#13: Angry Housewives Eating Bon Bons

I just finished Angry Housewives Eating Bon Bons by Lorna Landvik.  The title and cover of this book almost made me not want to read it, but I've learned you shouldn't judge a book by it's cover.  This was the story of a group of housewives with a 30 year book club and friendship.  I recently read Divine Secrets of the Ya Ya Sisterhood and this book reminded me of it, but I liked this one way better. 

Even though the books main character is Faith, we learn a lot about all the characters/book club members.  I loved seeing how their personal lives affected the books they picked.  I also really liked how all the characters were tied together over the 30 years.  I think this book club was really true to real life book clubs.  You might talk about the book for a few minutes, but then the rest of the time is spent socializing over personal things.  My only complaint is that in some chapters the book that was picked wasn't mentioned at all.

If you liked Ya-Ya Sisterhood you should definitely check out Bon Bons!

Up Next:  Nineteen Minutes by Jodi Picoult

#12: The Bookshop

I just finished The Bookshop by Penelope Fitzgerald.  It was one of the book's on the display table at the library.  Usually these are books that are pretty well liked, but I've found them hit or miss for me.  This one was unfortunately a miss.  I felt bad for Florence, the main character who opened the bookshop.  It just seemed that no one wanted her to succeed.  I thought the book could have been so much more entertaining than it was.  The ghost had very little significance in the haunted bookshop and they characters didn't really develop into anything special.  I'd probably give it 2 1/2 starts.

Up Next:  Angry Housewives Eating Bon Bons

#11: The Sandcastle Girls

I just finished The Sandcastle Girls by Chris Bohjalian.  This was a story of a woman writing about her grandparents' history during the Armenian genocide.  It is filled with interesting facts about the war between the Armenians and Turks, something that I had never heard of before. 

The story is mostly about the history of the war and how Elizabeth (an American) and Armen (an Armenian engineer) meet.  It is also filled with lots of supporting characters that help to fill in lots of gaps.  It covers love, loss, orphans, doctors, missionaries, and so much more.

Now that I am done with the book, I have decided that I really enjoyed the story.  While reading it, I felt that it dragged on and was hard to get into.  I also felt that the character parts jumped around too much and made the story a little hard to follow.  But at the end, I see how every character piece was necessary to complete the whole story.  I won't lie, it did take me about 80 pages to finally feel like the story was going somewhere, but I'm glad I finished it.

Up Next:  The Bookshop by Penelope Fitzgerald

#10: I am the Messenger

I just finished I am the Messenger by Markus Zusak.  This was a very unique story.  After Ed helps capture a bank robber, he starts receiving messages on playing cards.  The messages are addresses or clues about how to find people.  During each of these messages Ed has the chance to change the lives of the people on the cards and improve himself at the same time.  I really enjoyed the characters in this story.  I believe the main "message" of this story is that helping other is a great way to help yourself.  A great book from Zusak.

Next up:  The Sandcastle Girls by Chris Bohjalian