down, this book is about what infidelity and babies out of wedlock can do to a family. It's a story of three generations of women, which I enjoyed.

While the plot was a little ho hum, the words MacPherson wrote had weight. It was beautifully written, but not flowery. Even simple sentences like "And then it rained." were placed so well and the sentence structures made it beautiful and artsy.

If you are looking for something unique and interesting, it's worth the read.

The Shadow of the Wind

Oh. My. Word. I loved this book. It was beautifully written. The characters were very well developed. The plot was amazing. It's one of my favorite books. It has a similar feel to The Book Thief, so if you enjoyed that book, you'll like this one, too.

It's about a boy, Daniel, who discovers a book that he loves. When he goes to find more books by the same author, he finds out that they have all been destroyed. Daniel starts researching the author and finds there is a big story there. He becomes detective with the help of a homeless man turned friend.

That's all the detail I want to give since part of the beauty and joy of reading this was not knowing much about it. My one caveat is that some of the characters get confusing at times. But I think that's because I didn't read it very quickly, but over a 2 week period. If I had read it faster, I don't think I would have forgotten the secondary characters as easily.

I highly recommend this book! Read it!

The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay

The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay is a book about twp brothers during WWII who become famous comic book writers. Yeah, it was boring to me, too. I'm sure it was well written and amazing since it's a Pulitzer prize winner. But it never captivated me and it was just too much work to read and follow the plot. I got through seven miserable pages before I put it down. Perhaps if you enjoy comic books, escape artists, and WWII you'd enjoy the book.

True Colors

I've recently read two of Hannah's other books, Firefly Lane and Fly Away. Both were good books. True Colors blows them away. Everything about this book is better than the others. The characters had more depth. The plot was more interesting. The writing was better.

The three Grey sisters grew up as best friends, due to their mother dying when they were young (a theme in Hannah's novels!) and their stern father. As they grow though, their fidelity to one another gets tested. Winona is the eldest and yearns for her father approval. Aurora is the peace-maker middle sister. And Vivi Ann is the fun loving baby of the family. Just the birth order stuff alone in this book is fascinating!

There is a tragic event(s) that take place that will turn the girls against one another and that's when the book takes off. From that point on, you can't put it down. There's love, murder, a legal case, and family ties that all make this a great book.

I recommend this book - though it is more of a click lit. Some men might enjoy it, especially the legal side of it. But probably, it's for women.

Revenge Wears Prada

I enjoyed The Devil Wears Prada years ago when it came out. It's just your usual chick lit, but with a unique plot. I decided to read the sequel that just came out and it was just okay. Nothing to write home about. Not good literature. No great new plots. Just an okay book.

It's been 10 years since Andy left Runway. The book starts off a little confusing because it doesn't end where the first left off. Instead, Weisberger backtracks throughout the book to tell the whole story, which was well done. There are new love interests, new fashion fiascoes, and of course, same old Miranda. Some of the conversations were drab. Some of the explanations were drab. And some of the plot was drab.

I do hope this turns into a film, like The Devil Wears Prada. I would be happy to see those characters play out in Revenge Wears Prada. Similar to the first book, I think this one would make a better film than book.

Firefly Lane

When I first read Fly Away by Kristin Hannah, I didn't know that Firefly Lane was actually the first book. I loved the characters so much in Fly Away, I decided to read the background story in Firefly Lane and I wasn't disappointed. It's a beach read at its best. Quick, easy, a little sad, good characters, good story. Unfortunately, I knew how it would all end, which made the book less authentic for me. I wish I read this book first, then Fly Away.

It's a great story of best friends, a man in the middle, and ultimately a story of what makes us happy in life and the sacrifices we make to find that happiness. Worth a read if you're looking for a well written book with good characters with moderate amount of depth.

The Silver Star

This was a highly anticipated book for me. I loved some of Walls other books - The Glass Castle and Half Broke Horses in particular. Amazing memoirs. So well written and compelling. I was so intrigued to read some fiction from her since her memoir was so good.

This book is a page turner for sure. However, it's just okay. I'd give it a 3 out of a 5. Maybe a 3.5 if I've had some chocolate and wine and am feeling generous.

It has loads of potential but just not pulled off as well as I expected. The story was not fleshed out as well as it could have been. I can see how her past has influenced her fiction though and that's interesting. It's a fine story but one of those that makes you want to root for evil and makes morality ambiguous. The bad guy certainly deserved punishment. Justice certainly needed to take place. SPOILER ALERT!!! I felt happy that the bad guy got more than he deserved. That's just not justice. Too much punishment is just as bad as not enough. There's a venue for justice to happen and while I get that the courts messed it up, that doesn't mean people can take it into their own hands.

This book is great for book clubs though. And I'm glad I read it. And I'd even recommend it. I was just disappointed with Walls execution of the novel.

Travels With Charley

Travels With Charley is a book about a 1960 road trip that Steinbeck took in order to get a pulse on America and its people. If you read the book, here's a good place to start. There is some speculation that he fictionalized the book and most of it's not even true. He definitely went on the road trip, but a first draft of the book included his wife, while the final manuscript, he went alone. There are details in the book that couldn't be true. And the conversations he's purported to have seem literarily tweaked.

Even if Steinbeck took "literary freedoms", this was a good book. Funny, clever, and just plain good story telling. Because it's a book about stories and not main characters or any kind of plot so to speak, I listened to it on CD. I felt like Steinbeck was right in the car with me telling me his stories.

It did get a little tedious at the end of the book, but the beginning and middle were great. Overall, I'd say that I enjoyed the book, but probably wouldn't recommend it to everyone. Some types who might enjoy this book are: dog lovers, men, literary types, people watchers, and those not looking for a page turner.

Letters to Skye

This book gets mixed reviews and I'm not sure I can recommend it. Overall, good writing. Good story, except for one thing: it makes you root for adultery. The overall message concerning love is that you do what feels good. If you find someone you love, you act on those feelings, regardless of your current martial status.

In order for me to recommend this book, the reader needs to be grounded in the moral truth that adultery is wrong. This book will make you want the main characters to have an affair and even might make those less grounded think the right and wrong is blurry and grey. When in actuality, it is very black and white.

The book is written in letter format which I love. However, it's a little unrealistic. Letters during wartime took a long time to get to where they needed to go. But not in this novel.

But it does have a good ending. The novel was just long enough and wrapped up well.

This is Jessica Brockmole's first novel and I do look forward to other books from her, as I enjoyed her writing style.

Life After Life

This is a very confusing book unless you know what it's about going in. I'm partial to not having a clue with books so as no bias can creep in. I spent the first 100 pages figuring out what the hell was going on!

Basically, on a fundamental level, Ursula dies over and over and gets redos in her life. She gets to change the future based on the way she died and what happened to her. Although it's sort of like an intelligent version of Groundhog Day, it's still a very unique book. One Amazon.com reviewer likened the different lives of Ursula to transparencies laid on top of one another. They all have some pivotal schemes in them that change the course of the future, but each transparency is different in the directions they turn and how they end.

Really, it seems like a brilliant idea for a writer because it's a dream come true. You can create these amazing characters where you get to change the course of their lives. I imagine (I'm not a writer!) that writers have many different ways they want to end a book or a character. This is the perfect novel for that!

I would describe this book as beautifully written, layered, and highly intelligent. Some heavy philosophical and religious themes can be pulled out if you want to think more about the authors words. Or you can just read it and enjoy the "what ifs".

Overall I enjoyed the book immensely. I highly recommend it. I will warn you: it's long. But worth it!

The Girl With No Name

This memoir was recommended to me by a friend of mine who shares similar likes and dislikes in books and whose opinion I trust wholeheartedly. So when she recommended this, I was excited to read a good book. And this book is wonderful. Partly because it's a true story.

A 4-year-old girl from Columbia found herself alone deep in the jungle of South America. She does eventually get out of the jungle when she's a preteen. The book is divided into two parts - her time in the jungle and her time after she got out. And as fascinating as her time in the jungle was, it's her life after that was compelling.

This book opened my eyes a little bit more to the capacity for evil that is in human beings. And the capacity for sacrifice and love.

This book is a must read!

Fly Away

This is one of many novels by Kristin Hannah, a new-to-me author that I think I've fallen in love with. Her writing is so interesting and well done. The plot of Fly Away is compelling. Heavy themes, but a light read. The characters are frustrating and endearing. I love them and hate them - a sign of a good novel to me.

I don't think I have anything bad to say about this book. It's a wonderful story of redemption and friendship. How you can't judge one's current actions without judging their past.

Actually, now that I think about it, I have one thing to say that can either be negative or positive, depending on your personality and preferences. The novel reads a little bit like a Hallmark movie. Do you know what I mean? It's the classic outline for one. Meet the sweet characters. There's a dying mom. There's a teenager full of angst and a newly single dad trying to parent her through the grief. Then comes the conflict. Teenager goes wild. The mom's best friend becomes an addict. But the ending turns out well. Wraps relationships up nicely. Maybe that's what I mean about a Hallmark movie. The book is full of conflict that ends up all fine. I'm not giving away anything though - I knew all would end well as I was reading the book. A little cheesy. Because it's destined to be a Hallmark movie.

All that to say, if you like books that have lots of broken relationships that make you mad, but then all ends well - this is a good book for you. It's an easy read. And because it was written well with interesting narration, I'll read some of Hannah's other books.

The Woman Upstairs

What a strange book. It's definitely for those who love literature. Claire Messud is a New York Times best selling author and after reading this book, I can see why. It's literature. It's artistic. It's beautifully written and the vocabulary is amazing. It reads sort of like poetry at times (but readable and understandable!). It's a highly intelligent novel and Messud paints pictures with her words of not only things, but emotions and thoughts.

But it's a weird book. Over half-way through and I still didn't know where the book was headed. What the point was. Even what the plot was. Is that good or bad? Perhaps if I were a more introspective person I'd get it?

The book was told through what I'd call conversational narration. Nora Eldridge is a single 37-year-old 3rd grade teacher who describes herself as "the woman upstairs". This woman has tried to be all things to all people, getting approval by denying herself.  She thinks she's independent, but as she invests herself fully and completely in a friendship with the mom and dad of one of her classroom kids, she realizes the woman upstairs isn't actually a happy one.

I get the sense that the author is trying to be edgy in her view of women and their identities. But in the midst of trying to pull that off, her main character, Nora, just comes across as insecure. Overall, I'd put this novel in the camp of feminist literature.

If you are interested in reading this book, it's helpful to know what it's about. Read some reviews and see what literature buffs think the book is about. Because even after finishing it, I still feel like I need to go read reviews to see what it was really about.

And The Mountains Echoed

I really loved Hosseini's other novels, The Kite Runner and A Thousand Splendid Suns. I have anticipated reading this one for a while. I was disappointed with the book. It definitely is not as good as his other ones.

It was slow. It caught me a little shy of 50 pages, which in general is my sweet spot. If I don't like a book within the first 50 pages, usually I don't like it after I finish drudging my way through it and I feel like I've wasted my precious reading time on a bad book. So, I give books 50 pages. And The Mountains Echoed got interesting for me around page 47.

I loved the opening chapters. Hosseini opened by telling a story and I love how that story ended up relating to the real life of the characters. This novel is not compelling. I didn't ever feel like I needed to keep reading to find out what happens because I don't think that's the point of the novel. It's about the characters, not about a dramatic plot.

At first I thought the book and the narration was all over the place. The author tells the story of the characters through different time periods and different narrators that change every chapter, which left me confused and playing catch up for half the chapter before finally understanding how it all relates. It took work when he brought in new characters to figure out who they were and how they related to the story of the main characters.

But as I continued to read, the authors back and forth between time and characters was interesting and got easier to follow. The "I wonder what happened to her?" got answered just when you thought she was out of the book.

While it is slow and requires concentration, while it is not compelling, and it took me longer than most novels to read, it's a well written book. Just keep low expectations going in and know it's more about characters than story lines and riveting plots.

Where We Belong

I know, I know. Emily Giffin. My perception of her has always been that she's the John Grisham for women. The Max Lucado for Christians. When a book is popular, it's probably a good book. When an author is popular, she's probably written too many books and they are all mediocre. Or she has a really good marketing team. At least that's my book snob perception.

I have seen Emily Giffin books in Target every time I'm there. Front and center. The books never appealed to me since there seemed to be a new one every 6 months, which in my mind meant they were probably poorly written.

I saw this book at a friend's house and decided to borrow it. I respect this friend's opinion regarding books and she said it was alright. Not great, but not bad.

And she was right. It's a quick beach read. Nothing deep. Nothing superb. Nothing that will win her awards.  The characters were good. The story was fine. It was fluff at its finest.

Three Sisters

I enjoyed this book a lot. It's a story about three houses owned by three different women. There's a lot about marriage (and the importance of fighting for difficult ones), community, identity, loss, grief, parenthood, control issues, mental illness (and how denial can ravage a family), abuse, female friendships, perfectionism, and so much more. And while that's a lot to put into a book, Susan Mallery did them justice.

There's really only one complaint I have: it's rated R for some sex scenes. I prefer innuendos rather than details. I don't care to hear about someone else's sex life, thank you very much. And this book in particular was too provocative for someone who prefers innuendos.

One of my favorite things about this book is the psychology in the book. I'm a psych major, so I love it when novels have some psychology in them that isn't quacky. I love how Mallery wrote about the three women and how their houses reflected their personalities and issues. One house was perfect. That owner struggled with perfection and looking all put together. Another woman was really artsy, so her house was artistic. And the last woman was a mess and a work in progress due to being left at the altar. Her house was under construction and a mess all throughout the book.

This would make a great book club book as there are lots of issues and things to discuss.

Six Years

There's not much to say about this book. It's a quick beach read, but for men, too. There's nothing deep or compelling. Just a good story.

Here's the plot:

Jake and Natalie meet during one summer and fall deeply in love. She abruptly ends the relationship and gets married to another man, Todd. She tells Jake to leave them alone and not try to contact them. He abides by her wishes for 6 years. Then Jake finds out that her husband died, so he goes to the funeral. Except when he sees the wife, it's not Natalie.

It's worth the read. Just don't expect much from it and you won't be disappointed. If you have high expectation, you'll be let down.

Maya's Notebook

The premise of this book sounded so interesting to me. A young woman moves to Chile to escape from her life of drugs, crime, and prostitution. While it sounded so interesting, so much of it wasn't about the plot, but the characters. And the characters just weren't that interesting. There wasn't much to keep me reading, so I put it down. As I started writing this current blog post, I read some reviews for Maya's Notebook and couldn't find a bad one in the bunch. People loved it. With all the praise for the novel, I decided to pick it back up where I left off and try to finish it.

It took me about 20 more pages to get into the book. On about page 70, it took off and I couldn't put it down. Still, I have mixed emotions about this book. There was too much detail about the Chilean landscape and people to hold my attention in some chapters. However, it's a great book on sociology. You get to study drug addict/dealer culture and Chilean culture.

It was also a little too risque for my taste. And not even the parts when she was on the streets and in prostitution. It was the part when she was hiding on a Chilean island and met a tourist that was too much. I actually thought that whole part took away from the book.

But overall, I like the message the book gives about sex. The sex in the book is not flippant and gave a message that it can be destructive. Outside of marriage or a committed relationship, it can become an idol to worship. The relationships get confusing and can lead to devastation.

And while I usually like books with interesting narration, I didn't like the format of this narration - through Maya writing in her notebook. She ended up giving information that I found boring and not helpful for the story. Just plain old tradition first person would have been better.

The writing about her time on the streets in Vegas was riveting. The author could have built anticipation better with the going back and forth though. At times, she could leave you with a cliff hanger while she went back to present day on the island, but all in all, it could have been done better and most of the time I didn't mind waiting to see what happened.

The ending was disappointing. Saw it coming halfway through the book. You know the bad guy will lose, although I did like the questions left behind about the how it happened.

Overall, a 6.5 out of 10. And while I wouldn't recommend it, I wouldn't say it was a waste of my time.

The Perks of Being a Wallflower

This book gets really mixed reviews. In some ways, I really liked it. But mostly, I didn't. I left feeling that while the book certainly had a point, I'm not exactly sure what it was. Perhaps the point is about bullying? Perhaps about being honest with one's self? Perhaps it's about quirky kids?

This book is a picture of youth - high school to be exact. A picture of mental illness. A picture of how abuse can affect a child, even when they don't think it does. It's a social commentary about kids on the fringe. Kids who are different whether it be someone who is smarter than most, gay, quirkier, or what have you. What I liked about the book, is it didn't give a right or wrong about the moral issue of homosexuality. It wasn't an opinion piece. It didn't have an agenda, which left the reader to think for themselves.

I pretty much didn't care for high school. That bias probably played into how I read the book and what I think about the characters. Most of the characters were actually endearing. I enjoyed reading about them through the eyes of Charlie, the 15-year-old narrator. It's the rated R details in the book that while important, are a little too graphic for me.

I leave you with my favorite quote from Bill, Charlie's teacher, as it relates to reading books..."be a filter not a sponge". Wise words!

Someone Knows My Name

One of the best and saddest and most emotional movies I've ever seen is Amistad. It's about the Trans-Atlantic slave trade and it's a moving film, to say the least. I think everyone should see that film. Likewise, I think everyone should read this book. Especially if you don't know much about the slave trade or haven't read slave narratives.

Someone Knows My Name is historical fiction and is one of the best books I've ever read. The characters are beautifully rich. The details of the life and death of those involved in the slave trade from Africa to America are stellar. Lawrence Hill did his research. Everything in his book seems believable, yet so unbelievable because of the cruelty and injustice.

Be forewarned: this is a heavy book. It is haunting. The topic is evil at its finest. A 12-year-old African girl is kidnapped from her village and sold into slavery. She experiences kindness, hatred, love, indifference, ignorance, raw fear, and a plethora of other things as she survives the trip across the Atlantic, becoming a South Carolina slave on an indigo plantation.

The book is compelling - but long. It's well written with beautiful language, developed characters, and a moving plot, so it doesn't seem as long as some books. It could also be that the topic is so heavy that one can only read so much at a time before becoming heavy-hearted.

This is not a typical beach read. It's a not a book to read when you just want to pick up a book and be entertained. And yet I was entertained because it's a a book about humanity, culture, and history - all wrapped up in a good story. I would highly recommend this book to everyone.

The Round House

This is one of those books where you should understand what you're getting into before reading it. When I first started reading, I didn't know what to make of it. My husband read it beforehand and was able to let me know it was a cross between a mystery and a coming of age story.

That description was helpful. Because as a mystery, it was lacking. As a coming of age story, it was lacking. But together, it was good. I did find it hard to connect to the main character, seeing as he's a 13 year old boy. As I've written before, I have 3 sisters. I have 4 daughters. I have no idea how to relate to a 13-year-old boy. Thankfully, there were sweet moments in the book between the friends that redeemed the crudeness of the boys.

This plot itself is about a 13-year-old Native American boy who lives on the reservation. The author pulls the reader into the book quickly. The tragic event that becomes the mystery starts within a few pages. The ending was interesting and had depth in some way. But, really it's just a coming of age story.

The narrator is the boy, but as an older man. He's looking back to the summer of 1988, when he's 13 and a tragic event happens. I enjoyed the complexity of the characters and how it was narrated. Louise Erdrich wrote the book without quotations marks around the dialog, which adds an interesting note to the book.

It was a well researched and written book. But if you don't like crude language of 13-year-old boys, skip this read.

The Orphan Master's Son

Beautifully written, yet still tiring to read. Johnson did his research. His insight into North Korea, while I don't know how accurate, is amazing. I can only imagine what North Korea is actually like, but when I do - it's something like The Orphan Master's Son.

As interesting and well written as this book it, I still didn't finish it. It wasn't engaging enough. There wasn't a smooth enough flow from story to story. I put this book down because I didn't have time to read, and when I went to pick it back up, it felt like work. And there are too many good books to read to force myself to finish one. I can't recommend this book to many people. Maybe if you are really intrigued by North Korea and unspeakable evil. Or maybe if you like well researched books and don't care as much about character.

The Fault in Our Stars

This book would make a great movie. It's about teens with terminal cancer and the writing was very good. Cleverly written, great plot, interesting characters. The book was a little pretentious though. The main characters, Hazel and Augustus, were a little too unreal in their speech. My only hope for that is that cancer ages people's language and makes them smarter. Otherwise, the characters aren't believable.

It's worth the read, even though it left me sad. Not because it's about terminal cancer in kids, but because of the over arching theme of nothingness after death. The no hope in life or death makes this novel sad. I saw how the lack of faith in SOMETHING makes living and dying pointless.

But maybe that's the point? To make the reader enjoy the story and characters, yes. But, also perhaps to question their thoughts on after. After life is over. After someone you love is gone.

Overall, this is a good book. A quick read and very well written.

Me Before You

This review will be short. Me Before You is one of those books I just can't say much about because knowing too much will spoil the book's effect for the reader.

Macro scale speaking though, this book is about the lives of two people - Louisa Clark, a 26-year-old woman who has yet to leave her parents' home and find herself and Will Traynor, a privileged 34-year-old man who has a new challenge in his life. The book is about if Will can overcome that challenge with the help of Louisa.

It's a romantic comedy of sorts, though it wouldn't be if played on the big screen. It'd be drama all the way. But the writing is clever. The characters are precious. The ending is well, I can't tell you that. I'll just say I loved it. And for those who know me and my book loving ways, you probably know how this book ends.

For anyone in a book club - you must read this as it would lend to amazing discussion on a controversial moral issue (again, not going to say which one). The range of emotions I felt when reading this book was broad. This book and the characters in it will stay with me for a long time.

Kisses From Katie

This is an amazing story. Especially for an American to read. While I wasn't engaged the whole book (I skimmed some of it), the writing wasn't great (she's not a writer so I didn't expect it to be), and some of her statements about Americans seemed off target, misunderstood, or naive (typical socialism sentimentality regarding the rich in America), the story is amazing.

An 18-year-old girl, just out of high school left her privileged life to move to Uganda to be a teacher. She ended up starting a nonprofit organization to help send poor kids to school, help feed the starving, and some other amazing things. Her organization is Amazima Ministries and if you are reading this post, you should stop right now and go take a look at the organization. If not to financially give, to see what a 18 year-old girl is capable to starting.

While I found the book a little tedious to get through due to some personal dislikes of her style (won't go into detail as to not offend others), her story is inspiring.

I mean come on. She's 22 and has 14 children. Unmarried. Who isn't inspired by that?!

Don't Go

I loved Look Again by Lisa Scottoline. Interesting, the book review I did is my most popular post. Her latest book just came out - Don't Go. I had high expectations for this book and let me just say that I was disappointed. I didn't want to be. And I tried to not be. But I just was.

The style of writing was similar to Look Again, but not quite as well written. The twists and turns weren't nearly as interesting, exciting, or surprising as in Look Again. And the story line was ho hum.

I don't regret spending my time reading it; it's good. It'd be a good beach read. And I think men will like it since the main character is a man and there is a lot of military lingo and action.

The plot is about an Army doctor who is a month shy of his release when he gets word that his wife died in a household accident. The very first chapter of the book opens with what happened, which was fantastic. Scottoline's opening was strong.

The novel is about Mike and his infant daughter, Emily and how they reunited, if they reunite, and some other interesting plots along the way.

And while the book started out really strong, it ended in a fizzle. There was a nice bow wrapped up at the end and much of it seemed very unrealistic. There were two characters in the book that end up in a romance, but there's no development that got them there.

Don't Go was too formulaic for what I expected and wanted from her.

The Bean Trees

The story line of this book had so much potential. A young woman just barely an adult is given a baby at a hole-in-the-wall restaurant as the woman is passing through a town. The baby has no papers, no birth certificate, no social security number. It's about this womans' life and how she survives since she has no job, no money, no place to live.

The writing in The Bean Trees was flat. There were two main characters/narrators and I kept waiting to connect to them and be able to hear their voices. That never happened. Even the character who was written in 1st person didn't really have a voice. Even though I didn't really love it, I wanted to finish it. Not because it was good, but just because I wanted to see where Kingsolver was going with it. And I do love books where the lives of two people who are so different from one another intersect.

I ended up putting this down because life got busy. Then when I went to pick it back up, I lost the desire to see what happens. So, this is a book fail.

A Land More Kind Than Home

This is Wiley Cash's debut novel. I'm not sure if I've mentioned it before, but I think debut novels are the best. The Help. The Secret Life of Bees. The Light Between Oceans. Wonder. Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society. Rules of Civility. Bastard Out of Carolina. Still Alice. 

That's enough debut novel love.

I love the voices in this novel. I love how the character development is so rich (perhaps because I live in North Carolina?! Would love to test that theory) that even though there are three narrators and they all live in the NC mountains, I still mentally have different voices for them all. I hear them differently. There is a young boy, an older sheriff, and an even older midwife. Of course I hear their voices differently since one is female, one is a boy, and the other an older male. But more than that, I hear their accents differently. Their nuances that make them unique.

I love the story. It's back country goodness. It's snake handling religion goodness. It's manslaughter, poverty, addiction, and a lot of I-hope-they-catch-the-guy. The story is slow and steady, but not to be confused with boring. It's not a mystery since we all know who done it. It's more a question of will he/they get caught and how. Will the church responsible for the atrocity be shut down.

I highly recommend this book. It was well written, interesting plot, great character development, and a unique topic. And of course, super fun since it's set in NC and I live in NC.  

Requiem

This review is mixed. I really enjoyed the first 2 books in this series. And so I had high hopes and expectations for the last book, Requiem. It started out fine. The love triangle angle was working well. I would have said the book was good. A page turner for sure.

Then as the book progressed, the story really didn't. The build up of the resistance wasn't well written. The end of the book was rushed. The love triangle wasn't really resolved. I like the guy Lena ended up with (obviously can't say who here), but how she got there was rushed and not well developed. And there was no resolution between Lena and the other guy she didn't choose.

Overall, the series was good. The 2nd book in the trilogy, Pandemonium, left the last book so much potential. Sadly, Requiem just kind of fizzled out a bit because of the rushed ending and the love angst. I'd still recommend it as a series though.

Calling Me Home

Calling Me Home is a page turner of a book. When I first started the novel, I thought that maybe it wasn't going to be well written because the conversations and voices were a little too cliche, but I was pleasantly surprised as I continued reading. It's actually a great book. The narration is very unique and interesting. But let me back up.

The story is a good one. It is about a 89-year-old white woman, Isabelle who asked her 30-something black hairdresser, Dorrie to drive her across several states to a funeral. The chapters go back and forth from present day on the road trip where Dorrie's life seems to be falling apart as they drive to the 1940s where Isabelle's life is unfolding.

Like I said before, the narration is unique. Dorrie is the narrator, but she only really narrates every other chapter. The chapters she's not narrating are quasi narrated by Isabelle when she was a young woman.The unfolding of Isabelle's story is so well done and compelling.  The book doesn't feel like it's narrated by two different people though. It flows so well that you don't notice. Because Isabelle is telling her tragic story little by little, there is great suspense built as the author cuts back to present day at a pivotal point.

What I love about this book is that while the most compelling story line is Isabelle's (she fell in love with the son of her black maid - all but illegal in the south in the 1940s), Dorrie's story line is also interesting. I enjoyed reading about how the past of one person's can alter the future of someone else.

I highly recommend this book. It's a quick and easy read with surprises along the way. And a sweet story of race relations and reconciliation.

Skinny Legs and All

I really love it when friends recommend books to me. And most of them I end up loving. This one is not that book. It was all over the place, had details that didn't move the story along and that didn't engage me, and tangents about things that don't move the story along or help with character development.

Sorry CSO, I had to put this one down.