Book #16: The Brightest Star In the Sky

Book #16 is by Marian Keyes and is called The Brightest Star In the Sky. I'm not sure that I have a lot to say about this book. I honestly didn't really enjoy much about it. It's told from the point of view of an "angel" that is looking for a new soul to dwell in, but the reader isn't really let in on this until the very end of the book. The problem for me is that it follows multiple people and because it's unclear who is telling the story, it's hard to understand why it's necessary to follow all of these people. And they aren't all really that interesting. The only thing keeping me reading (besides the rule I set for myself that I have to finish all books that I start) was the storyline about the couple Matt and Maeve. They lend a bit of mystery to the whole thing. I won't say what the resolution is, on the very slight off chance that someone actually reads this and then wants to read the story. I think that perhaps the convolutedness of this blog entry is decent evidence of the convolutedness of the book. It's rather disappointing...I've read some of Keyes other books and really enjoyed them, but the last couple have just really been blah. I even returned one to the bookstore after the first couple of chapters because I could tell that I just wasn't going to get into it. I've never done that before. Sad.

Book #14: Three Willows and Book #15: The Host

Onward.

Book #14 is Three Willows: The Sisterhood Grows by Ann Brashares. This story is remotely connected to Brashares' Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants series. I loved those books, so it was a no-brainer when I saw this at the library. It's a similar storyline - the Pants series is about 4 high school aged best friends that share a pair of "magical" pants. This book is about 3 girls that were best friends most of their lives but had drifted apart. They are in their last summer before they start high school. The story follows each girl on her journey, which ultimately leads them back to each other. Polly goes to a modelling day camp, even though she doesn't really have what it takes to be a model and ends up being hurt by the process. Jo spends the summer at her family's beach house, working at a restaurant and acting older to fit in, also getting hurt in the process. Ama is probably my favorite character. She reminds me a bit of my friend Stephanie. Very bookish, very smart, not what anyone would think of as "outdoorsy" and yet she ends up being sent on a wilderness trip instead of the academic camp she had thought she was going to...it starts off a disaster, but she loves it by the end. I liked this book a lot. It's a bit simple, but it's young adult, so I didn't really expect anything earth shattering. I'm wondering if this is going to be another series, a la the Travelling Pants...

Book #15 is The Host by Stephenie Meyer. Yes, THE Stephanie Meyer of Twilight fame. I resisted this book for a long time. Most everyone I talked to about it hadn't read it because they had not heard great things about it and every time I picked it up and looked at the back of it I was reminded that it's about aliens. I'm not really into the whole alien thing. Never have been, so I kept giving it a pass. Even after Aaron recommended it to me, telling me that it is one of his favorite books, I resisted. Then I came across it in my perusals at the library. I figured, what the heck. Well. I'm glad that I did. I really enjoyed this book. Yeah, at it's base it's about aliens, but it's really about humanity and about how the unfeeling alien found her humanity. Now, it did start off a bit slow, but once I got through about 50 pages I was hooked, so if you've ever considered reading it, even a little, give it a chance!! If you liked the Twilight saga, you'll probably like this story.

Book #12-Water for Elephants and Book #13-Blood Sins

Erm. Ok. So honestly I think I got a bit out of order in my numbering system. I was following the order in which they were listed on Goodreads, not realizing that they were sorted by date added, not date completed. I've now solved that problem. No one cares though, right? At least I'm trying to catch up...?

So, book #12 is Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen. As soon as I realized the movie was coming out, I decided I'd better get my act together and read it. I borrowed a copy from my sister Stacie and took it with me to day 3 of Jury Duty. I finished it that day, no problem...5 solid hours of reading did it for me. I liked it, but didn't love it. The issue is that with the exception of the main character, Jacob Jankowski, I just didn't really like any of the characters. And reading about some of the realities of how the animals in the circus were treated was simply heartbreaking. I honestly didn't really care much for the movie either. I had hoped that they would downplay the scenes of animal abuse, and I guess they did, but not nearly as much as I'd like. All in all I'm still glad that I read the book, and that I did it before I saw the movie. At least I was prepared.

Book #13 is called Blood Sins by Kay Hooper. Hooper's novels are always entertaining. All of them (at least most of them?) have a basis in the paranormal, mainly about a fictional branch of the FBI called the "Special Crimes Unit". Each member of the unit has some sort of "extra" sense or paranormal power. Empaths, psychics, mind readers...you name it. The main character in this book, Tessa Gray, is (among other things) clairvoyant and can "sense" other psychic abilities while shielding her own. This was another quick read but one that I enjoyed quite a bit more than Water for Elephants. One of the things that I really like about Hooper's style is that she does a really good job of distracting the reader from realizing who the real villain is. Her endings are usually worth getting to, and this novel didn't disappoint, which is something that I always appreciate.

Book #11 - The Crimson Petal and the White

Continuing with the catching up...

Book #11 was The Crimson Petal and the White by Michel Faber. Two things led me to this 900 page book. That's right. 900 PAGES. The first was a recommendation from a friend of Aaron's. The recommendation wasn't, "Hey, this book is awesome, you should read it." It was more like, "Hey, this book is ginormous and if you're looking for a challenge, you'll find it here." Well. Clearly I enjoy a good challenge, so I put it on my radar. Then a group I belong to on Goodreads (aptly called Reading the Chunksters) put it up for consideration. These two things combined seemed reason enough for

All I can say is thank goodness for Jury Duty. It would have taken me FOREVER to get through those 900 pages if I hadn't been granted almost two full days of nearly uninterrupted reading time. To be honest, I'm not sure it was really worth it. I thought after the hype (the rec's and then the reviews I read on Goodreads) that it would be a super intense and interesting book. It wasn't really. I don't really even remember THAT much about it. It started of super slow, pretty difficult to get into. When the story starts, it's not even following the book's main character. You have to get there, be introduced to each character. "Julie, this is Caroline. Caroline enjoys long walks through the gritty streets of London, searching for "johns"." Blech. The path to the main character (the heroine, I guess she could be called) is so rambling that when he finally gets there, it takes a while to be convinced that she's the one. Sugar is her name, prostituting and social climbing is her game. Honestly, she isn't a very likable heroine. She's rather whiny and really kind of ends up losing herself instead of finding herself. The most annoying thing about the book? It doesn't end. I mean, the book ends, but the story doesn't really end. Faber actually has the nerve to taunt the reader about it. "Hey, I know the story didn't really end, but too bad, that's how life is sometimes." Really? Even with that though, by that point I was just so glad to be finished, I barely cared.

And I'm realizing that my review is becoming nearly as long and tedious (yet somewhat lacking in real information) as the book, so I'm going to just quit while I'm ahead...

Catching up...through Book #10...

Ok. So I know that I am behind in my blogging. Woefully behind. Unfortunately, the blog update police force (you know who you are) has also realized this and my plan of coasting along with the hopes of no one knowing has been thwarted. And so now it is time to catch up.

First I must be honest. I've shelved Mysteries of St. Louis. Not forever, mind you. The rules I set forth for myself clearly state that once I've started a book, I must finish it. I will. I just came to the realization that if I'm ever going to catch up to where I need to be as far as pace, I needed to move on. So it has been returned to the library for the time being. This change means I need to shuffle my numbers, which officially makes Book #8 Without Mercy, and Book #9 The Tower, The Zoo and The Tortoise, both of which I've already talked about.

Book #10 - The Uncoupling by Meg Wolitzer. This was a Goodreads "first-read" freebie book. Here's what I wrote about it on Goodreads:

"This was the second book that I "won" from a Goodreads giveaway. I have to say that I didn't really care for it. The plot line just seems so...simple. The story seems like perhaps it should be complicated, but it's not. I'm not sure if that's a result of the writing or simply the premise. The idea is that a new drama teacher comes to this school and decides to put on a play called Lysistrata, the plot of which involves the women of Greece to go on a sex strike and deny their lovers sex in order to stop war. Already you're thinking, hmm...right? A side effect is that supposedly anywhere the play is put on, the women of that town turn away from their lovers. A cold-winded spell blows over all of them. Riiight... It of course eventually resolves, but it takes sooo long to get there. I think my main issue with the whole thing is that this would have been better as a short story. The characters really aren't interesting enough to deserve a whole book. I finished it, but only because it was really easy to read and I got through it very quickly. It's left me feeling kind of eh, though."

Can you tell how much I didn't like it? Bleh. Furthermore, part of the schtick with the first-read thing is that you increase your chances of getting more free books if you review the ones you've already received. Well. I haven't won ANY since this review. Maybe they only like positive reviews?

"The worth of a book is to be measured by what you can carry away from it." ~James Bryce

Book #9 (sort of): Without Mercy and Book #10(ish): The Tower, The Zoo and The Tortoise

For the record, I'm still working on what I originally called Book #8 (The Mysteries of St. Louis). It's a very interesting book, it just takes a lot of concentration to read, so it's slow going. In the meantime I decided that I would double team so that I don't fall too far behind. So technically speaking I've really only finished 9 books at this time ;)

My first back-up book (supposed book #9) was Without Mercy by Lisa Jackson. Normally I really enjoy her books and I still finished this one pretty quick, but it kind of felt like a chore. Normally her characters are really well developed and engaging and there are a lot of surprising plot twists. Not so much with this one. I found the main character rather whiny, in fact. While there was a fairly decent twist of a conclusion, by the time I got there, I found I didn't really care. Overall, really a disappointment but at least it counts toward my 50!

I'm currently working on (what I'm calling book #10) a book called The Tower, The Zoo and The Tortoise by Julia Stuart. I noticed it on the shelf at Borders a couple of weeks ago and found it intriguing. The wonderful man that I am dating noticed and went back and bought it for me :) Unlike Mysteries, it is a very easy read. I started reading it on Monday during my lunch and squeezed in about 30 pages, and then that evening read half the book! It's kind of whimsical fiction, but also relates quite a bit of history about The Tower of London. I'm really enjoying this one. And as an extra bonus, it counts toward my British book challenge!

Book #8: The Mysteries of St. Louis

The next book I've decided to read is The Mysteries of St. Louis by Henry Boernstein. One of my reenacting friends recommended this to me while I was reading book #4 (German Settlements in Missouri) and I thought I would give it a go. The St. Louis Public Library had a few copies available, so I put in my request (yay, library!) and picked it up the other day. I think this book is going to be a big challenge for me. To begin with, the book was written in 1851. In German. An English version of the novel was then published in 1852. I hope that the vernacular is not too difficult to understand. The particular version I'm reading was published in 1990, not sure if that has made a difference (like how all of the different versions of the Bible are so very different). Second, this edition is only 303 pages, but the publisher uses as much of each page as they can. The words are very small and they completely fill each page. All that said, I still plan to soldier on...I'm hoping it will be so fascinating that none of that makes a difference!

Today I finished Book #7, Friendship Bread by Darien Gee. This is the book I won on the Goodreads website. I loved it! It was a super easy, feel-good read. I highly recommend it! The title could use a little work (it doesn't exactly scream READ ME, does it?) but the book itself is great. It follows the story of one little anonymous bag of Amish Friendship Bread starter left on a grieving mother's doorstep and goes on to tell how it effects the whole town and brings the community together. I'd be happy to lend it to anyone that's interested!