Harvest

Tess Gerritsen

A good, easy mystery to read. Not too scary, but a little predictable. I enjoyed it and would read more of her books when I need a fun change from the usual chick flick books I read.

Midnight Sun

Stephenie Meyer

This was a rough draft on her website of part of a new book. Sad story for her, someone leaked it on the Internet without her permission. However, she decided to share it with us all and it was great. It is so fun to read Twilight from another perspective. I will anxiously await the completed version and gladly pay for it as I would have this time. Boo Hiss on whoever ruined her fun! You MUST read the Twilight Series, even my sister who is not a reader loves them.

Chick Flicks

Odd Mom Out and Mrs. Perfect
Jane Porter

You gotta love a good chick flick book. These were passed on by a friend at work and I really enjoyed them. They were fun and easy to read. They both even have good reminders that you should be nice to everyone and that money isn't everything, things you can never be reminded too much!

The Keepsake
Tess Gerritsen

A great easy murder mystery read. I think it would be a perfect vacation book. I have another of her books that I am looking forward to reading.

Twilight Series

I finished the series, they are sooo good. I wish there were more to read. Run out and get all 4!

Twilight
New Moon
Eclipse
Breaking Dawn

Stephanie Meyer

All great, easy reads. I would never guess I would like vampire books but I do.

Vampire Books

Twilight
Stephanie Meyer

OMG!!! I don't care if it is for 16 year olds I loved this book. Everyone at work and several other fun readers told me this series was must read status. I thought whatever, I don't do sci-fi and I am a grown up. I was WRONG. I loved the book it was a fun, easy read. If you are looking for a fun read go get it.

New Moon
Stephanie Meyer
Book 2 of the series. Very good, too. I literally read it in one day. Again a great fun read. I can't wait to go get books 3&4.

Me & Emma

Elizabeth Flock



A great read, very well written. Not the most uplifting subject, but worth it. The author is great a painting a picture in your head and not being too graphic.

Devil in the White City
Erik Larson

Interesting. I heard my dad saying that my Uncle Jay loved this book and Michael had picked it up so I read it. Jay thought it was a page turner. I thought it was interesting but definitely not a page turner. I wanted a little more about the murders and a little less about construction. But, I do think it would have been amazing to see the World's Fair in Chicago. I wonder what it would be like if we had a world's fair today. It was also very interesting to learn all the things we have today because they were invented for or debuted at the fair.

OMG

Stori Telling
Tori Spelling

Okay, I am sure I lost a few IQ points by reading this book. But, I must admit I LOVED it. Tori, I feel like we are on a first name basis now, did a great job of making it easy to read and enjoy. I am still irritated with her and Dean for cheating on their spouses but she does get points for honesty and entertainment. If you want to just check out and have fun read this one.

A Few Summer Reads

Mercy
Jodi Picoult


I thought this was good, but I have to admit it is the first of this author's books that I haven't loved. I usually feel like I have really considered the other side of an issue by the time I finish her books, but this time my feelings hadn't changed much. I liked the main plot and was pleased with how it ended, but really didn't like the side story or feel like it tied in that well. Oh well, still a good read and I will continue to read her books.


The Story of Edgar Sawtelle
David Wroblewski



This is one of the best books I have read in a long, long time. I highly recommend it, I thought the story was excellently written. I am not going to say much else because I don't want to ruin the story.

2 More

The Last Lecture

A great, quick read. It really puts things in perspective and makes you think how you would feel in his shoes. I hope if I were in his shoes I could find such a great way to share my life with my kids.

The Sugar Queen

A good beach read, but nothing to write home about. I read this for book club and I am glad I did it was fun. But my book club is going to need to beef it up a little, too many fluff reads in a row. Does anyone have any good suggestions? Some books I really enjoyed were Water for Elephants and The Double Bind, great novels that are challenging as well.

Getting Caught Up

So I've read several books, but forgot to post them.

Pillars of the Earth
For the record I didn't read this because of Oprah, I read it because several other people had reccommended it. It was good, but man it was long. I am trying to decide if I am up for the sequel. I do feel really smart when I read a book that long. :)

Friday Night Knitting Club
I should have known when it said like Steel Magnolia's set in NYC. Too sad, not that well written. It was a good beach read but you could probably do better.

Certain Girls
I thought it was okay, but I hated the ending. What do people have against a happy ending. I know that they don't always happen, but sometimes they do.

Girlfriend's Guide to Surviving the First Year of Motherhood
I love these books, highly recommend it if you are in this place in life.

The Sleeping Doll
A good murder mystery. Sometimes I forget I like these it was a good quick easy read that wasn't too scary.

Amagansett

Mark Mills

I really enjoyed this novel that one of my book club friends passed along. My one complaint was either I wasn't paying enough attention in the beginning or he didn't set the time period real well. I kept looking back to try to establish exactly what time period it was set in. Once I got past that and the first couple of chapters it picked up and was a good story with some interesting twists. Not the greatest book I've ever read, but a good one to pass the time!

Under the Banner of Heaven

John Krakauer

This was a very interesting account of a couple of brothers who murdered their sister-in-law claiming the were acting out God's will as part of the extremist Mormon sect. The book was very interesting in discussing Mormon church history and extremist movements. I am not totally sure how I felt about it, but I am glad I read it. I think it left me with more questions than answers about mainstream Mormonism, but I guess those aren't really answers I need. I know what I believe, for the most part. :)

The River Wife

by Jonis Agee

WOW! What a great read. This was the book club book last time and I didn't get to go. I am so sad, it was awesome. I think Ms. Agee is a great author. I stayed so involved in the story which I think is pretty amazing considering how many different characters she involved. I loved this book. I think you all should read it.

5 out of 5

The Double Bind

by Chris Bohjalian

I really liked this book. I can't say much because it is my book club book and we are not allowed to talk about it before then. I thought it was very well written and there were some good twists. I thought I had it all figured out, but I really didn't. I also really enjoyed Midwives by the same author. I'll add more after we talk at book club, in the mean time go get yourselves a copy.

5 out 5

A Thousand Splendid Suns

Khaled Hosseini

This was a great read. I bought it this summer and just never got around to it, but now I am so glad that I did. There were several parts that were very sobering and hard to read, but I thought the book was excellently written. The characters were very well developed and I also really appreciated the resolution he provided for them at the end. I can't imagine living the life the women their families lived. I know it is fiction, but I am sure it is not too far from facts. I also really liked Kite Runner, but I think I liked this better.
5 out of 5

My Grandfather's Son

This book by Clarence Thomas was really good. I was very impressed with his candor even when it wasn't flattering. While, I don't know tons about him outside of the book I respected a lot of the things he had to say and where he has come from. It was very interesting to hear his perspective on so many different aspects of his life, especially his time at Yale and when he was in D.C. before joining the Supreme Court. I highly recommend this book as an interesting read. It was great for the trip, easy to pick up and put down but made me feel like I might have learned a little something, too. I hope it was an accurate representation of Justice Thomas, because I liked most of what I read about him, especially his honesty.

4.5 out of 5

A New Element

I noticed on a friend's blog that she had a link to the books she read for the year and what she thought about them. I thought I would copy her in 2008! This way I will know what I have read and you can tell me what you thought about these books and maybe even suggest others for me to read as well. You should all do this, so we can share reads and have an on-line Book Club!

This year I have read 2 books so far:
Blue Like Jazz Donald Miller

I know everyone read this ages ago, but I had a hard time getting excited about a Jesus book so it took me awhile. I am glad I read it, there were parts I really liked and some that challenged me. I also liked that it was easy to read one chapter and then put it down for awhile, but this meant it took me forever to read.

My rating: 3.5 out of 5

Harvesting the Heart Jodi Picoult

Jodi P., as I like to call her, is one of my favorite authors. While this is not my favorite of her books I still enjoyed it and as always she challenged me to view the "other side" of an issue I thought I knew all about. It really made me think about the Mom's I work with and how they may be feeling sometimes when I am tempted to get judgemental because they are not bonding with their babies like I think they should. I think it was interesting timing that I read it while I was pregnant, I wonder if that was part of why I didn't read it as quickly as I usually read her books.

3 out of 5 but definately worth reading.

Let me know what you think!