Review: Night

Night by Elie Wiesel
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Oh the horror.

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Review: The Nightingale

The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

4.5 stars
Add this to the list of another amazing work of historical fiction recounting the heroics of survivors of WWII, the French resistance, and holocaust.
It was a little slow for me at first (I stopped reading, and picked up the book a month later), but what an amazing story of sisters, survival, selfless acts of love, depravity, inhumanity and the sheer determination to live.

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Review: Luckiest Girl Alive

Luckiest Girl Alive by Jessica Knoll
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

14 year old girl, searching for popularity and acceptance at a new private school, is gang raped at a party, and the story unfolds (in a back and forth narrative) from there.

I didn't like it, against popular opinion.

It didn't help that one of the key elements in the book was sadly repeated again in real life. When will the madness stop?

It just left me empty.





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Review: Circling the Sun

Circling the Sun by Paula McLain
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

3.5 stars

My take: a glossy, tabloid-y, overly-romanticized novel of the life of Beryl Markham. I loved learning about her early years with her father, her expertise as a horse trainer, and her life in Africa. I liked that I'd read Out of Africa before this book -- it made for a beautiful companion piece to this novel...but Out of Africa was so much better (even though I totally get that it's a different main subject matter).

I understand that drama and controversy plagued Ms Markham, due to her frequent love affairs -- I guess I was just expecting more -- especially her life as a pilot, which only covered about 10 pages.



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Review: Beautiful Ruins

Beautiful Ruins by Jess Walter
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Italian coast, movie stars, Hollywood, addicts, producers, gangsters, unwed mothers, love: all of these elements are a narrative high wire act in the hands of writer, Jess Walter, and yet, not a single element comes crashing down. I was hooked to these "beautiful ruins" and their lives.

My only complaint is the language and caustic/sexual references. Really awkward and uncomfortable. For me anyway.


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Review: Brown Girl Dreaming

Brown Girl Dreaming by Jacqueline Woodson
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I was immersed in her story.
I could have been her friend.
Her family member
Her neighbor.
I could feel the South.
I could feel Brooklyn.
I was there at her "daddy's" passing.
It made me want to write.
Every word.
Of my own story.


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Review: The Revised Fundamentals of Caregiving: A Novel

The Revised Fundamentals of Caregiving: A Novel by Jonathan Evison
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Funny, tragic, heartbreaking, poignant, forgiving, selflessness....I was not expecting any of this.

It was an unexpected delight.

*Minor language


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Review: The War that Saved My Life

The War that Saved My Life by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

3.5 stars

Heartfelt story of two abused children who are transported to the country from London during WWII for their safety and the love and acceptance that they encounter from their foster-mom.

Loved the story -- but the ending was abrupt, Hollywood-esque, and soured my reading experience.

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Book Review -- Go Set a Watchman

Go Set a Watchman by Harper Lee
My enjoyment rating: 3.5 of 5 stars
Hangover rating:  2
Source: Library copy
Genre: General fiction
Objectionable material:  liberal use of the N* word


You cannot compare any book to To Kill a Mockingbird. Period. Even one written (supposedly) by Harper Lee. So this book was in an impossible situation from the beginning.

That being said...my intention was to read this simply as a book. A book with familiar characters, but only a book, and judge it as to whether I enjoyed it or not.

I did enjoy it.

I enjoyed Scout (in the book referred almost exclusively as Jean Louise) as a 20something; I enjoyed the witty, gritty, intellectual dialog between characters; I enjoyed the flashbacks to Scout's childhood (especially the one involving falsies!); I enjoyed the "bombshell" that occurs within the opening pages of the book and it's lingering effects; I enjoyed learning that ultimately, Atticus is a complicated character -- a Southern White Man, and all the trappings that may or may not go with that designation.

Was it the best book I've ever read? No. Was it a financial vehicle for the estate of Harper Lee and her handlers? Probably. Did it forever tarnish how I feel about TKAM?? Goodness NO!!! I can't imagine anything ever changing my view of Maycomb and the Finches and Boo Radley. Ever.

But this is a book you'd have to read for yourself and judge accordingly.

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#imakebookmarks

I've been in a blogging void.

Because I do this now...

I've been "rescuing" old, discarded, damaged books from the library donation dump and making them into "upcycled" bookmarks.  I've been giving them out to friends, sending them as gifts, using them as party favors.  I could spend hours with old book pages, scrapbook paper, ribbons and mod podge.  

It's a new happy place.