Three Book Reviews

I've three books to report on! I had a little slump there in the middle of the month and now three down!



Book: The Great Gilly Hopkins by Katherine Paterson
Genre: Junior Fiction
Rating: B+


For one of my F2F groups, the hostess decided to have us discuss the author Katherine Paterson, so she gave us a list of most of books, which is a lot! I picked this one to read, about Gilly Hopkins, who is bounced from foster home to foster home and all she wants is her mom to decide to come get here. She learns that things to always work out as you plan them. It's quite a sad tale, but one that is very true to life.







Book: Rose Daughter by Robin McKinley
Genre: YA Fantasy
Rating: A-


I had to read this to get my Robin McKinley fix for the year! I love her! This is another retelling of the fairy tale Beauty and the Beast, similiar to her other book, Beauty. Many things are the same, yet many are differnt. Roses play a very big part in this book and the ending is... surprising.









Book: The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood
Genre: General fiction
Rating: A

While at book club this past week, the next hostess passed out book club sets of this, our next book. I've always wanted to read it, but was a little worried about the subject matter. However, I sat down and read the whole thing this weekend. Wow. Scary stuff. The story takes place in our society of the future when the government has been overthrown and taken over by crazies. Women who are deemed fertile become handmaids to the powerful men who are in need of having kids. For some reason, kids are hard to come by these days. I couldn't put it down and am glad to have finally read it after hearing about it for so many years!

Booking Through Thursday: Seasonal Reading

Booking Through Thursday Question:

1. Does what you read vary by the season? For instance, Do you read different kinds of books in the summer than the winter? I tend to want to read lighter stuff in the summer. However, I also like to read big fat books then too. I just want to read "fun" stuff in the summer.
   
2. If so, do you break it down by genre, length of book, or...? Like I said, I like fat books in the summer and just for fun books. Funny though, because all the books I read are just for fun really. I don't really worry about connect reading to the holidays either. I just gotta read what I gotta read when I gotta read it!
   

"New" Books, Just What I Need!

Awhile back I ended up on the email list of some people in the area that have a book sale out of their garage twice a year. They get hundreds of books from I don't know where, ARCs, used books, school books, overstocked books, etc. They sale the kids books for 80% of list price and novels (both paper and hard back) for 25 cents!

So yesterday I went and came home with these books for only $4.75! Amazing. Do you have any major thumbs up or thumbs down reaction to any of them? Let me know!

Blessings by Anna Quindlen

Fortune Rocks by Anita Shreve

Little Earthquakes by Jennifer Weiner

Little Women by Louise May Alcott

Anthem by Ayn Rand

The Confessions of Max Tivoli by Andrew Sean Greer

The Dark Tower by Stephen King

The Secret of Lost Things by Sheridan Hay

The Stranger by Albert Camus

Cat's Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut

Mythology by Edith Hamilton

The Sirens of Titan by Kurt Vonnegut

Tears of the Giraffe by Alexander MCall Smith

The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisnersos

Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison

Anthony and Cleopatra by Shakespeare

The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum

Living to Tell the Tale by Gabriel Garcia Marquez

Stolen Lives: Twenty Years in a Desert Jail by Malika Oufkir

Hopefully I'll actually read them all some day! (Well, I HAVE already read Little Women, so I'm on my way!)

Reading on a Cruise

A beautiful Pacific Ocean sunset taken through the window of our dining room on the boat.

Yes, I've been gone a week. We went on a cruise for spring break, even taking all the kids. I stressed about what book/books to take, as many of us readers do. I ended up taking three, beceause you just never knew what mood you'll be in. I took:


American Gods by Neil Gaiman, because I've been wanting to read it FOREVER and thought maybe I'd get a chance to start it while on vacation

Rose Daughter by Robin McKinley, because I thought it would be an easy vacation read, not too much concentration involved, and a nice fun story besides.
The Lost City of Faar by D.J. MacHale, because my 12 year old son (known as Moder on my blogs) has been begging me to get caught up with him in this crazy fantasy series!


Can you guess how many I managed to read? ZERO!! In fact, I hardlyhad a chance to read at all and only managed about 50 pages of Rose Daughter. There was just too much to do on that boat! And when evening came, I was just too tired for reading!


Since I've been home and having my "recovery" days, I've managed to almost finish Rose Daughter.


So much for reading on a cruise! Maybe next time?

Wordless Wednesday

Two Books Finished Today: A Modern Comedy AND Willowwood

I've been reading like crazy the last couple of days to finishe these two books as they are both due back at the library!

A Modern Comedy by John Galsworthy

This is the second trilogy in a trilogy of trilogies. Hopefully that makes sense! We read the first set, The Forsyte Saga, over at the Classic Books group, and I loved it! They've since read this second in the series, and plan on doing the third even, I think. I'm awfully behind, but finally made it through this one. Hopefully I can get my hands on the third one of these days too.

This second book I didn't like quite as much as the first, though I still enjoyed it. It doesn't cover quite so much time, only a period of four years or so, whereas the first one covered several generations. I was anxious for the encounter between Jon and Fleur, which I KNEW was coming, but it didn't happen until the very last section. So, that section flew by for me, since I was so curious to know what they'd do! What a tangled web they've got themselves in, that Jon and Fleur!

In the first two sections, there was quite a bit of political talk which I could do without, though the historical aspect it kind of fun.

Overall, it was very enjoyable and I look forward to the next one!

Willowwood by Mollie Hardwick

As mentioned in a previous post, I randomly picked this book from the large print section. True to its claim, it was quite the nice and soothing Victorian romance, complete with dashing hero, a damsel in distress, and a sinister stranger. Perfect for fluff which I totally loved.

Booking Through Thursday: The Bible

Booking Through Thursday

1. Just out of curiosity, as we enter into Passover and Easter season... have you ever read the Bible? Just the odd chapter or Psalm? The whole thing? (Or, almost the whole thing? It's some heavy reading, of course, and those "begats" get kind of tedious.) Yes, I've read much of it, mostly the New Testament, which I especially enjoy, but many chapters of the Old also. That Old Testament sure has some fascinating stories!
   
2. If so, was it from religious motivation or from a literary perspective? Stuck with nothing else to read in a hotel room the Gideon's have visited? Any combination? Religious motivation, Sunday School assignments and discussions, just for fun every now and then, and since I went to a church college, I had several classes on The Bible.


3. If not, why not? Against your religious principles? Too boring? Just not interested? Something you're planning on taking care of when you get marooned on a desert island?


4. And while we're on the subject... what about the other great religious works out there? Are they more to your liking? The Book of Mormon mostly, which I've read much of. :)The others, I haven't had much experience with.