Last Reads of 2010

#13 A Girl of the Limberlost by Gene Stratton-Porter: I had grown up watching a movie version of this book so reading the actual story was quite enlightening and of course the movie took many liberties with the character. While it was a sweet story and I liked it, there were some long, long cheesy speeches.

#14 Train to Potevka by Mike Ramsdell: The first part of the book was the most interesting part. The author is LDS and a spy during the cold war. The climax of the book was at the beginning and then it kind of just goes along. Then he got a little too spiritual for my taste. So it was an okay read but nothing special. A good writer though.

#15 The First Princess of Wales by Karen Harper: I really liked this book. It chronicles Joan of Kent's life from when she first goes to court and immediately catches the eye of the Prince of Wales, however though their passion for each other is strong, Joan is sidetracked by marriages and family issues, but eventually she weds the Prince, her true love. A sweet romantic story.

Two more books under my belt

#11 History of Love by Nicole Krauss: I really really liked this book. It was a great weaving of three stories brought together at the end. All the characters were so interesting to read but never really overpowered the story. Really sweet.

#12 Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil by John Berendt: This is a very loose non-fiction about famous murder trial. Although the author takes a very long time even getting to the murder. It was an interesting look at Savannah and makes me want to visit there all the more, but it amazed me that if this was non-fiction how much information the author was privy to. He does say he takes some liberties. It's very much an ode to Savannah then about this trial.

Next couple of books

#9 The Secret Scripture by Sebastian Barry: I really liked this book a lot. It had two stories going on that the same time in two different time periods. The writing was really good. The ending was somewhat disappointing in that it was a little easy and contrived, but getting to it was still very enjoyable.

#10 Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins: I liked this book though I still think the first of the series was the best book. What I love about these books is that though there is a romantic element it is not the basis for the whole book, there are bigger issues. I think this is the one time that I didn't like that the book was from the main character's point of view because a lot of key elements were left out or hurried. Though the boy I wanted to get the girl did, it was very anticlimactic and hurried. The whole ending was very rushed. So it left me a little disappointed.

Catch-Up Post

I don't know what's wrong with me, but blogging just doesn't seem to appeal to me anymore. I must not have much to say. But I wanted to document the books I've read so far this year. There's not a lot of them. Hopefully, I can remember them all.

#2 Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortensen (came super close to finishing, but got too bored)**
#3 Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout ***
#4 Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jame Ford ***
#5 The Icing on the Cake by Elodia Strain **
#6 The Actor and the Housewife by Shannon Hale ***
#7 Generation Me by Jean Twenge (Not quite finished, but will.)
#8 Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert ****

Not too many, if I remembered all of them.

#1 The Help by Kathryn Stockett

I loved this book. The story is told from the point of three different characters, two are black maids working in Mississippi in the sixties and the other is a white woman who sees the harshness of the black community a lot more than her fellow society friends. I loved how into the characters you get and the way the author writes as them. It was so interesting and sad to read. It's so hard to believe that such treatment was tolerated and encouraged only such a short time ago and even still goes on in some parts of the country. I highly reccommend this book. Such a wonderful read.

2009 Catch Up

Okay, Here is a quick run down with star ratings on the last few books I read in 2009.

#14 The Book Thief by Markus Zusak ***
#15 Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins ****
#16 Walk Two Moons by Sharon Creech ****
#17 Sunshine by Robin McKinley **

I didn't get very much read this year. I got really involved in watching tv series on the internet before I go to bed which is usually when I do most of my reading. I hope to be better this year.

#13 Devil in the White City

I really really liked this book. I love the mix of the non-fiction with fiction, because maybe things really did happen this way. I think authors are brave to take that on. I had never really cared about eighteenth century America very much. It just seemed very industrial to me. But this book revealed to me all the wonderful things that came from the world's fair that I still appreciate today. Then set against that backdrop the story of a serial killer who was just conniving and evil. I listened to most of this book on c.d. and it made it more enjoyable than reading. The history came to life for me and then it was so eerie, like listening to a scary story when the tale reverted to the serial killer. It was so well written and done. Even though the two stories are intertwined, there is still a separateness which at time became confusing, but I forgave it that pretty quickly. I look forward to reading more from this author.

#12 Good Omens by Terry Pratchett & Neil Gaiman

I read this book last year and I loved it so much that I picked it for my book club book. There were mixed reviews with it. I think most people couldn't keep up with the different story lines and the British wit. It was just as fun to read the second time and I picked up on even more. It really has become a favorite.

#11 The Color of Magic by Terry Pratchett

This is my first into venturing into the Discworld series. It was interesting and I like Pratchett's style mostly. There are just a few times where the story suddenly changes and it's almost like brain whiplash trying to figure out what just happened. I had to read one part several times to figure out what just happened. I'll probably read a couple more books in the series to determine if I want to keep going. I love the wit and humor in the book, which could make up for the random, chaotic storytelling style. The whole story was very imaginitive.