The (Kinda, Sorta) Weekly Reader - April Version

So, I kinda, maybe, sorta, haven't done this in a while. I maybe forgot to link it up. Here are some of the books that I've been reading over the past couple of months. Of course, it goes without saying that I reread the entire Outlander series - it was that time of year for me. I download a lot of books - it helps that one of the companies I work for pays me in Amazon certificates.

When Sparrows Fall -I was sent this book for review from the publisher. I was intrigued by the concept of a woman overpowered by the pastor of her church and the life that she's been living. I've known women who were followers of the Quiverfull movement that were brought to mind when I read this book. Although it ended in exactly the fashion I foresaw from the first page, it was still an enjoyable read. 4**** out of 5*****

Water For Elephants - easily the best book I read in a while, I originally did not want to read this one. I intensely dislike reading books that everyone loves. Plus, I don't like circuses, elephants OR Robert Pattinson. But. I really really liked this book. I'm actually afraid to see the movie for this reason. 5***** out of 5*****.

Two Kisses for Maddy - I remember hearing this story when Liz Logelin died. She had a premature baby, stood up the next day to go visit her for the first time, suffered a pulmonary embolism and died before she ever held her precious baby. Her husband wrote about their early life together, the pregnancy, and the first year of his life as a widowed father. I loved this book. Be forewarned (Mom) - this book has a bunch of curse words in it - which doesn't bother me, but the use of the f word may bother some readers - Mom. 5*****out of 5*****

Bliss Remembered - the tale of an old woman who was telling her life story to her 60 something year old son, this  book was not at all what I thought it would be. I remembered reading a book by Frank DeFord about his little girl who died from cystic fibrosis and it touched me deeply as a teen. This is a fictional story set during the 1930's and 40's, where the main character decides to swim for the American Olympics and falls in love with a German. The ending came out of nowhere. 5***** out of 5*****.

Game of Thrones - I'm not finished with this one. I actually started it when the series began on HBO - and if you are watching that, I say that it's really good - but you need to watch each episode at least twice - and then read the book. I read the sample before I saw the first episode. I didn't like the sample. I liked the first episode. I watched it again. I liked it much better the second time, and I downloaded the entire book. All of a sudden, it all just FELL into place and boom! I got it. And I am really liking it a bunch. So. Give it a try. The series, so far, is EXACTLY like the book. 5***** out of 5*****

These Things Hidden - The story of a former "golden girl" who commits an unspeakable crime, spends time in prison, and then attempts to return to her life - it was - meh. Not bad. Not great. It kind of got weird at the end, and I didn't care for the ending, but many people did love it. If you have trouble with bad things happening to little kids, this may not be the book for you. I actually downloaded this because it was free. 3*** out of 5*****.

Slow Dancing on Price's Pier - I was sent this book to review. I accepted it because the premise - a woman who decides to divorce her husband but still wants to remain part of his family - interested me. The reality that she had dated her husband's brother before marrying her husband, and that the entire time they were married the brother stayed away - it really sounded like a great story. And, you know what? It was. I enjoyed this tale, although I knew how it would end, but along the way a few little surprises came out that I hadn't been expecting. A solid 4**** out of 5*****.

Love You More - I LOVE Lisa Gardner books. They always go in a much different direction than I ever anticipate, and I love murder mysteries. This book was one that I downloaded the first day it became available, and I read it in one day. It wasn't one of her best, but it was pretty good nonetheless. If you are a fan of hers, don't miss it. Again - if you don't like bad stuff happening to little kids, maybe not the one for you. 4**** out of 5*****.

Saving Rachel - What if the best day of your life turned out to be the worst? That's the premise behind this book - and it went allllll over the place. Another free download (and I think that the free downloads rotate, for everything I got for free now has a charge) I'm pretty glad I didn't pay for it. It was completely unbelieveable and I finished it merely to say that I finished it. 2**out of 5*****.

The Apothecary's Daughter - Yet another freebie, the premise of this book was very interesting - but I didn't finish it. The story of a girl during pre industrial England, she is the daughter of a poor apothecary who gets the chance to go to London to live a different life, but then she has to return to her father due to family illness. It was a decent book, but it didn't pull at me in the way that I like, when I spend what little time I have reading. 3*** out of 5*****

Now. This is the part where you tell me you agree with me, you think I'm crazy, or your best friend wrote one of the books I didn't care for and you hate my guts. What have you been reading?

Comments

[amie]

I love these posts bc I am a booknerd! Loved Water for Elephants. I avoided it initially for same reasons, hate circuses and not a jump on the bandwagon kind of girl. Recently read Witch's Daughter and liked very much. The Paris Wife- a novel about Hemingway's first wife and their time in Paris in 20s. Then read Moveable Feast which is basically Hemingway's view of life in Paris in 20s. I try to avoid books about bad things happening to little kids so I will be skipping those. Also don't want to cry too much, I suspect this is a tearjerker but lately Sarah's Key keeps coming up. People everywhere keep telling me how great it is so guess I better read it. Nearly forgot to mention I read and loved Those Who Save Us- set in Germany during WWII.One more thing, I joined Goodreads , whioch is socail network site for avid readers, great way to get book suggestions from friends. Anyway my college aged newphew was reading a book called Perks of Being a Wallflower. Unfortunately can not recall author but really enjoyed the book. Vaguely reminded me of that Holden Caulfield book , the name of which I cant recall either. Maybe I better go to sleep lol.

[Kelly H]

I also loved Water for Elephants and I think I'm going to skip the movie. It's not getting good reviews and I hate that Robert Pattison is in the movie. He is soooo not the right person (in my mind).

If you haven't read The Help, you must. I know, everyone loves it and has read it. You must too. Fantastic book, great story and that one I will see the movie.

I love all your other recommendations. I'm just bad about making time to read. All that said, our local pool just opened and I needed my "pool side book to read" for the summer: I just bought the Rob Lowe autobiography and the biography by Tina Fey. Can't wait to sink my teeth into both!

[Christal]

I'm anticipating being able to read ANYTHING besides school text books after May 6th. I'm going to Amazon for used copies of the rest of the JD Robb (aka Nora Roberts) futuristic murder mysteries that I haven't read. I started reading them last July when I had 2 surgeries in 2 weeks, and liked them so much I wanted to read the whole set (unfortunately not in order, but they work fine as stand-alones.) I've also been filling in the gaps (lunchtime reading) with other books Nora's written that I hadn't read. She's really grown as a writer when you compare her short stories from earlier with her present day books.

My brother's promised me a box of his cast-off books as well, so I'm looking forward to his electic taste in books. The last box had several Annie Proulx books.

I look forward to future book recommendations.

[Christal]

Replace that electic with eclectic... (Oops) Maybe I should have just type "varying taste". :-)

[bama Cheryl]

Awesome list - haven't read most of them so will use your opinions as guidance when I go searching for new reads. thanks!

[Michelle]

I just finished the Discovery of Witches. It is a long book, over 500 pages, but it was so worth it!

[Headless Mom]

I just finished South of Broad by Pat Conroy. Set in Charleston just as segregation begins, it's about a group of teens and their friendship into adulthood. Not for the squeamish-there were definitely some R-rated parts (sex, violence, language), but by-and-large the prose is absolutely beautiful. I could have started it again the second I finished it.

[Emily C]

I love seeing what other people are reading.

I've been big into non-fiction lately.

Mostly parenting books, and a random smattering of things that interest me. My favorite was "How to Live on Practically Nothing" with its chapter about how to live in the woods on $300/year.

[Lynn]

If you like mysteries, I would recommend Donna Leon's books about Commessario Brunetti. They are set in Venice, and he is a police officer, but what makes them appealing to me is that he has a wonderful family he loves, and that clashes against the horror he faces at work. She creates wonderful characters. The most recent one is about the 20th, but I've liked them all.

[Deborah]

I've been reading eclectic picks this past month: Major Pettigrew's Last Stand, Sense & Sensibility, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks and Reckless by Cornelia Funke. If my employer paid me in Amazon cards, my Kindle would be overflowing and my family would have a drastic change in diet! I'm off to the library today and will look at some of your recommendations.

[Carolynn Dyer]

All right, thanks for the recommendations! Being a stay at home mom these days, the thing I miss most about my field (English lit) was always knowing about dozens of good books to read. I even used to review books myself! Now I'm more than a little out of the loop, but now I have some ideas of what to look for!

[Laura H]

Mostly I read murder mysteries. I just finished a Diane Mott Davidson book, and will be buying the newest JD Robb next payday. I love, LOVE Janet Evanovich; her books have a healthy dose of humor to go along with the mystery-ish genre.

[Issa]

When does the time for reading come back? When you don't have toddlers? Am truly curious because man I'm too tired to read by the time my kids go to bed. I miss reading.

Anyway, the only thing I've read recently was Pioneer Woman's new book. Loved it. All sweet and romantic and easy to read, which was good since I managed to read most of it on a plane last week.

I downloaded Matt's book...but it may be August and on the plane to BH before I start it.

[Brandy]

I have to second A Discovery of Witches. It was a fabulous read. I've also recently read Packing for Mars by Mary Roach, it was interesting look behind the scenes of the Space programs.

[Kati]

If you like Game of Thrones, try Jim Butcher's Codex of Alera series. And if you like *that* series, try Butcher's other series about the wizard detective (trust me, it works) Harry Dresden - the first book is Storm Front. It's my current all-time favorite series -sarcastic, magicky, thrilling, awesome. And he has no plans of stopping that series before at least 20 books.

One more plug for the Harry Dresden series - the audiobooks are voiced by James Marsters (Spike from Buffy the Vampire Slayer series). So very good. /ends gush

[J from Ireland]

I just finished Maeve Binchy's new book Minding Frankie and as usual it was brilliant. Recently I read Divine Secrets of the Yaya sisterhood, loved it. Room is an excellent read too. I read as much as possible. I have the kindle app on my iphone and love the way I can get a book whenever I want, really contemplating buying a real kindle although over here they are very expensive.
I love the book posts so much Carmen, thank you.

[UKCraftySal]

I have just finished the third in the "Outlander" series, following your recommendation, and I am so hooked! (Ooh, that Jamie: makes me weak at the knees!)

Have also just reread "On Chesil Beach" by Ian McEwan, and really enjoyed it again. It's sad but so beautifully written. Also, it's quite short - I read it in one sitting - which can be good sometimes!