Thursday, October 6, 2016

Frustrated with this Blog

I have been updating this blog after I read books and it is not saving my reviews or publishing them.  I am currently done with book 39, even though it only shows 35 on here.  Books missed were The BFG, Ready Player One, and Summer Sisters.  Now that Goodreads has a reading challenge I think I will just do reviews on there after this year.


Sunday, August 28, 2016

#35: One Breath Away

Last night I finished One Breath Away by Heather Gudenkauf.  I have really enjoyed her other books and I liked this one as well.  It's the story of a gunman in a school during the middle of a snow storm the day before spring break.  It's broken out as each chapter being from a different person's point of view, so we learn a lot about the characters this way.  One character was a child in the school looking for her brother, one was the grandpa, one was the mother, and one was the police officer.
I felt that I really liked learning about the characters, with the exception of Holly (the mom) I really liked them.  The story seemed to have some suspense as we didn't know who the gunman was until the very end.  There were lots of twists to get you to guess who it was, but it wasn't until the police finally were going in that I could guess who it was.
At times it was a little cheesy, but overall it was a good read.  I definitely like Gudenkauf's writing.

Thursday, August 25, 2016

#34: Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe

I just finished the book Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe by Fannie Flagg.  I remember loving this movie, but had never read the book.  It was on the eating themed table at the library, so I decided to read it for book club.  We are doing a "potluck" theme next week.

I really liked this book.  There were a lot of extra details in the book that I didn't remember from the movie.  I really enjoyed all the characters as well.

#33: Brown Girl Dreaming

I recently read the book Brown Girl Dreaming by Jacqueline Woodson.  This was the story of Jacqueline's childhood told through poems and songs.  It was beautifully written.  I loved learning how she started writing and found the history and her childhood very interesting.

Thursday, August 4, 2016

#32: The Secret Keeper

Yesterday I finished The Secret Keeper by Kate Morton.  This was a story about a group of sibling coming home to visit their mother Dorothy who is dying.  While talking to her mom ,the oldest daughter, Laurel keeps remembering something that happened in their childhood.  She feels her mother is hiding a huge secret and starts her research to find out more about her mother's life during the war years.

Laurel works quickly and ends up finding a lot of information about her mother.  She also has her brother Gerry help to find out more.  I loved hearing the war time story of Dorothy, Vivien, Jimmy, and all the others.  This was a great story with a perfect secret/twist that I loved.

#31: The Dinner

I recently read The Dinner by Herman Koch.  It's a story of 2 brothers going out to a fancy dinner with their wives.  One of the brother's is famous and running for a political office, so he keeps getting recognized everywhere and gets "fancy" treatment.  The whole point of the dinner is the discuss something horrible that their sons have done and how they are going to handle it.

I really hated all the characters in this book.  I also felt the book was written in a slow tone for such an important subject.  Look back, I think that maybe the slow tone was to go along with how horrible and unemotional the characters seem.

This book was both boring and disgusting at the same time.

Sunday, July 17, 2016

#30: On the Island

On the Island by Tracey Garvis Graves has been recommended to me by several people.  My SIL loved it and recommended it a while back because the author lives in Des Moines, a co-worker loves any books with romance, and a friend in my book club read it as her "tropical" themed book.  I finally decided to grab it from the library to read as a back up to my other summer read.

This is the story of a teacher named Anna who is supposed to be tutoring a boy named TJ during the summer.  TJ missed a lot of school due to having cancer and needs to catch up during the summer holiday by having a tutor come on summer break with his family to the Maldive Islands.  Instead of TJ traveling with his family.  He waits and travels with Anna who wasn't done with work yet.  On the way to their final destination, the sea plane they are on crashes and they end up stranded on an uninhabited island.

We can all guess what will happen, even though Anna is way older, they are the only 2 there so they fall in love.  This story is not a new idea.  Some of the things that happened on the island were unique.  I really liked the stories of how they learned to survive on the island, but for me the "love story" felt forced.  I can see when TJ loved Anna, but for me Anna's love for TJ was a little lacking.

This was a really fast read and a good guilty pleasure read.  While I liked it, I don't feel it was one of the greatest books I've read recently.  I do think I will read the sequel to this just to learn a little more about the island they were on.

Up Next:  The Dinner

Friday, July 15, 2016

#29: The Girls in the Garden

Our next book club theme is "summer".  I didn't take any summer themed books with me on my vacation, so I was looking for a quick read when I got back.  I don't remember exactly how I found this book, but I must have seen it on some kind of book list.  I saw the word garden and thought of summer.  Reading the description, it takes place at a garden party in the middle of summer, so I feel it works for the theme.

The Girls in the Garden by Lisa Jewell is the story of families living a in communal garden area in London.  Clare and her 2 daughters move to this neighborhood after Clare's husband has a psychotic break down and sets the house on fire to avoid alien rats.  (This part was super cheesy, but the rest is good.  I promise.)  The girls, Grace and Pip, start hanging around a group of friends,, referred to as the "gang".  There are some unfriendly feelings between some of the girls and Grace.  Most of this is because the boy in the gang, Dylan, likes Grace and some of the other girls are jealous.  During a summer garden party, Grace ends up unconsious in the garden and found by her sister Pip.  That is where the story acutally starts.

The story starts with Pip finding Grace.  It then tells how Clare's family ended up there and we meet all the people who live there.  We also here some history of people who live there, including a girl named Phoebe who was murdered there when she was 15.  People start to question what really happened to Phoebe and if it is connected to what happened to Grace.  Several times I thought that a certain person was guilty and then didn't end up being guilty.  After some questioning by the police, the story then jumps back to what actually happened that night.

I have never read anything by Lisa Jewell before, but it was a pretty good book.  Great for a quick read and mini suspense book.

Up Next:  On the Island by Tracey Garvis Graves

#28: When I'm Gone

Okay, something is messed up with this blog.  Several of my last posts had to be typed out 2 or 3 times and aren't getting saved/published.  Anyway, a few days ago I finished When I'm Gone by Emily Bleeker.  This was another book that Levi book on the Nook for me for our vacation.

It is the story of a man named Luke, whose wife dies of cancer.  It starts on the day of her funeral.  After the funeral, Luke notices a letter in the mail.  He opens it to find that it is from his wife Natalie.  She had wrote him letters before she died and planned to have them sent out on certain days.  At first he finds the letters very calming, but then he starts to question some of the things in the letters.  He begins to think that his wife was keeping terrible secrets from him during their life together.  He tells Natalie's best friend/neighbor about the letters.  She received 1 only, and tells Luke maybe he shouldn't believe what is in the letters.

I was very interested in this story.  It really had me at a point where I couldn't book the Nook down and finished it fairly quickly.  It was overall a very good story.  I do feel that it had a lot of details thrown in and at the end it was a little cheesy and predictable, but I still liked it.  Definitely worth the read.

Friday, July 8, 2016

#27: Not Another Superhero

I had my first experience with an e-book on our train trip.  Levi didn't want us to haul a bunch of books in our luggage so he downloaded books for us.  The first one I read was Not Another Superhero by Tara Lynn Thompson.  I was hooked on this book from the beginning.

It's about a girl named Samantha Addison.  She is a single woman who works in journalism.  The book starts with her getting mugged.  I immediately loved the dialog between Samantha and her mugger.  She was very sarcastic and nonchalant about the whole thing while speaking to him.  The mugger plays along for awhile and then decides to shoot her.  The bullet doesn't kill her and Samantha can't figure out why she isn't dead.

After the mugging, other things start happening to her.  She always comes out alive thanks to the help of a co-worker named Jackson Christy and a mysterious hooded superhero.  Samantha is put under police protection, but always finds a way to create more trouble for herself.

I found myself laughing in some parts about how sarcastic and crazy she is.  I also felt sad for her and the other characters in other parts.  She kept reminding me of Stephanie Plum in some parts of the book.

The unveiling of the "superhero" was not a surprise to me, but some information in the epilogue was.  I will definitely be reading the 2nd book when it comes out to see what happens.

Currently Reading:  When I'm Gone by Emily Bleeker

#26: The Mystics of Mile End

The Mystics of Mile End by Sigal Samuel was a free advanced copy that I grabbed off of the library table.  It was about a boy named Lev who is growing up in the Mile End neighborhood in Canada.  He goes to both regular school and is being taught about his Jewish religion from his neighbor.  Throughout the book, Lev and his sister Samara struggle with telling their father that being Jewish is very important to them.  The father, David, started doubting his religion shortly before his wife died.

There are several interesting characters in the book.  I really liked how the story was told first from Lev, then Sam, then David, and then a summary of everything.  Even though I didn't understand some of the Hebrew text with the Tree of Knowledge, I still thought it was a very interesting and heartwarming story about the Mile End neighborhood.

Friday, June 24, 2016

#25: Fin and Lady

I just finished Fin & Lady by Cathleen Schine last night.  This is the story of a boy named Fin who is orphaned at a young age.  His only surviving relative is a half sister named Lady.  This story tells how Fin first met her and their lives together.  It's a sad story, but shows the beauty of sibling relationships.

I was really drawn to both characters.  There were some other characters thrown into the story as well including possible husbands for Lady, friends of Fin, and Lady's maid.  I loved seeing the differences in the characters and felt like Fin was a great judge of character.

The story is told from a 3rd person's view and we don't learn who that person is until the very end of the story.  Overall a great book for a random grab off the library table.

Up Next:  We're leaving for a 2 week vacation this afternoon.  Levi uploaded some books to his Kindle for me.  It will be my first experience with e-books.  Hopefully I can get a lot of reading done.

#24: Teas and Tisanes

For some reason it didn't save my Teas and Tisanes review.  I chose this for a learn and do themed book club.  I have a large about of mint taking over my garden, so I was wanting to learn if I could make tea out of it.  This book was really short, but I learned a lot.  I did make some Moroccan Iced Tea as a recipe from my book.  It is just green tea with sugar and spearmint leaves.  Very delicious.

I am excited to just just plain mint tea from my garden this fall.  I also saw a recipe for Chinese Tea Eggs which I hope to make when Minyue come to live with us.  :)

Saturday, June 18, 2016

#23: Lila

Lila by Marilynne Robinson was the book discussion pick for the library.  I had planned on going to the discussion on Tuesday (to get double points for the summer reading program), but I have another meeting.  This is probably a good thing since I found the book incredibly boring.

I had read Gilead a while back and I didn't realize this was the 3rd book in that series.  I didn't read the 2nd book, so I don't know if I missed much.  I don't really remember anything about Gilead, but my star review shows I didn't really care for that one either.

Lila is about an orphaned girl who is stolen and cared for by an old woman named Doll.  They have a hard life and are constantly moving so that no one can find them.  There are some very interesting parts about Lila and Doll's life, but the story is very scattered.  I felt like just when I was starting to enjoy the story, it would jump to something else and then I would lose focus.  I'm sure there are others that like this type of jump around story, but it just wasn't for me.

PS.  I'm also annoyed by books that don't have chapters or other breaks.  Makes me have a hard time deciding when to quick reading for the day.

Currently Reading:  Teas and Tisanes for a DIY book club theme

Friday, June 10, 2016

#22: The Code of the Woosters

My friend Jane in Ohio told me about PG Wodehouse and the Wooster/Jeeves books a long time ago.  I had forgot to check into them until I read another book that mentioned them.  The book The Code of the Woosters was mentioned in a secret society book I read awhile back.  I thought I would try it as my first Wodehouse read.

I didn't realize until I added it on Goodreads that it was book 7 in the series.  The other reviews said it would be fine to read on it's own and it was.  It was a little slow going at first, but about 1/4 in I really started enjoying the characters and the shenanigans they got into.  Most of the story revolved around the possible theft of a cow creamer.  Later in the story other stolen items come up.  It has some satirical humor and crazy detective work.  I would really like to learn more about Wooster and Jeeves and plan to read some other books in this series soon.

Up Next:  Lila by Marilynne Robinson

Wednesday, June 1, 2016

#21: The Devil Wears Prada

I bought The Devil Wears Prada by Lauren Weisberger from the library spring book sale.  I thought it would be a fun, quick read to get back ahead on my reading goal.  I have never seen the movie, but I have heard a lot of people tell me it's a good movie.

Let me just start by saying that I did really not care for this book.  The writing itself wasn't bad and the story line was okay, but I just hated the characters.  The "devil" Miranda Priestly is a very demanding and ungrateful boss.  I understand that this was her role in a big company.  The employee Andrea "Andy" Sachs was a young girl looking for a career in journalism.  She decided to take the risk of working in fashion with a demanding boss.  I just couldn't stand Andy.  She kept telling herself she needed this job, but it was obviously ruining her life.  She wanted to tell Miranda off so many times, but never did.  And in the mean time she ruined all her other relationships.  In the end, she does tell Miranda off, but in my opinion it was way too late.  Why not do it earlier and tell Miranda why people don't want to work for her.

Just not my favorite book.  I don't really know if I would ever want to watch the movie based off of my view of the book.

Up Next:  The Code of the Woosters by PG Wodehouse

Saturday, May 28, 2016

#20: The Plum Tree

I haven't been reading much lately, but I did finally finish The Plum Tree by Ellen Marie Wiseman.  This is a WWII story about a poor, German girl who is in love with a rich, Jewish boy.  Throughout her life, Christine has had a crush on Issac and her friends and family have told her is it not likely that they will ever be together.  In the beginning of the story, we learn that Issac also loves Christine and wants to be with her.  Just when they thought things would work out for them, Hitler came and things got even more complicated.

Christine's father is sent off to war, Issac and all other Jews are told to leave Germany, everyone is starving, and all the classic images we know of WWII.  Christine's main concern is whether she will ever see Issac again.  In this story there were a surprising amount of German citizens who were secretly and sometimes openly going against Hitler's orders.  Unfortunately, no one could do enough to stop the Nazis and safe the innocent lives.

I really don't want to give anything away, but I will say that things get way worse as the story progresses.  While I felt some of the ending was a little predictable, there were also some nice surprises.  It wasn't one of my favorite WWII stories, but I did enjoy it.

Currently Reading:  The Devil Wears Prada

Monday, May 16, 2016

#19: The Library of Souls

Last night I finished The Library of Souls by Ransom Riggs.  This is the 3rd book in the Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children series.  I will just start by saying that I loved the first 2 books in this series.  I loved how the vintage pictures worked with the story to make it come alive.  The photos were really unique and fit so well with the story that was being told.  We learned so much about the world of peculiars, wights, hollowgasts, etc. in the first 2 books.  After the ending of the 2nd book, I couldn't wait to see what would happen in the 3rd.

After waiting so long to read it, I was a little disappointed.  For one thing, I didn't really remember where the 2nd book left off.  I was hoping for a little refresher, but we were just thrown in.  There is no way you could pick this book up without reading the other 2 and have any idea what is happening.  I feel like the 2nd book had some snippet reminders of who people were and other details, but this time I had to think back and struggled to remember who was who and who did what.

I also felt that the vintage pictures did not go along with the story as much as they did in the first 2 books.  There were a couple unique photos, but overall they seemed very plain in this book.  I felt like they were just kind of randomly thrown in instead of helping to tell the story.

I'm still glad I read the book and I am happy with the ending.  Maybe if I would have read the 2nd and 3rd closer together the story would have flowed better.  I still recommend the series for people who like unique stories and fun vintage pictures.

Up Next:  The Plum Tree by Ellen Marie Wiseman

#18: The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid

For my "Iowa Author" book for book club I read The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid by Bill Bryson.  I really liked learning some history about Des Moines while reading this book.  I had heard that Yonkers was originally based out of Des Moines, but I didn't know how big the store had been.  And that the huge store wasn't closed until 2005.  Seems like something that I should have known while growing up and living around Des Moines.  There were some other interesting historical facts as well.

The book also had some other interesting stories about Bill's childhood.  History in general from the 1950s and 1960s was also covered.  I found that the book had some interesting parts, but it didn't really excite me that much.

Our book club on Iowa Authors had to be rescheduled, but now I'm ready for when we have it.

Wednesday, April 27, 2016

#17: The Dynamite Room

I finished The Dynamite Room by Jason Hewitt a few days ago.  This is a WWII story which is usually one of my favorite historical fiction topics to read.  This book sounded very interesting, but unfortunately I really didn't enjoy it that much.  It was very slow to read and I felt the way the story was told was very confusing.

It was the story of a girl named Lydia running away from a boarding house back to her childhood home during the war.  She finds the house empty and wonders where her mother is.  In the night, a German soldier comes to the house.  He is torn between killing her and letting her live.  He lets her live, but tells her she must follow all his rules.

They wait for the rest of the Germans to come and face other hardships along the way.  In the end we are supposed to feel connected to their relationship, but I was just really confused by all the information given in the flashbacks.  The ending seemed very rushed too.

Currently Reading:  The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid by Bill Bryson