Two stars: eh, it was okay
Three stars: liked it
Four stars: really, really liked it
Five stars: absolutely loved it
1-Star (0)
2-Star (2)
**A Place for Us
(Fiction, F. Mirza)
I MUST have someone
to root for while I’m reading a book.
And as much as I tried, I did not give a flying flip about any of these
characters. They all seemed angry,
selfish, unlikable, bitter, and resentful.
Even great writing cannot make up for that.
**The Miserable
Mill #4 (Fiction, L. Snickett)
The fourth book of A
Serious of Unfortunate Events series.
Not my favorite.
3-Star (5)
***Paperback Crush
(Non-Fiction, G. Moss)
I enjoyed this
non-fiction book about 80’s – 90’s YA/YR books, but I didn’t ‘know’ most of the
books discussed (with the exception of the Babysitters Club). There were definite laugh out loud moments though.
***Into Thin Air
(Non-Fiction, J. Krakauer)
Why anyone would
ever want to climb this mountain is baffling to me. Krakauer himself climbed the mountain and
never mentioned ANYTHING good (like the views, the sense of accomplishment, etc.). The entire journey was
miserable from start to finish. Passing
dead bodies along the way. Your fellow
climbers dropping like flies (literally).
Frostbite. Amputations. Head swelling. Blood clots.
Constant nausea. And that just
scratches the surface. Horrible. The 3-star rating is because at times it was
REALLY wordy and I found my mind wandering a LOT.
***Then She Was
Gone (Fiction, L. Jewell)
Solid mystery that
kept me guessing.
***Bring Her Home
(Fiction, D. Bell)
This was good, but
it was VERY predictable and a tad too long.
And it all felt very familiar.
Maybe I read it once before and didn’t remember? Ha ha.
But if you’re looking for a quick, decent mystery this is a good one to
pick up. And the cover is gorgeous. It almost pains me to get rid of it (I rarely
keep 3-star books).
***11-22-63
(Fiction, S. King)
I wavered a lot
between 3 stars and 4 stars. Stephen
King is SUCH a good writer. But….his
books are sooooooooooo long. And they
are not easy reads. But this was a
fascinating story about a man who travels back in time to try to prevent the
assassination of JFK. Lesson: Don’t mess with history.
4-Star (2)
****Ask Me About My
Uterus (Non-Fiction, A. Norman)
Anyone who has
endometriosis needs to read this book.
Fun fact: endometriosis is NOT a
disease that only appears on the uterus.
It can appear on other organs as well.
****How the Light
Gets In (Fiction, L. Penny)
Another solid Three
Pines mystery.
5-Star (3)
*****The Traveling
Cat Chronicles (Fiction, H. Arikawa)
This was such a
surprising little book. A man rescues a
cat after it was hit by a car. He takes
care of the cat, loves the cat, and then takes the cat on a long journey
through Japan, meeting old friends along the way. But the book is told from the cats
perspective. Sound corny? It’s not.
It’s so good!
*****Maybe You
Should Talk to Someone (Non-Fiction, L. Gottlieb)
Although this book
started off very slowly for me, it really picked up towards the middle and
through the end. A therapist who needs
therapy. Anyone who has been in therapy
or wants to go to therapy should read this book!
*****The Dutch
House (Fiction, A. Patchett)
My very first Ann
Patchett book was Bel Canto. I believe
it was a 3-star read for me. Then I read
Run. Also…3-stars. Then I read State of Wonder. 4 STARS.
So original. Then
Commonwealth. Commonwealth was about a
3.5. Not quite 4, but I STILL think about
the first 50 pages or so. So
descriptive. I felt like I was at that
party in California.
The Dutch
House? FIVE SOLID STARS. The book is about siblings Danny and Maeve,
who are raised by a single dad in this mansion in Pennsylvania called The Dutch
House. It’s full of huge glass windows,
ornate paintings (left by the original owners), staircases, rooms with window
seats, etc. Some people loved it. Some people hated it. Including Danny and Maeve’s mother, who left
the family pretty early on. The kids’
father gets remarried to Andrea, a woman with 2 girls of her own who LOVES the
house. Eventually, she kicks Danny and
Maeve to the curb. Danny and Maeve go
from leading a pretty privileged life in a huge house, to living in a crappy
apartment in New York where one of them has to sleep on the couch. They now have to navigate their way through
life and support themselves, all while trying to figure out what just
happened. The books goes back and forth
in time, but not too much to be confusing.
It flows really nicely. And
there’s not a lot of characters, which is also a nice change.
This is a
relatively ‘quiet’ book, yet there are a
LOT of deep issues explored. And the
writing is phenomenal. Read it!
Total Books Read: 12
(8 Fiction, 4 Non-Fiction)
DNF:
Sleeping Giants (just not interested)
Pilgrim at Tinker Creek (I’m all for nature…but not THIS
much nature)
