Then We Came to the End

Then We Came to the End by Joshua Ferris

started: June 8, 2007
finished: June 19, 2007

It felt a bit too close to home with some of the office politics. Overall, a good book with some parts quite funny. The author really captures what it's like to be in a corporate environment.

book's official website - a really great site for a book

The Girls

The Girls by Lori Lansens

I loved this book. It's one of my new favorites because I fell in love with the main characters. They immmerse you in their world and I almost imagined what it was like to be a conjoined twin. I wanted to be their friend and spend time with them.

This is a book definitely worth checking out.

book's official website

started: May 10, 2007
finished: May 25, 2007

The Thirteenth Tale

Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfeld

This was a great book that's about a woman who interviews an aging author, whose life has been very mysterious. It's really fascinating, especially if you love books.

April 15-May 1, 2007

Music of Falling Water

Music of Falling Water by Julia Oliver

I really enjoyed this book. I'd read another book by Julia Oliver called Goodbye to the Buttermilk Sky back in 1995 and loved it.

April 3-15, 2007

Sister Mine

Sister Mine by Tawni O'Dell

An enjoyable book but I didn't enjoy it as much as I enjoyed Back Roads.

March 16-29, 2007

The Giant's House

The Giant's House by Elizabeth McCracken

A really nice story about a giant and a librarian.

(February 24- March 15, 2007)

Water for Elephants

Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen

Wow! I loved this book! It's about a man, Jacob, whose parents die as he's getting ready to take his exams for vet schoo. Left with nothing, he hops a train not knowing it's a circus train. He then becomes a member of the circus as the vet. His experiences as part of the circus are so well written and you can feel the relationships forming and fall in love with the characters. I especially fell in love with Rosie, the elephant. When I was a little kid, I remember loving elephants because they were so big and I was so small, and they started with an "e."

Highly recommend!

February 12-24, 2007

Scooter Girl

Scooter Girl by Chynna Clugston-Major

I picked this up at my sister's house before we headed out to Seattle for the ALA conference. It was an enjoyable quick read as many graphic novels are. I really liked the kitchy sort of edge that it had, sort of a cool hipster girl edge.

started: January 18, 2007
finished: January 19, 2007

Blankets

Blankets by Craig Thompson

A graphic novel recommended by a librarian at the library I work at. Supposedly it's been controversial for libraries to have it in their teen/graphic novel areas becuase it's more adult than teen. I'm sure older teenagers would really enjoy it.

started: January 14, 2007
finished: January 15, 2007

The Dressmaker

The Dressmaker by Elizabeth Birkelund Oberbeck

A good fluff read after reading We Need to Talk About Kevin. I was really disappointed with the ending, especially since I felt this book has so much potential.

started: December 12, 2006
finished: January 1, 2007

We Need to Talk About Kevin

We Need to Talk About Kevin by Lionel Shriver

One of the most disturbing books I've read in a very long time. It made me nervous about having children and having a child that's as hateful as Kevin is in the book from a very young age. After finishing this book I really wasn't in the mood to read anything for several weeks. A very haunting book especially after the shootings in the Amish school in Pennsylvania.
4/20/07 - After the Virginia Tech shootings I've been thinking about this book a lot, about how hateful Kevin in this book was and the videos that have surfaced of the guy at Virginia Teach.

started: October 9, 2006
finsihed: November 22, 2006

One Sunday Morning

One Sunday Morning by Amy Ephron

An enjoyable book. I really liked the atmosphere of New York City in the 1920s. It was a very quick read. Unfortunately, I don't remember much about the book as I write this.

started: September 23, 2006
finished: September 25, 2006

Love Walked In

Love Walked In by Marisa de los Santos

Bess recommended this book about a month ago on her blog and I added it to my already long list of books to read. I loved this book and it's been added to the all-time favorites list along with Prep and The Time Traveler’s Wife. It’s beautifully written, the author is a poet. This is a beautiful story of friendship and love. It even made me check out the movie A Philadelphia Story with Katherine Hepburn, Cary Grant and Jimmy Stewart.

August 23-29, 2006

Never Let Me Go

Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro

This had been on my summer reading list since May but I've been enjoying so many YA lately that I've kept putting it off.

This was an interesting book about several kids at a boarding school. What you don't know about them isn't revealed until part way through the book but they were constantly referring to it. Donors would be mentioned but it isn't revealed what exactly a donor is until mid-way through the first 100 pages. Basically, and this isn't ruining anything, but these kids are cloned people who are raised to ultimately donate their organs. Ethically it brings up a lot of things, these kids don't seem to think it's a big deal or even question their reason for existence, they seem to accept it.

What was strange about this book and, at times frustrating, was that I felt like the narrator knew more than I knew and she wasn't telling me what was going on. It was also frustrating to only find out some of the secrets in the book as the characters were finding out about them. That's what kept me reading but all along I felt like there was something I should know and just was missing out on for some reason. It's revealed in the end. I'm sure part of that is because the book is told from the point of view of a 31-year-old woman telling us about her life when she was 8, 16 and older. I would have liked some more insight into the characters and what they thought about their lives.

July 8-20, 2006

Man of My Dreams

The Man of My Dreams by Curtis Sittenfeld

As soon as I finished Prep, I immediately put this book on hold. It's Curtis Sittenfeld's second book and it just came out in May. After I finished Matilda, I started this book. I went into it with high expectations and it didn't catch me quite as quickly as Prep but then again it isn't the same book and I wouldn't want it to be. Over the last few days this book has really caught me and I'm loving it. I find myself, once again, really identifying with the main character Hannah. She's making so many of the mistakes that I made when I was dating, although I don't think I made my opinions as public as she does. I'm starting to really love this book, too. The woman at work that I recommended Prep to (which she loves), I told her to wait a few months before reading The Man of My Dreams because it's good but it might be overshadowed by Prep.

June 15: This book didn't disappoint in the end. Once again, I felt like I could have been friends with Hannah. I also really missed Lee from Prep when I had finished it and I really miss Hannah, too. It's going to be hard to wait for Curtis Sittenfeld's next book since this one just came out.

started: June 10, 2006
finished: June 15, 2006

Prep

Prep by Curtis Sittenfeld
I started this book on Sunday and read the first 25 pages. Each day after I've read more than 50 pages. On Wednesday, May 31 I read 102 pages. I love this book and highly recommend it. When I find a book that is so engrossing that I’m willing to loose sleep over, I feel I need to share it. It’s about this girl, Lee, who is at a boarding high school in Massachusetts and follows her through all four years of high school. I always love coming-of-age stories and I think this one’s going to be remembered, I really hope it is. I’ve been telling everyone I know about it. All of the librarians and circ staff know about it because the library literally can’t keep the five copies we have on the shelves. If you’re looking for a good summer read, I highly recommend you check out Prep.

June 4 - I loved this book! I'm telling everyone I know about it. Now I see why it's been compared to Catcher in the Rye. It's such an amazing book. After I finished this book today, I wanted to write the author and tell her how much I loved it. It's made me think about how I dealt with things in high school, both in good and bad ways. I really identified with the main character Lee.

May 28 - June 4, 2006

Silent Joe

Silent Joe by T. Jefferson Parker
For my May book group. It was a quick read and enjoyable. A good mystery that kept me guessing until the end.
3 - 16 May, 2006

Key of Knowledge

Key of Knowledge by Nora Roberts
I started this while I was waiting for Silent Joe to come through interlibrary loan. Then I didn't read it for nearly two weeks because I was reading Silent Joe for my book group. This was an entertaining book just like The Key of Light, the first in the Key series. I'll probably read the third book in the series sometime in the future.
28 April - 28 May, 2006

The Thin Place

The Thin Place by Kathryn Davis
Bryan put this book on hold at the library and I checked it out for him. It sounded interesting so I started reading it and really enjoyed it. (I stopped reading Gilead to read this book.) A very interesting book that can't really be described.
11 - 26 April, 2006

Gilead

Gilead by Marilynne Robinson
I just started this book. I couldn't get into this book but will definitely try again. Housekeeping was one of my favorite books in college. It just wasn't the right time for me and this book.
(started 4 April 2006)