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Read, Reading Now and Reading Next (2015)
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Lulu’s Christmas Story by Ludmilla Bollow – 3*** The subtitle says it all: A True Story of Faith and Hope During the Great Depression. It’s a charming memoir of a time gone by.
Link to my full review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
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The Husband’s Secret by Liane Moriraty – 4**** Three women’s lives converge as a result of one man’s secret. I will admit that the multiple points of view did confuse me at first, as the narrative switched from Cecelia to Tess to Rachel. I couldn’t help but consider “what would I do” if I were in the position of any one of these women. And some of their actions and reactions took me by surprise. Caroline Lee does a fine job performing the audio version of the book.
Link to my full review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
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The Husband’s Secret by Liane Moriraty – 4**** Three women’s lives converge as a result of one man’s secret. I will admit that the multiple points of v..."
I liked that one as well.
Miss Pettigrew Lives For a Day by Winifred Watson – 4 **** What a delightful comedic romp! I just love Miss Pettigrew, who is in turn amused, shocked, befuddled, brilliant, compassionate, composed, or flustered. The ebullient and casual Miss LaFosse is a perfect counterpoint for Miss Pettigrew, who is restrained and formal. I was reminded of Damon Runyon’s stories, although with a bit more class.
Link to my full review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
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both were ★★★. READING:
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The Christmas Train by David Baldacci – 2.5** I’d never read anything by Baldacci before and somehow thought of him as a writer of “legal thrillers” so I was surprised to find this holiday romance with a little bit of mystery involved. I was quickly drawn into the story. . For the genre, it was fairly entertaining, but the resolution of the central conflict was just too over the top for me. The novel lost a half star with that. Tim Mathewson does a fine job performing the audio book.
Link to my full review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
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the cover is kind of creepy
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The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman – 4 **** Well, I don’t know why I waited so long to read this Newbery Award winner. It was really delightful. It’s a coming-of-age story, a ghost story, a thriller, and a murder mystery. It has all the best of traditional story-telling techniques – friendship, adventure, obstacles the hero must overcome, villains, an innocent child, and more than one surprise. The audio book is masterfully performed by a talented cast of voice artists, including the author.
Link to my full review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
back reading and so many series to catch up on. right now I'm reading
& re-reading
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The Hare With Amber Eyes by Edmund de Waal – 4**** When his great uncle Iggie died in 1994, Edmund de Waal inherited a collection of 264 netsuke. The bequest led him to research his family and the history of this collection. Told with eyes wide open, but with a great deal of love and respect, de Waal takes the reader back through time and breathes life into the history of art, culture, politics, and war. The audio book is capably narrated by Michael Maloney.
Link to my full review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Running the Books by Avi Steinberg – 2** A disappointing memoir of a freelance newspaper obituary writer turned prison librarian. Most boring, navel-gazing, it doesn’t get interesting until after page 200. The few poignant stories at the end can’t save it. Now, the memoir that one of the inmates is working on? THAT, I’d like to read!
Link to my full review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
A Cold Day For Murder by Dana Stabenow – 2** I was hoping for a strong female lead, and Kate Shugak is ALMOST that character, but the book suffers from weak plotting, and most of the native Aleut characters are little more than stereotypes. It was a fast read, and the next time I need a book set in Alaska I might give book # 2 in the series a try.
Link to my full review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
To Begin Again by Jen Knox – 3*** This is a short-story collection wherein the scenarios, characters and locations differ, but they all share a theme of life-altering decisions. Most of the stories are rather dark – not too many happy endings here. It was a quick read, and I enjoyed reading the collection.
Link to my full review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
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Fever by Mary Beth Keane – 4**** Keane does a fine job with this work of historical fiction of a complex character facing an unimaginable scenario. Her “Typhoid Mary” is at once sympathetic and infuriating. I could not help but think of the recent Ebola scares in the U.S. – we imposed quarantines on those exposed, and some of them, just like Mary, refused to follow those restrictions.
Link to my full review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
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"Is that training season?
nope it is the newly released Sequel to it.
The Narrow Road to the Deep North by Richard Flanagan – 3.5*** A novel told in three parts – before, during and after WW2. Australian surgeon Dorrigo Evans experiences the horrors of a Japanese POW camp during the war, but Flanagan seems to be saying that the drama of everyday life sometimes rivals that of war. I can believe this, but I wish he had done more to SHOW this. The audio version is capably performed by David Atlas. His pacing is good, but he does not do much to differentiate the various characters (other than the handful of women).
Link to my full review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Dolled Up for Murder by Deb Baker – 1* Gretchen Birch mystery # 1 has Gretchen summoned to Phoenix by her Aunt Nina to help clear her mother, Caroline’s name. The characters are cardboard, the plot stretched thin. I finished only because it fulfilled a challenge. Not likely to pick up another. One star for the interesting information provided on doll-collecting at the beginning of each chapter.
Link to my full review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Before I Die by Jenny Downham – 2** A teen with leukemia has a bucket list of things she wants to accomplish before she dies. I found it maudlin and manipulative, but I can see that the intended YA audience would probably respond well to it. Charlotte Parry does a fine job performing the audio version.
Link to my full review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
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Ebony wrote: "Listening: .."
How's the audio for JAWS?
The Goldsmith’s Daughter by Tanya Landman – 2.5** A novel of the Aztec empire in Mexico. I enjoyed the information on the culture and society of the Aztec empire, and liked how Landman revealed the differences in the religious beliefs of the Spanish conquistadors and the Aztec people. I thought the “Romeo & Juliet” side story was predictable, but appropriate for the target audience. BUT I was sorely disappointed with the constant message that all the bad things that happened were the fault of fifteen-year-old Itacate and her defiance of the restrictions placed on women of that society.
Link to my full review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
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they were ★★★★.Reading:
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Barefoot Heart by Elva Trevino Hart – 3*** An interesting memoir of life as a migrant child, traveling with her family from Texas to Minnesota each summer to work the fields. I found many of the stories compelling and could identify with much of it, but Part Three completely changed the tone of the book for me, and I dropped my rating from four to three stars as a result.
Link to my full review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
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Maine by J Courtney Sullivan – 1* Three generations of Kelleher women descend on the family’s beach-front property one summer. The four women around whom the story revolves have little in common except that they are all part of this dysfunctional family. Their relationships are as rocky as the coast of Maine. I didn’t like any of them. I wasn’t interested in their stories. I didn’t care what happened to any of them. Ann Marie Lee does an adequate job performing the audio, but she doesn’t have good material to work with.
Link to my full review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Red Sky at Morning by Richard Bradford – 4**** A coming-of-age story set in a small mountain town in New Mexico during WW II. Bradford writes believable teens (and adults), making sense of a world whose rules have changed. I was caught up in the story of Josh and his family, as they tried to make the best of the situation. The setting shields the characters from the war, but war will intrude eventually. In the meantime Josh and his friends maintain some of the innocence of youth, while still stretching the boundaries as they rush head-long towards adulthood.
Link to my full review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
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and that Amy Harmon knows how to rip your heart out! It was good!!!I needed something less angsty so I started
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~ all 3 were ★★★★
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Marla, are you going to try book 2 of BDB affter? Please say YES.
The Nine Steps to Financial Freedom by Suze Orman – 3*** The subtitle of this book is: Practical & Spiritual Steps So You Can Stop Worrying. Orman includes practical information and clear, understandable definitions of various terms.
Link to my full review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Ezinwanyi~the Impish Angel wrote: " Marla wrote: "Read:..."Marla, are you going to try book 2 of BDB affter? Please say YES."
LOL, probably, but I have to read the first one to figure that out :D
Mod
Marla, are you going to try book 2 of BDB affter? Please say YES."
LOL, probably, but I have to read the first one to figure that out :D"
I am asking you to give the series at least 2 books before you quit. The first book wasn't the strongest in the series (obviously).
I just finished reading
that is one funny lady, this was the second book that I read by her and plan to read everyone my library has from her and now im about to read
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and now I'm listening to
Ezinwanyi~the Impish Angel wrote: "I am asking you to give the series at least 2 books before you quit. The first book wasn't the strongest in the series (obviously). "LOL, gotcha. Okay, I'll keep that in mind. I seem to be reading a lot of those "just keep reading we promise you'll love it" series. Let me see, Craig Johnson's Longmire series, Daughter of Smoke and Bone, The Hollows and Richelle Mead's Bloodlines.
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The Challenge Factory
Books mentioned in this topic
The Clockwork Dagger (other topics)White Night (other topics)
Poison Promise (other topics)
Jane's Melody (other topics)
Gabriel's Rapture (other topics)
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Authors mentioned in this topic
Danielle Paige (other topics)Jerome K. Jerome (other topics)
Edith Wharton (other topics)
Lisa Kleypas (other topics)
Kristen Ashley (other topics)
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An expanded story based on the Grimm’s fairy tale of the same name, about a princess who became a goose girl before she could become queen. Hale includes the basic elements of most fairy tales – love, betrayal, wicked enemies, loyal helpers, a little magic, a handsome prince, and a heroine I wanted to see succeed. The audio book was narrated by Cynthia Bishop and a large cast of actors who took on various supplementary roles, resulting in a dynamic and exciting performance.
Link to my full review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...