When I'm not Mommying or knitting, I'm often reading. The boys and I head to the library every 2-4 weeks. When we are there, we spend most of our time looking at the children's movies and books. J always has to check out a Clifford book, an Arthur book, a Backyardigans book, and a Sesame Street or Muppet book. He also likes farm animal books and sometimes Dora the Explorer or Bob the Builder. Anyway, we have NEVER made it up to the second floor to the adult fiction section. Luckily for me, our library has a little display shelf of adult fiction near the movies so I just grab four or five of those on my way past. I don't even bother to read the descriptions most days so I end up with an interesting collection of books. Anyway, I thought I'd start sharing the books I read and a brief description/reaction on here. So here's the first edition of my new Book List posts:
Dervishes by Beth Helms: This book had an interesting premise--the wife and daughter of a US diplomat stationed in Turkey in the 1970s. Chapters alternated between the wife telling the story and the daughter telling the story. I like multiple viewpoints, but didn't love this book. Overall, I just found it a little too full of innuendo and intrigue and I finished the book very confused.
Do You Come Here Often? by Alexandra Potter: This is a pretty typical example of chick lit. It's British which used to bother me, but now I've read enough of them that the British lingo no longer bothers me although occasionally they use a term I'm unfamiliar with. I really enjoyed this quick read. It has interesting characters and is well-written. There are a few parts that weren't 100% believable, but I still really enjoyed this one.
Alternatives to Sex by Stephen McCauley: This was an interesting one for me. The main character is a gay male real estate agent. It was a different perspective than I am used to and overall I found the book a bit dark. However, it was well-written and had some good human insight that I found entertaining.
A Secret Word by Jennifer Paddock: This is the story of three girls told from their perspectives. It follows them from teenagers until adulthood. I didn't really enjoy this one. The writing wasn't wonderful and the characters were kind of underdeveloped. Overall, it was kind of a depressing book although there were somewhat happy endings. Maybe a little TOO realistic for my happily-ever-after self.
Sundays at Tiffany's by James Patterson and Gabrielle Charbonnet: This book has a strange premise--a girl grows up and meets her imaginary friend from childhood and they fall in love. It's a fun and quick read--although not sure about the whole imaginary friend thing. A much better book by James Patterson is Suzanne's Diary for Nicholas.
Read any great books recently? I'm always up for suggestions.
3 comments:
My son brought me "Coraline" from the school library recently, and told me it was the scariest book he'd ever read. I had to read it, because this kid has read thousands of books and lots of them are truly scary. When I read it, I could see why it work on a kid's subconscious. And then I went to sleep and had nightmares!
I went out and bought some of the same author's (Neil Gaiman) fiction for grownups, including "American Gods" which I'm reading now. I haven't gotten far enough to know whether I like it, though. It's definitely creepy.
I still think the best you ever recommended for me was The Time Traveler's Wife. I also have enjoyed my latest non-fiction, Positive Discipline by Jane Nelson. IT's informative, has questions for thought, and is an easy read.
read???? what's that :) ??
haha...one of these days i'll read something for "pleasure". i'm actually finishing an xmas present book, the huffington post guide to blogging, which has actually been interesting!
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