List your monthly reads with synopsis and rating here. :)

March Reads

Constant Princess - Phillipa Gregory. Interesting historical fiction about Henry VIII's first wife, Katherine of Aragon. I learned quite a bit about her - that she was the daughter of Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain and that she was married briefly to Henry's older brother Arthur, who died a few months after the wedding. I enjoy reading historical fiction once in a while because I find I really lose myself in those distant times and places and sometimes I'd put this book down and look around me and halfway wonder what happened to my tapestries and ladies-in-waiting. <g> When the story involved wars and battles, my interest flagged a little, but for the most part, this was a very good read. B+

Perks of Being a Wallflower - Stephen Chbosky. I might have enjoyed this book if I'd read it decades ago when I was in high school, but at my age, I didn't care at all for this story of teenage angst. The narrator of this first-person epistolary novel is a high school freshman boy who is very introspective and sensitive and who cries more than any 15-16 year old boy I've ever known......and I've known a few. I had to force myself to finish this one and I strongly disagree with anyone who compares it to "Catcher in the Rye." C-

Important Artifacts and Personal Property From the Collection of Lenore Doolan and Harold Morris, Including Books, Street Fashion and Jewelry - Leanne Shapton. This is the story of a relationship told in the unique format of an auction catalogue disposing of the random possessions of Lenore and Harold. I expected the book to be all style and no substance, but there's a touching, heartfelt story behind all the photographs and captions. Not much text here, but the pictures are worth many words and you have to follow closely to understand what happened. They're supposed to make a movie of this book, starring Brad Pitt and Natalie Portman, and I just wonder how they'll change the title. A-

Olive Kitteridge - Elizabeth Strout. I got halfway through this book when it came out last year, didn't like it, and quit reading it, but when my book group chose it this year, I figured I'd try again.......and I still didn't like it very much. It's the story of a retired, small-town math teacher in Maine and it's told in the format of several different short stories, some where Olive is the main character, and some where she only passes through. There were things I liked here, and I have to admit that after my group discussed it, I liked it slightly better than I had before. Olive is revealed through her own actions and choices, and also through how she's observed by others, but my observation of her is that I didn't like her, or her book, all that much. B

The Believers - Zoe Heller. As opposed to Olive Kitteridge, I didn't like many of the characters here, but I loved this book! The dysfunctional Litvinoff family struggles when radical lawyer father Joel suffers a stroke and goes into a coma. His wife Audrey - who I wanted to slap more than any other fictional character I can remember - makes life a misery for her two grown daughters and her adopted son, and pretty much everyone she comes in contact with. But there is wonderful character development here as Audrey, Rosa, Karla and Lenny struggle and grow and try to learn what they really do believe. The storytelling is fast paced and well plotted and even the secondary characters are interesting. This one will surely be one of my best books of this year. A

Thanks for posting your list here, Connie.
I always look forward to reading it.

The Belivers sounds like an interesting book. I need to check it out.
The Believers

Connie, i agree with your assessment of PERKS OF BEING A WALLFLOWER. My son foisted it upon me. Since he's a non-reader, i rushed to read it. It's wasn't bad, imo, but it was not as good as i'd hoped. Still, maybe each generation (or so) needs its own reworked CATCHER?

Meanwhile, here is my list of Books Read for March.

A ROOM OF HER OWN: Women's Personal Spaces by Chris Casson Madden. This was a mediocre book about special parts of their homes which some women consider "mine." One thing i noted was that each of the women were either in the arts or in the business of arts. Does this mean teachers or cabinet secretaries don't have these spaces or that Madden was lazy in her research? Regardless, i wasn't impressed by what i saw, only by the interesting places the women chose.

RULES FOR OLD MEN WAITING by Peter Pouncey. I read this with the BNC group. Generally speaking, it didn't call to me, but i still like the title. For me it seemed more about combating depression. Otoh, it had me questioning some of the people he mentioned & whether they were real or not. This may be one of those books i grow fond of later.

TEAM OF RIVALS by Doris Kearns Goodwin. I've never read a biography of Lincoln in my adulthood, so the material was fresh for me. I appreciated that Goodwin basically saw this as a biography of other cabinet members as well. I liked the book & would read another book by her...but not any time soon, as it was mighty long.

THE SHADOW CATCHER by Marianne Wiggins. There are two parts to this novel, one about photographer Edward Curtis & his wife Clara; the other about an author who wrote a book about them. Wiggins uses her own name but has doctored up the story, if i understand her closing notes correctly. I read the book to learn more about Curtis & that material was limited. However, i really liked the parts about the author Wiggins & her insights into travel in the US and such.

NOT EXACTLY A SPOILER BUT NOT EXACTLY NOT ONE, EITHER:

I hope i'm not out of line asking this question in this thread but here goes. The novel holds too many coincidences for my pleasure, however i'm wondering if this is a particular genre & i'm just unaware of it? Is this magic realism? It certainly didn't end up all lovliness but just right, imo. I wouldn't call Dickens's work, crammed with remarkable coincidences, magic realism but i was reminded of his work when the character Wiggins found one thing after another leader her back to Curtis. Can anyone here help me out with this?

I'm still reading Team of Rivals and enjoying it. We had a special thread on aol to discuss the book, and will continue that here at GR.


Engine 2 diet- Rip Esselstyn.
Rips dad is a famous heart dr. The diet Rip follows is a Vegan diet. He is also a firefighter.
It's a quick easy read.


The Know it All- A.J. Jacobs
I loved this book. Jacobs is the editor at Esquire magazine. He decides he will read the entire Encyclopedia Britannica. Many parts are lol funny. I would recommend that you not try to read it straight through but maybe a chapter a day. If you are a trivia buff this is a must read.

Last month I read two books I really enjoyed. The first was The Help by Kathryn Stockett and I just finished the non-fiction book called An Unlikely Disciple (A sinners semester at America's Holiest University) by Kevin Roose. Roose is a journalism major at Brown University and he spends a semester at Jerry Fallwell's Liberty University. He is a good friend of A.J. Jacobs from the post above mine.

Welcome Wildcats. I take it you're not a refugee from our AOL board?

Jan O'Cat

Thanks for the 2 very interesting titles, Wildcats, and welcome to BNC. :)

I have Jacobs other book on my list to read. Have you read it?

I have seen both of his books but I have not read them yet. I hope to get to them at some point. Next up for me is Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout.

I read a couple of reviews in Entertainment Weekly this week that looked good. One book was Admission by Jean Hanff Korelitz and the other was about a book that is being reissued called Once a Runner by John L. Parker. I may try to get Admissions next.

I also know some of you are always looking for great diet/health books. I just read Naturally Thin by Bethenny Frankel and I thought it was great. It had a lot of common sense things in it but a lot of great tips also. It was probably one of the better books I have read on eating healthy and watching portion sizes without always feeling like you are on a diet. I guess the author was one of the Real Housewives on the show but I have never seen it.
Becky

Thanks for the welcome. I have to admit that I have been a lurker on the AOL boards for years and years but just decided with the switch that maybe it would be a good time to join in.

Becky

Wildcats40 wrote: ".."I also know some of you are always looking for great diet/health books. I just read Naturally Thin by Bethenny Frankel and I thought it was great. It had a lot of common sense things in it but a lot of great tips also. It was probably one of the better books I have read on eating healthy and watching portion sizes without always feeling like you are on a diet. I guess the author was one of the Real Housewives on the show but I have never seen it.

------------------------

I didn't know she had a book out. I have to hope over to my library web site and see if they have it.
Thanks for the heads up.

----------------------------

Wildcats40 wrote: "Thanks for the welcome. I have to admit that I have been a lurker on the AOL boards for years and years but just decided with the switch that maybe it would be a good time to join in.
--------------------------------

Glad you decided to de-lurk. :) Now we have two kitty's on the board.

This is turning out to be one of the best things about moving over to GR. We are getting a lot of new posters who love to read.

Alias

Alias Reader wrote: "
Wildcats40 wrote: ".."I also know some of you are always looking for great diet/health books. I just read Naturally Thin by Bethenny Frankel and I thought it was great. It had a lot of common sen..."


-----
Two kitties only? ahem....

I will have to be disqualified as I have never had a cat. In my case, I am an alumni of Kansas State University Wildcats so their titles are safe!
Becky

Wildcats40 wrote: "Thanks for the welcome. I have to admit that I have been a lurker on the AOL boards for years and years but just decided with the switch that maybe it would be a good time to join in.

Becky"

Welcome Becky!

Cathy said: "Two kitties only? ahem.... "

Two wild cats and one domesticated kitty who reads books.

Jan O'Cat, baring fangs to convince everyone of wildness

Cathy (Catsluvbooks) wrote: "Two kitties only? ahem.... "

-----------------------

Sorry ! How could I forget our book reading cat !

This is my 1st attempt at posting. Here are my reads for March. I dont do synopsis.

Time is a River - Mary Alice Monroe (really great)
Ghouls Just Want to have Fun - Ksthleen Baccus (mystery - set in Iowa)
Handle with Care - Jody Picoult (great)
Temptation Ridge Robyn Carr (series)
Bound South - Susan Rebecca White (1st novel horrible)

I am on a roll this year.

Deb in ATL

Hi, Deb in Atlanta. Glad you found your way here from AOL.

You sure had a great March, reading wise.

FYI, you can also put links to the book or cover in your post if you don't do synopsis's. I don't do them much myself,I just put a link.

If you look at the top of your post box you will see: add book. You can click on that.

Anyway, glad to have you here. I think you will enjoy it.

Alias

Cathy (Catsluvbooks) wrote: "Alias Reader wrote: "
Wildcats40 wrote: ".."I also know some of you are always looking for great diet/health books. I just read Naturally Thin by Bethenny Frankel and I thought it was great. It had..."

======================

Cathy, my library has Bethenny's book and also the Countess's new book. The release date for the Countesses's book is around May 16.

Thanks for giving me the heads up on the book. I put myself on the request list for both.

Becky, Welcome. I thought for sure you must be a Kentucky fan!

Deb/Atl/Richiesheff I couldn't find you on Facebook, I tried your real name and your email name. Oh well. Just wanted you to know I wasn't ignoring you.

My books for March:

Only 3

The Same Kind of Different as Me (for a book club) this is a Christian book, which I usually don't read, but it turned out to be very touching and gave me a whole new perspective on the homeless.

The Help....loved it and lived it

Waiting for Snow in Havana ..interesting memoir about Cuba. Fascinating. Also read for a book club.

And that is all.

I am now reading the #5 Maisie Dobbs book, Among the Mad. Can't get enough of these books. I would put it on my currently reading list on GR if I could figure it out, but so far I can't undo what I put there in Nov.

I think next I want to tackle the Girl with the Dragon Tattoo or Hotel at the Corner of Bitter and
Sweet.

Leslie I am not on Facebook, and probobly never will be. I have no desire, besides, the only one to explain it to me is my daughter, and she probably wont. So you can quit looking.

I know a girl friend in Illinois asked me, because she put pictures of her new granddaughter on there, but no go,

Deb in ATL

deb,

i must have confused you with another Deb, because someone sent me an email about it. Sorry!

It's not me, either, i hasten to add. I don't think i have a Facebook account. There is another one that i'm part of but never contribute. Too confusing.

deborah

Too mant Deb's on here, that are probably about the same age. That is why I always put Deb in ATL or go by the Richiesheff. Call me anything, but dont call me late for supper

Leslie,
Thanks for the welcome. I read The Girl with the Dragon Tatoo last year and really enjoyed it. The first chapter is confusing but then it really picks up and became one of my favorites last year.
Becky

Wildcats40 wrote: "I read The Girl with the Dragon Tatoo last year and really enjoyed it. The first chapter is confusing but then it really picks up and became one of my favorites last..."

Becky, I loved
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, it was my top read of last year. I had to write down the names to keep them all straight, especially as they were Norwegian I think, but it pulled me in almost immediately. I'm really looking forward to the next installment, The Girl who Played with Fire, which looks to be coming out in the US in July.

This thread got "lost" due to being listed under "Books". I think they only list the first several under a title, the most recent. Still, i enjoy learning what others read in the last month, so will add mine, hoping others share.

I was a bit disappointed in this novel about London life for one woman who was getting a bit ho-hum. Frankly, i wanted more about the 50's book Elegance from which the main character was getting ideas for improvement.

Interesting life, horrid writing. I kinda wish her brother Alan had written more, as his stories were the more interesting.

This is by Tony Blair's wife, Cherie Booth Blair. We watched UK politics for much of his first years as PM, so wanted to see her take on those times. It was the second book by a lawyer (barrister, whatever) in a row i read which disappointed me. Maybe these people shouldn't write autobiographies! ANYway, she used it as an opportunity to set her side of the record straight, plug her charities & share a tad of dirt, enough to be quoted in newspapers, no doubt.

Interesting novel about a man who loved light (natural, man made, whatever) and the woman he married who seemed to like numbers more. The story followed their lives in Tennessee from WWI to the 50s.

I'm really going to sound like a grouch because this was yet another book which let me down. Boo, Deb! This one was really more a rehash of history during Washington's administration with lots of supposition thrown in the mix. I'm not in favor of quotation marks around author-created supposed thoughts of historical characters. (Not sure i phrased that right, but i think the drift is there.)

That's my April. Hmmm. Not much to commend itself, i must say.

deborah

I enjoyed reading your April Recap, deb. Thanks for bumping the thread to the top.

Here is a quick recap of my reads. I rate on a 0=5 scale

Lazy B.
I wasn't very engaged by the story and the writing scary bad. I still would read a bio of Sandra Day O'Connor. And with a Justice Souter leaving the Court, I may even see if I can find a general book on the current court. However, I don't want a large tome.
Rate 1

Founding Brothers
I found the book went into too much minutia without first giving some basic background.
Rate 2

Distracted
The book covered a lot of area. Maybe too much. It explored how the brain works, how all our electronic gadgets make us lose our focus and only let us make superficial connections. Why multi tasking is a no no. (think cell phones and driving). The book quoted a lot of other books a bit too much. Interesting book to skim.
Rate 2

The Dumbest Generation: How the Digital Age Stupefies Young Americans and Jeopardizes Our Future(Or, Don't Trust Anyone Under 30)
Good idea, ok execution. If the topic interests you I would recommend Susan Jacoby's The Age of American Unreason before this one.
Rate 2

Not For Ourselves Alone: The Story of Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony
Finally a book I enjoyed this month. Excellent bio of two amazing women. Good photographs.
Rate 5

Lighting Our way
Since I do my book journal by date started, I will include this one, even though I am still reading it. Simply, it is excellent. It's a must read on nine not so famous women in American history, and why their story matters.
I know I will give this book a 5

I had an okay month of reading. I don't really mark my book journal by months so I may have read some of these last month.


Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein
I thought this book was just okay. I liked the way the dog was the author but the storyline just wasn't that interesting for me.



Might As Well Laugh About It Now by Marie Osmond
A quick read that has short stories about episodes in her life. I read a couple of things that I hadn't heard but most of it is what she talks about in interviews. Not much at all about Dancing With the Stars.



Olive Kitteridge- I all ready wrote about this a few posts back.



The Unlikely Disciple by Mark Roose
I really enjoyed this book. It is about the author who spends a semester at Jerry Falwell's college, Liberty University and he writes about his experience there. He compares it with his year at Brown and is very open-minded considering his background.


Just When I Thought I'd Dropped My Last Egg by Kathie Lee Gifford
This book was just short chapters about her life similar to Marie Osmonds but I enjoyed it a lot more. I had enjoyed her on Regis and she tells a lot more than Marie and it is a lot better written. If you like her then you would probably like her book and vice versa.

Up next- The library just called and Columbine is in for me so I will start the month reading it.

Alias, thanks for the reminder. I didn't put Founding Brothers on my list because it was a rereading for me. I thought i'd read another one!

Becky/Wildcats, the Roose book sounds interesting. I prefer a balanced look at something like that, rather than one which is so skewered it only comfirms my fear but doesn't share the positives. Glad to learn the title.

deborah

Alias noted: "Not For Ourselves Alone: The Story of Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony
Finally a book I enjoyed this month. Excellent bio of two amazing women. Good photographs.
Rate 5 "

Alias, was this a book that followed the Ken Burns' documentary or did he follow it? I saw the doc and loved it. Since you said something about photographs, I thought it might be the documentary equivalent of a "novelization" that comes out after a movie.

Jan O'Cat

April Reads - Two books set in Africa and two books dealing with famous American tragedies, made for very interesting reading last month.

Cutting for Stone - Abraham Verghese. Although I had resolved not to read any books longer than 500 pages this year, I'm glad I broke that resolution and picked up a copy of "Cutting for Stone" - I loved this book! The main characters are twin sons, born of an illicit relationship between a nun and a surgeon working at at Ethiopian hospital in the 1950s. But like with most good books, there's a page-turning story, interesting secondary characters, twists and turns, moral dilemmas, heartbreak and redemption. Can't recommend it highly enough and I can't wait until it comes out in paperback next year so my book group can read it too. A

November 22, 1963 - Adam Braver. They say you're not an official Baby Boomer unless you can say where you were on the day Kennedy was assassinated, and although I can and I am, this book just didn't resonate with me the way I hoped it would. It's part fact and part fiction and relates, mostly in brief passages, the experiences of those who were there, both the primary and peripheral characters. The reviews on this one were amazing, so I was hoping to be dazzled. I wasn't. B-

Columbine - Dave Cullen. Whose great idea was it for me to read about the Kennedy assassination and Columbine in two successive books? This book was hard to read at times, but even harder not to read. Cullen was a reporter in Denver back in 1999, and he stayed with the story for the next 10 years. The details of the tragedy are all here, although thankfully there are no photos. But the most interesting parts of the book were his revelations about how so many of the "facts" we think we know about what happened that day, aren't facts at all. No bullying, no Trench Coat Mafia, no "girl who said yes" but those rumors, once started, took on lives of their own. There's much more here than just the retelling of a school shooting. A

Little Bee - Chris Cleave. An ill-fated meeting between a British couple and two young African girls at a Nigerian beach resort is the basis of this novel. I loved Cleave's earlier book, "Incendiary" and expected to love this one, but I didn't. I didn't care for the characters who I felt like talked too much, and I especially disliked the obnoxious four-year old son of the British couple. The story was interesting and full of surprises, but for the most part, I wouldn't suggest anybody rush out and read it. B

JAN:
Alias, was this a book that followed the Ken Burns' documentary or did he follow it? I saw the doc and loved it. Since you said something about photographs, I thought it might be the documentary equivalent of a "novelization" that comes out after a movie.

===============================


From Publishers Weekly
When Paul Barnes suggested that Elizabeth Cady Stanton be included in the film portraits of notable Americans that Ken Burns was planning to make, Burns barely recognized the name. Marginally more familiar was that of Susan B. Anthony, Stanton's comrade-in-arms in the struggle for women's suffrage. But as this bookAthe companion volume to the documentary that will appear this fall on PBSAsplendidly reveals, theirs is the story not merely of two remarkable 19th-century women but of a major political movement, the end of which has yet to be written. This dual biography of the pair by the historian Ward emphasizes the impossibility of treating either one in isolation from the other. Anthony's grasp of the practical complemented Stanton's philosophical imaginationAas Stanton wrote, "entirely one are we." Ward restores Stanton to her proper place alongside Anthony in the history of the women's movement and sensitively handles the more problematic elements of their political positions, especially in regard to their resistance to the enfranchisement of former male slaves before the vote was extended to women of any color. Additionally, there are essays by prominent women historians, including a provocative discussion of Stanton's contemporary reputation by Ellen Carol DuBois, and the wealth of illustrations that we have come to expect from Burns and his associates.

I only read three books this month but really enjoyed all of them....

The Brass Verdict by Michael Connelly -- This one was the next in a series featuring defense attorney Mickey Haller, who also was the main character in The Lincoln Lawyer. It was just as good, if not better, especially since Connelly teams up Haller with fan favorite homicide detective Harry Bosch. "10"

Leaving The World by Douglas Kennedy -- I've been a fan of Kennedy's since reading The Big Picture many years ago. He's strayed away from his usual roller coaster ride kind of books and has focused on books dealing mainly with women or couples in crisis. I don't think there's ever been a Kennedy book I didn't love and I'll just add this one to the list. "8.5"

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak -- When I first started this book, my initial feeling was that I wasn't going to be able to finish it because it started off so poorly IMO. After 30 pages or so, I was hooked and ended up loving it. It's not so much about a "thief" as it is about a girl obsessed with books and "words". At a time when Hitler was destroying people with his words, young Liesel was stealing the words back in her own way. "9"

If you want to read any of my full reviews on these books, I have them posed here.

I hope May is as successful for me as April was.

January Reads:

Married Lovers - Jackie Collins

The Family Bones - Kimberley Raiser

Skin & Bone - Kathyrn Fox

The Tales of Beedle the Bard - J.K. Rowling

A Dog called Christmas - Greg Kincaid

Animal Lab - Malcolm Rose

Four More Degrees - Malcolm Rose


February Reads:


Falling Awake - Viv French

Walking With Rainbows - Isla Dewar

Harpies - David Belbin

The Cold Heart of Summer - Alan Gibbons

Christmas, Present - Jacquelyn Mitchard

I Am The Messenger - Markus Zusak

The Mentalist - Rod Duncan

Sleepover Club Makeover - Jana Hunter

Sleepover Girls Go Green - Angie Bates

Skin Privilege - Karin Slaughter

The Anatomy of Deception - Lawerence Goldstone

Martin Misunderstood - Karin Slaughter

March Reads:

The Bonanza Trail - John Dyson

The Poems from Lord Of The Rings - J.R.R. Tolkien

Black Beauty - Anna Sewell

Like Water For Chocolate - Laura Esquivel

Tim - Colleen McCullough

The Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath

King Edward VIII - Philip Ziegler

Noughts and Crosses - Malorie Blackman

Girl with a Pearl Earring - Tracy Chevalier

Catch 22 - Joseph Heller

The Rainmaker - John Grisham

The Lipstick Killers - Lee Martin

A Dish Served Cold - Anne Perry

Step on a Crack - James Patterson & Michael Ledwidge

Jusy and Jury - James Patterson - Andrew Gross

The Almost Moon - Alice Sebold

The Beacon - Susan Hill

Cold Granite - Stuart MacBride

An Eye for an Eye - Malorie Blackman

Endal: How One Extraordinary Dog Brought a Family Back from the Brink - Allen & Sandra Parton

April Reads:

The Attack - Yasmina Khadra
Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy (Audio)
8th Confession - James Patterson & Maxine Paetro
Frankenstein - Mary Shelley (Audio)
Torn Apart: The Heartbreaking Story of a Childhood Lost - James Patterson & Hal Friedman (audio)
The Reluctant Fundamentalist - Mohsin Hamid (ML)
The Boy in the Dress - David Walliams (ML)
The Calling - Inger Ash Wolfe (ML)
Spilling The Beans - Clarissa Dickson Wright (ML/Audio)
The Swallow and the Dark - Andrew Matthews
Respect - Michaela Morgan
The Night Bus - Anthony Horowitz
Scared - Anthony Horowitz
Dying Light - Stuart MacBride

Fiona read: The Bell Jar
-----------------------

For years I've had The Bell Jar on my list of books I want to read.

What did you think of it?

Alias Reader wrote: "Fiona read: The Bell Jar
-----------------------

For years I've had The Bell Jar on my list of books I want to read.

What did you think of it?"

A very interesting book. Considering its to do with Mental Health issue as well. I would recommend you read it.

Thanks ! I'll move it up my TBR list.

BTW, you sure had a great few reading months !

Yes, I have now read 65 books this year lol.

Fiona, that's quite a reading year you are having. I have to ask the following questions about the books you listed.


From February. The Mentalist. Do you know if this has any connection to the tv series starring Simon Baker? I like his character & think i'd enjoy a book about him.

From March. Do you know if the Tim listed is the basis for the Mel Gibson film of the same name? I think it was one of his first. I've only seen bits of it but my SIL praised the film. If so, i had no idea McCullough wrote it. Interesting.

And i must add that i enjoyed Black Beauty very much. I hope you did, too.

deborah

Deborah, I'm not Fiona, but I can answer the quesiton about Tim. It is the basis for the Mel Gibson film, and yes, McCullough wrote it. I've read the book and seen the film. It's been a while, but I think I preferred the book. Neither was that great.

Thanks, Kate. It may be obvious but i'm not very familiar with McCullough's work. I thought The Thorn Birds was her first book. Imagine my surprise to see how many books she has written--i only knew of two. (Not that i'd read either, you understand.) http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/m/coll...

deborah

madrano wrote: "Fiona, that's quite a reading year you are having. I have to ask the following questions about the books you listed.


From February. The Mentalist. Do you know if this has any connection to the..."

No I don't know if the book is based on the film hon, but it was part of a series of Crime Express books (small).

Never knew the film and book were related and never watched the film neither.

I loved the film and book of Black Beauty as well.

I poked around a bit & cannot see any tie-in between the book & tv show, "The Mentalist." Pity, as i'd like to know more about Patrick Jane.

deborah

madrano wrote: "I poked around a bit & cannot see any tie-in between the book & tv show, "The Mentalist." Pity, as i'd like to know more about Patrick Jane.

deborah"

I looked on IMDB.com, and The Mentalist TV episodes were written by Bruno Heller. Nothing mentioned about it being based on a book.

Thanks Carol, wasn't sure whether to look around as I have only seen the adverts for it.

Ah, thanks, Carol.

deborah

May books read:



Columbine
I thought with all the news about this when it happened that there couldn't be much we hadn't heard. The author does a very detailed investigation and reveals a lot of interesting information
I will give this book 5 stars.



Age is Just a Number by Dara Torres
This is her story of swimming and the book mainly deals with her getting ready for the last Olympics.
I enjoyed this also so it gets 4 stars.



The Piano Teacher
This book had a great ending and I kept thinking about it days after I finished it. It covered the war in Hong Kong. 5 stars



Wishful Drinking by Carrie Fisher
I saw this at the library and thought I would give it a try. It was terrible and very poorly written. 1 star





Admission
I was really disappointed in this book as I had read some good reviews. It was a struggle for me to finish it.

Wildcats40---I could not even read 40 pages of ADMISSION. I give you credit for sticking with it.....I could not stand it.

JOANN

Wildcats40 read: Wishful Drinking by Carrie Fisher
I saw this at the library and thought I would give it a try. It was terrible and very poorly written. 1 star


I'm surprised to hear that, as she is known in Hollywood to be an effective 'fixer' of bad scripts, and apparently does it without getting screen cred. I got this from the Library when it came out, but had too many others to read, and had to return it.

I have to admit, I am fascinated by her mother. Debbie Reynolds. She and Elizabeth Taylor, Eddie Fisher, Tony Curtis, Rock Hudson, and Kirk Douglas were big stars when I was a kid, and I used to read my mother's Photoplay magazine. Such scandal at the time! I love to read stories of old Hollywood.

Debbie is still a trouper, and continues to perform. She is supposed to have a museum somewhere with loads of costumes she saved from the old movies. Has anyone ever been?

Donna in Southern Maryland