#1: Rav Hisda's Daughter

I just finished my first book from my new book challenge.  The book was Rav Hisda's Daughter:  Book 1 The Apprentice by Maggie Anton.  This is a book about love, religion, and spells.  I found the whole story really interesting.  The main character is Hisdadukh or "Dada".  She is the youngest child of Rav Hisda.  The story starts out with Rav Hisda asking Dada which boy she wants to marry, Rami or Abba?  She in response answers "Both of them" and Abba says "I want to be the last one".
 We then see a struggle of jealousy between Rami and Abba to compete for her love by impressing her father in their studies.  Dada is the main character, but we receive a lot of information about all her family members, several students, and the local women who cast spells for people.  I was really attached to Dada and felt happy when she was happy and sad when she was sad.  I can't really tell too much about the story without spoiling some important parts, but I will say that I look forward to reading the 2nd book in this series when it is written.

Up Next:  The Bridges of Madison County

New Book Challenge

I've decided to start my book challenge for the new year. I will have the challenge go from Levi got me the book Rav Hisda's Daughter by Maggie Anton for Christmas.  I was going to read it in Wisconsin, but really didn't have any time, so I started it last night.  I'm only about 20 pages in, but I'm liking it so far. 
I plan to do the challenge from Dec 30, 2013-Dec 30, 2014.  I'm shooting for 50 books again.  Even though I didn't make the 50 books last year, I came pretty close.  I think having the set # of books actually gives me an "excuse" to read instead of doing other things around the house. :)

You're a Horrible Person, But I Like You

You're a Horrible Person, But I Like You is a book Levi got me for Christmas.  It's an advice column type of book from famous actors and comedians.  The questions come from writers at "The Believer" magazine and the actors/comedians answer the questions.  I thought some were really funny, especially Michael Cera.  Others were pretty funny and some were dumb.  Overall, I liked most of the book.  A lot of the humor was things I find really funny like Cera, Sedaris, etc.  Others I didn't find as funny.  This was a really quick read as I read the whole book on the car ride to Wisconsin.

A Secret Kept

I finished A Secret Kept by Tatiana De Rosnay last night.  I really want to believe that Rosnay is a one hit wonder in the book world.  When I started the book it sounded really entertaining, but I just flat out didn't like it.  I kept wanting the new story lines (of which there were many) to redeem the book.  I feel some things were thrown in at random and nothing was resolved.  I also didn't enjoy the random erotic quotes.

Maybe I'm just being a lot more picky about my books since I don't have as much time to read, but I wouldn't recommend this one to anyone.

The House I Loved

I just finished The House I Loved by Tatiana de Rosnay.  I read Rosnay's first book Sarah's Key awhile back and loved it.  This book had a little bit of the same writing style, but I wasn't as drawn to the main character.  I kind of felt that she was a little selfish. 
During the story is is writing letters to her dead husband about the government wanting to tear down their house to make room for the new Paris.  Some of the letters were interesting, but I was a little bored with others.  There was a little twist at the end, but not as big as the one in Sarah's Key.  At the end of the book I did sympathize a little more with the main character, Rose. 
This book was interesting, but not nearly as good as her first book.  If you love historical fiction and books about Paris, this would be a good book for you.

I have another book from the library by Rosnay, but I'm trying to decide if I will read it, or start something else.

Practical Magic

I finished Practical Magic by Alice Hoffman last week.  I forgot to write up about it and could barely remember what the last book I read was.  I thought the book was okay.  The story was interesting (about a family of witches), but it wasn't really as interesting as I thought it would be.  It talked about some great aunts, sisters, and the daughters of one of the sisters.  It kind of went through the ups and downs they faced having everyone treat them as witches.  I just felt the story lines were so-so.  I wanted to identify with the characters, but really couldn't.

I am currently reading The House I Loved by Tatiana de Rosnay.  I'm almost done with it, so I will be posting about it soon.

Some books I read

I haven't updated my blog in awhile, because my computer needed some work and when Levi fixed it, I didn't have any of my favorites saved.  Here are the books I read since then...

Flavia de Luce #3: Red Herring Without Mustard
-  I finished this book awhile ago.  I don't really remember the entire story, but I liked it.  Flavia started out the book by burning down a gypsie's tent.  She later had to help solve some murders and learned something about her mother's past.  I like these mysteries, but always get mad that I can't figure out the solution to what happened.  I guess it's nice to always keep guessing until the last minute.

Pretty Little Liars #6 (Killer) and #7 (Heartless)
- Just when I think they are going to answer an important question, they have another twist that just creates even more problems.  The books are similar to the show, but also introducing new characters now.  I want to see what happens, but I'm starting to feel it could be put into 1 or 2 more books  instead of another
 5.....

Now starting Practical Magic by Alice Hoffman