The Appeal

The Appeal

by: John Grisham

Kerry and I both read this book, neither one of us loved it. It was ok. You can have a great discussion in the end, when you are done - is this stuff really true???

It was one of his worst books. No real peaks.

He tells an interesting tale of State Supreme Court judges that get voted in, as opposed to appointed. What that means to the state, laws, appeals.

I wish the book was better. You should read it, it is interesting information, the end of the book gets better. Just know that it is not a great Grisham book.

Remember Me?

Remember Me

by: Sophie Kinsella

This is not part of the Shopaholic series.

The Shopaholic books are light and funny, easy. This book was much heavier, kind of frustrating and a downer. In the end, it redeemed itself, but it was frustrating to me....I just would have solved the problems in a different way, hmm.

I liked this book fine too, didn't love it.

The premise is interesting....a woman wakes up in a hospital, it is 2007, she has forgotten about the years from 2004 to 2007. She is a totally differnt person in 2007 and it takes some time for her to figure herself out. She had a car accident and hit her head causing her amnesia.

I think I will look for Dawney's book, The Bread givers at the library now.

Ask Again Later

Ask Again Later

by: Jill A. Davis

She was a writer for the David Letterman show. This is not her first book.

It is a different syle of writing, no chapters....she writes her story with subject heading. It took some time for me to get used to, but in the end I liked the book, didn't love it.

The girl has a bad relationship with her mother and father and it is about repairing those relationships all the while trying to get her life/self in order and to find her own happiness.

The Bread Givers

by Anna Yerzierska

Another book from Timothy's shelf (when we don't make it to the library on the weekend, I plunder Tim's bookshelf).

This is an incredibly good book, detailing the life of a young Polish immigrant and her family. The writing style is completely different from anything I have ever been exposed to. You can read the first chapter of the book (I found it online!)

Sara was the youngest of four daughters, living in the tenements of New York. She talks about her sisters looking for work in the sweat shops, living in poverty. The four of them are responsible for bringing in all the money the family has. Their Father is a rabbi, a man of God, who does not believe that it is for him to work, but his children, who will honor him and his God by bringing their wages straight home to him.

Excellent story of how Sara declares her independence from the old traditions and works to go to college and become a teacherin. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!!

A Boy Named Shel

Do you remember Uncle Shelby's ABZ Book? This boook, A Boy Named Shel, is a biography of Shel Silverstein. Loved it, loved it, loved it!!!

Did you know that Uncle Shelby started his career doing cartoons for Stars & Stripes--the army newspaper? And he got famous after becoming part of Playboy Magazine! He also wrote songs--A Boy Named Sue, Cover of the Rolling Stones, Freakin at the Freakers Ball and Sylivia's Mother. Really, he is credited with over 800 songs and there are apparently thousands out there that he never bothered to register. He was playwright as well, writing one act plays that were produced off-Broadway.

My favorite line from the book: Shel's attention span went from nonexistent to nil.

Organic Church

Subtitled "Growing Faith Where Life Happens" by Neil Cole

This is a book that was recommended to Timothy by one of his friends and I was intrigued by it. It details a movement within the church where people are seeking a more organic sense of what their spirituality means to them. This book is specifically about starting churches (and no, Mom, that doesn't mean we want to start a church).

I really enjoyed the point of view that spirituality is less about the rules that are required by man and more about your relationship with God. Neil Cole uses Life Transformation Groups--groups of 2 or 3 people, of the same gender, who meet regularly and hold each other accountable for how they are growing their relationship with God.

Books I Haven't Read YET

I spent some time at Borders Book store today. They have such a great layout for their books. It makes you want to buy way too many. I wrote down several books that look interesting. I checked and I can get them ALL at my library! Yeah! As I read them, I will post about them - if they are yucky, I will post that too. Have any of you read any of them?? Here is my list:


Ask Again later
Jill a. davis

This is how it happened
Jo barrett

The appeal
Grisham

The echo maker
Richard powers

The rug merchant
Meg mullins

Lost & found
Carolyn parkhurst

People of the book
Geraldine brooks

Bernice bobs her hair
f. scott fitzgerald

Outrageous Fortune
Tim Scott

Gentlemen of the Road
Michael Chabon

The Wicked
L.A. Banks (vampire?)

Atonement – Ian McEwan

The Gatecrasher

The Gatecrasher

by: Madeleine Wickham
aka Sophia Kinsella


Sadly, this book was AWFUL!! The main character was SO unsympathetic. She was an awful person and the author let her just stay that way. I really don't get the book, nor why the author wanted to spend her days making this awful stuff up. Sad for me, I was hoping to enjoy this "new" author. YUCKSVILLE.

It is about a woman who crashes memorial service to meet the rich, grieving widow, date him for awhile, blah, blah blah. I won't ruin it for you, if you choose to read this disastrous book.

If I could find a way to write the author and tell her how disappointed and awful her book was, I would.

I will add the picture later, the blog will not let me do it now. I have tried about 10 times.

Queen of Swords

Queen of Swords

by Sara Donati

Ok, so as soon as I finished Fire Along the Sky, I thought I would look up the author and find out when here "new" book would be out! Shocked to find that "Fire" was 2 years old or more and that the next book was out! I raced to the library and grabbed it up.

I quite enjoyed this book. It is set during the time of the War of 1812. I really knew nothing about this war, but I know a bit more now. I have also looked it up on Wikipedia.

The stories about the characters continue. I really liked this book. In fact, I may pick it up tonight and read it again. My current book (just started) I am not enjoying so much.

Fire Along the Sky

Fire Along the Sky

by Sara Donati

This is #4 of the Into the Wilderness series. I was nervous to start this book because it didn't look very interesting, but I knew that I really liked the other books in this series, so I started. I did not care for the first 40 pages or so. I couldn't remember the people, nor did I really care for them. But oh my, after the first part I loved it all. I quite enjoyed the story. She writes so the story just plays along in my head so well I hate to stop reading. I almost drove my people here crazy with always having a book in my face. It was very good. For those who haven't read this series, it is kind of a romance/wilderness book.