Thursday, January 22, 2015

Books Read

Big Little Lies - I really love this author!
This Is Where I Leave You - Decent family drama
We Were Liars - fun read!
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
Euphoria
All The Truth That's In Me
Women at Church


2015:
Life After Life - Enjoyable but I didn't feel smart enough to catch everything.
Descent - Well written thriller.  But contradictory to NPR's review this was not as good as Gone Girl.

Monday, August 25, 2014

Book Reviews

The Husbands Secret - I loved this book.  It was fun and light while still being thought provoking.  Well written and well structured.

I've Got Your Number - This was a silly British romance but lots of fun.  It had more curse words than I am comfortable with for recommendations.

The Language of Flowers - Beautiful story that is easy to read and moves at a nice pace.

Eleanor and Park - Now this is what young adult should be.  I thought this book was so much fun.  And non-tragic.

Cinder - Steam punk young adult Cinderella story that worked.  Well.  I will be reading the rest of the books in this series

If I Stay - why does young adult literature have to be so sad?



(I am going to give goodreads a try - anybody else use it?)

Thursday, July 24, 2014

Book Review {Spring and Summer}

I've fallen behind on recording what I've read, so I'll just give quick reviews

Goldfinch:  Interesting and well written but felt too dark after numerous chapters on teenage drug use and delinquency.  Reminded me of Cather in the Rye.

Too Much Happiness: Second reading, love her short stories.

The Leviathan:  First steam punk young adult book I have read and it was enjoyable.  Maybe a little too teenage boyish for total enjoyment.  But good.

The Ocean At the End of the Lane:  Very clever storytelling but lacked something bigger in my opinion.  I wanted more revealed about truth/the world from the fantasy adventure.  Fast read and fun.

I am Malala: I love this girl.  I respect her parents deeply.  The history of the region was very interesting but a little confusing in the way she told it.  I think this is an important narrative for our generation and should be told and/or read by all involved in making a difference.

Room: So strange to read from a kids point of view the entire time, and by strange I mean annoying.  It was interesting the points the book made and I'm beyond glad it didn't dwell on the darkness of the room, but I was very tired of this little's boy's voice by the end.

Thursday, April 10, 2014

March Book Reviews

The Leviathan:  We did steam punk books for our book club this month and this was one from that genre.  I really enjoyed it.   It parallels WWI in a world where past and future are blended.  I like the characters and the allusions to history.  I don't love that it is a trilogy but so live young adult books!

Too Much Happiness:  A reread.  But I love these stories.  I feel like reading this book was the first time I felt like I really understood the value of short stories.

Monday, March 3, 2014

February Book Reviews

Mao's Last Dancer:  I enjoyed the story about a ballet dancer pulled from village life in communist China, but found that the narrator was too gentle on his own errors. I also would have liked more political information.

The Rent Collector: I love stories about the power of literature and I do believe it call pull people from the slums, but I still found this story naively optimistic.  I felt like the voice telling the story was distinctly American while it was supposed to be a poor uneducated woman living on the trash fields in Cambodia.  I loved the Cambodian folk tales that she included in the text.


Friday, January 3, 2014

2013 Book List {Ranked by favorite}

Gone Girl
Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me
People of the Book
The Power of Habit
The Aviator's Wife
Round House
State of Wonder
The Light Between Oceans
The Weird Sisters
Wonder
Where'd You Go, Bernadette
Inside Out and Back Again
The Importance of Being Ernest
Behind Beautiful Forevers
Every Last One
Still Alice
Escape from Camp 14
Mr. Peanut
Sharp Objects
My Story
Columbine
Little Bee
The Fault in our Stars
Never Come Back
The Christmas Jar
Cold Comfort Farm
Finding Alaska

28


Friday, December 13, 2013

From “The Syntax of Creation” by John R Rosenberg

“Things that mater submit to the syntax of creation.  We grow day by day, line upon line, experience by experience.  Unreasonably, sometimes we seek Day Seven Privileges on Day One or Two, or we demand of ourselves expertise or excellence that more properly should be assigned to another day.  God could not put animals on the land until they had something to eat; he could not cultivate vegetation until there was dry land…what I find reassuring is what God did not do.  At the end of Day Five he did not say, “after all this work and all this time, all I have to show for my effort is fish.” What He did say was that “all things which I had created” up to that time “were good.” So it is with our education, our careers, and our relationships.  We may not be finished, but we can be acceptable - sufficient unto that day.”