37 Books Since January....my Last Blog!

Ok, I will publish, but I am coming back later to edit, and put it all in the correct format!
August 28, 2011

Caught
Author: Harlan Coben
Finished: Jan 11
Rating: 6-7
It ended up getting my attention. The beginning was not that good. Regular murder/mystery. I like Lee Child’s books better. A guy is set up to look like a child molester; a TV journalist was duped into believing he was a bad guy; she eventually helps to find out the real truth. I don’t think I will read any more of his books.


The Dressmaker
Posie Graeme-Evans
Jan 11
8 Liked
I did enjoy this book. It has a different style, vibe, rhythm. It reminded me of David Copperfield by Charles Dickens. Hard life, moving forward, good and bad things happen; strong people. This book was set in the same time; England. This girl has a happy family. One day things go terribly wrong; father dies, they are poor, try to get a long. The mother is a fabulous seamstress. Teaches the daughter. She grows up to be a great seamstress herself. She marries at 15 to a bad guy; has a baby. I did enjoy the story and I would recommend it.

One Day
David Nicholls
Jan 11
5-6
Frustrating because it could have been SO good. I find that I have less and less patience with reading books with twenty-somethings living their lives with low or no moral value. Then they wonder why they are sad, depressed and going no where! This book starts with a couple meeting the day after graduation. The girl really likes the boy, the boy is a complete philanderer and neither think that’s wrong. I read some and skipped some. The book is set up that every chapter is the anniversary of when they met, but another year or more has passed. The boy continues to lead the same traveling, no commitment life, the girl takes terrible jobs. They continue to write and are friendly. I don’t like books that “wind you up” emotionally then drop you off a cliff, so I did skip to the end, the middle, back to where I really was, back to the end. SPOILER: they get married 20 years later, the girl dies 8 months later, he is devastated. Hmm, who really wants to read that? I don’t get it.


The Scorch Trials
James Dashner
Jan 11
By the same author as The Maze Runner. I read that in Sept 10. This is the 2nd installment. Really enjoyed the continuation of the story. The kids got out of the maze, now they must make it 100 miles through the “scorch”. There must be another book coming. The story really didn’t end, but I did enjoy it!

Scrambled Eggs at Midnight
by Brad Barkley
Feb 11
5-6
Fine, teenagers unhappy with their odd parents; a boy and a girl; they find love; work out their troubles. Entertaining. Would be embarrassed to recommend.


Infidel
Ayaan Hirsi Ali
Feb 11
9
N/F Girl born in Somalia, moved to Saudi Arabia and Kenya in her youth. Muslim. Very interesting. Enjoyed learning about that life that exists right at this time! She was born around 1972, something like that! I really enjoyed this book.


The Typist
Michael Knight
Feb 11
6-7
Ok, short book. WW2, guy in the army, can type well, goes to Japan and works as a typist. Mostly interesting; sometimes dull. It was short. The guy was 18 when he went to the army, got married just before he was shipped out. It’s a little weird.


Gonzalez & Daughter Trucking Co
by Maria Amparo Escandon
Feb 11
6
library group reading book. Was fine. Woman is in jail and through the story telling we find that her parents were truckers; mother killed in accident when she was very young, father continued on as trucker; never had a house, only lived in truck; father schooled her; got in an awful accident; was sent to jail. It was fine but not great.


The Nobodies Album
by Carolyn Parkhurst
Mar 11
9 really liked!
Octavia Frost is a best selling author. She had a husband and daughter, they died. She still has a son, famous singer, Milo. They are estranged. He is arrested for killings his girlfriend/fiancé. Mother tries to reconcile with son; tries to help him. Very good story. It is all interwoven with her current novel. Her own life is woven in the words of her novels. Very interestingly written!


The Sentry
by Robert Crais
Mar 11
8 enjoyed
Regular “Joe Pike” book. Joe sees someone who needs help; he helps them. As it turned out those people were not as they presented themselves. Lots of bad people looking for money in the book. Elvis Coles come to help Joe. For me, it ended oddly but the book did keep my attention the whole way through. There are some language issues in the book. Beware.

Middlesex
Mar 11
DNF! -3
Too yucky; it goes on and on about a brother and sister that get married. Really! Gross. Could not keep reading. Why all the “great” reviews??


In The Woods
Tana French
March 11
5 fine/ok
A dark, mystery. It did compel me to keep reading it, it was a hard read, so dark, people so mentally tortured. There were some language issues that bugged me. She does have another mystery, but I will not read it now, not sure if ever. This story is about 3 children that went into the woods; 2 were never seen again, one was found, but was never the same. Does not remember anything from before he was found. He becomes a murder detective; can never really connect with another person; not sure if he is really happy. They get a murder case that takes place in the same woods. Brings things up for this detective. I cannot recommend.


Damage
John Lescroart
April
ok
For some reason, the Lescroart dragged for me a bit. It was a fine story. A really bad guy gets out of jail on a technicality and then begins killing and threatening all the people that sent him to jail. The family is rich and owns a big newspaper. They have a lot of pull. I hope his next book is better.

The Memory Palace
Mira Bartok
April 11
8/9
2 sisters have a mother that has schizophrenia. N/F about their life. Sisters find mother dangerous and have to hide from her. The mother lives until she is about 80 years old. At the last few weeks of her life, the sisters find the mother, help her end her life with dignity. Very interesting; sad; to be grateful for your own life. I do recommend this book.


Confections of a closet master baker
gesine Bullock-Prado
May 11
8/9
Author is Sandra Bullock’s sister! Interesting N/F talks a little about the film business which she did not like; loves to back; opened a bakery in Vermont. Hard work. Stories from her childhood and running the bakery. Very easy and good read.


The Solitude of Prime Numbers
Paolo Giordano
May 11
6/7
I really can’t remember what this book was about! I have read another 2 books after this one, but just a minute while I look it up…..Oh yes, another dark book. Mattia has a sister; the sister is mentally handicapped. Mattia has to take care of his sister; he leaves her at a park instead of taking her to a party. When he returns she is gone. He suffers with this his whole life. Then there is Alice. She was forced to take skiing lessons, she hated them, she fell and badly broke her leg. She was haunted by this her whole life. Mattia (a boy) and Alice met; become friends, but are really too broken to have a relationship. Friends during teens; they move on with their lives; he moving to the U.S. Then many years later Alice thinks she sees Mattia’s sister, she calls Mattia, Mattia comes to Alice. Alice never tells Mattia about the possible seeing of his sister. Odd, dark book. I enjoyed the beginning, but really, it was dark.


Still Missing
Chevy Stevens
May 11
9*
There are language issues….I started this book; just couldn’t get passed the girls attitude and some language. I stopped and ready other books. I looked into this book again, it seemed that I would like it and so I started it again and just started reading from where I last left off. I really enjoyed it the second time. Really liked it! The language was awful, but it seemed to fit her circumstances so it didn’t bother me that much. 32 yr. old woman, real estate agent. Has an open house, a man there kidnaps her, takes her up to a cabin on a mountain and keeps her for 1 year!! She has a baby, the baby dies mysteriously. We don’t know if her kidnapper killed it or the baby died from being sick. Very sad. A couple of weeks later, she has an opportunity to kill her kidnapper and she does and escapes. The book is written from the perspective of her talking to her therapist. Each chapter is another session. That is how we find out her story. She is a strong, hard woman. I enjoyed the book, but feel not quite right in recommending it because of the language.

A visit from the Goon squad
Jennifer Egan
May 11
DNF
Just too odd. Different people, all have difficulties; drugs, etc. Too dark, lost interest. Moved on.

Sixkill
Robert B. Parker
May 11
usual 8
Sat comfortably in the Robert B. Parker style of books. There is a murder of a young woman. Accused is a movie star that is obnoxious, fat, mean, and arrogant. But did he do it? Spencer must find out and he comes across lots of bad guys that want to kill him.


Peace from Broken Pieces
Iyanla Vanzant
June 11
NF 8/9
At first I loved it, thought all should read it. Really, it is the story of this woman’s life, hard life, hard choices, hard growing up. She is the type of woman that knows what works in life, but just has a hard time doing it. Her story was interesting, shocking. Her life would be so much better if she lived the gospel. If she knew and was taught about morals, vaules, self-worth. She had it all, she lost it all. I recommend to all; then please let’s talk!!

In Every Heartbeat
Kim Vogel Sawyer
June 11
7/8
I think this is a Christian writer. Easy read. 3 friends from an orphanage. All those friends were there by different circumstances. Each had to come to terms with their life and decide how to move on from there. The story starts when they are all 18 and just beginning college. One girl; 2 boys. The girl wants to be a writer, one boy; his leg was cut off in a trolly accident, he wants to be a preacher, the other boy is not sure. He wants to be liked and fed. Good, easy story.

The Miracle Stealer
Neil Connelly
June 11
2/3
A girl is frustrated that the town believes her little brother is a being that can make miracles for others. They pray to him ask him to pray, expect him to perform that miracle. She makes a plan to make them stop believing that he is that type of boy. We, the reader, do not know if he really does do these things. I don’t think the writer likes religion.

Breathless
Dean Koontz
June 11
3
Hardly remember reading this book. Weird. Mythical animals. Twin kills other twin. Too weird for me.

Major Pettigrew’s Last Stand
Helen Simonson
June 11
7
Set in England. An older man’s brother dies just as the book opens. He meets a shop owner that day. She is (her ethnicity) Pakistan. She has lived in England her whole life. The book addresses prejudice. The major likes the shop owner. He is part of a stuffy golf club. There are issued with his brother’s rifle. There are issues with his son. It is an easy move along book, sometimes boring, but I could really picture where it all took place and the people. Maybe you’ll like it.

My Korean Deli
Ben Ryder Howe
July 11
N/F 10 LOVED
I really enjoyed this book! Ben marries a Korean woman and is drawn into her culture. It is fascinating! It takes place in New York City. Ben is an editor with a literary magazine. The wife, Gab, is a lawyer. The wife gets the idea that she needs to repay her mother for all her sacrifice by buying her mother a deli! It is an interesting time, what they go through. Ben and Gab move in with the mother, Kay. They do buy a deli. It is quite an experience. I loved the drama and that it was real! Highly recommend. You will learn interesting things about the Korean Culture.



A State of Wonder
Ann Patchett
July 11
10 LOVED
Best book so far this year. I really enjoyed it. Dr. Marina Singh works in a lab. Her partner in the lab is sent to find information in the Amazon forest. They are informed months later that he is dead. Dr. Singh is then asked to go to the Amazon and find out information on her partner, on the work that is going on in the lab. It is all fascinating. Ann Patchett is a great story teller. I read through it fast. I really liked it.


A Paper Life
Tatum O’Neal
July 11
NF
9 Really LIKED



The Magician’s Assistant
Ann Patchett
July 11
8 Liked
I really did enjoy this book…until the end when the author thought she would see if the main character wanted to try to like girls….what a bug! BUT, the main book was interesting. She was the magician’s assistant. Loved him, the magician, but he was gay. The magician was very loving and kind to the assistant. When he died suddenly, they discovered things about his past that they did not know; shocking. I like learning about all the characters. I enjoyed all the info on the illusions.

Evermore
Alyson Noel
July 11
6-7 fine
Girl has a bad car accident; she is made an “immortal” by a boy that has loved her for 600 years. It is just like Twilght; not original. I did like it; it has some compelling parts, but it reads like a teen book (which it is). I also read the 2nd book…Blue Moon.

Blue Moon
Alyson Noel
August 11
6-7
Continuation of Evermore. Liked just fine. Stopped reading it, but came back to finish. I MIGHT read the next one.

Shadowland
Alyson Noel
August 11
6-7
3rd in series…ok…so teenager


The Peach Keeper
August 11
9 LIKED
Like this one, easy. Old town secrets; people are not always who or what they say they are. Message: give people a change, they may just surprise you. I really liked it!


Dreams of Joy
Lisa See
HFIC
August 11
10
A continuation of The Shanghai Girls. Really liked it. Such a different life. The daughter grows up and wants different things; thinks she knows better, decides to go BACK to China and help “the cause”. She certainly does and gets her fill. It is a great story of mother love, choices. Big recommend!

The Year We Were Famous
Carole Estby Dagg
August 11
5-6
Interesting story; just a little boring; I did skim….based a on a true story, 1800’s, family going to lose the farm; need money. The mother comes up with a scheme to walk from Washington State across the United States to New York. A publisher says she will pay them $10,000 if they do it! The story is about their adventures. The story is based on the actual happenings of the authors great grandmother!

Never Knowing
Chevy Stevens
August 11
7/8
This book did get too violent. I stopped reading them started reading from the back; that was easier. I eventually started up again from my “real” spot and finished it. A woman is adopted but is always wondering who her “real” parents are. She does eventually find out, but the results are not what she hoped for. Scary, frustrating, kidnapping, violence.

The Forgotten Garden
Kate Morton
August 11
9
Mostly, really liked this one! It got a little creapy at the end, so I couldn’t give it a whole “10”. BUT, I will read her earlier book, The House at Riverton. I really like this author’s style. Kind of Mark Twain-ish. A little girl is found alone on the docks after a big ship has docked, no one is there to pick her up. The dock master must decide what to do. He takes her home. No one looks for her, so the Dock Master and his wife keep her, love her. The little girl never knows any of this until the father tells her on her 21st birthday. The news breaks her heart and almost her spirit. She is on a quest for the rest of her life to find out her true story. The woman, Nell, and her granddaughter work to solve the mystery. VERY GOOD!