#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.  :)

#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

#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

#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

#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

#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