MyBookBlog

My latest read was Forever, Interrupted by Taylor Jenkins Reid. I finished this book in two days. Two work days. It wasn’t that it was suspenseful, it just flowed and moved along very well. I just kept reading and reading. It was a quick, easy read. It’s a story about two people who meet while picking up pizza. Unplausably they connect immediately. (Okay let’s get past that or the book doesn’t work at all.)  From then on they are almost inseparable. They are both only children with Ben very close to his mom, and Elsie’s parents distant, with whom she has little contact. Then something dramatic happens (yeah, they get married, but that’s not what I’m talking about). The book switches back and forth from before and after the thing happens.  It’s hard to go on without spoiling ……. But, suffice it to say, this book, however cynical or skeptical you might be, gives one the feels. The meet cute and ensuing relationship parts are actually my least favorite parts of the book. The even...

 I just finished a real page turner - Beautiful Ugly by Alice Feeney. Another new to me author. This book is what I’ve learned is called a domestic thriller? I’m gonna try and explain it without giving away too much.  In the beginning we meet the married couple Grady and Abby. Grady is a book writer and Abby is an investigative journalist. Grady is anxiously awaiting a phone call from his agent to find out if his latest book is on the NYT bestseller list. He’s also waiting for Abby to come home so they can hopefully celebrate the good news together. When she doesn’t arrive after he gets the call, he phones her. She picks up as she driving. She’s on her way home.  While they’re on the phone Abby sees someone lying in the road and stops her car. Grady hears what’s going on, tells her not to get out of the car, but she does. Grady doesn’t hear anything more from Abby.  She’s disappeared. Gone.  Grady struggles to go on without Abby somewhat unsuccessfully. His writ...

 Although Jane Kirkpatrick is definitely on my author spotlight list, after finishing her latest book, ‘Across the Crying Sands’, I just had to write about it now.  My earliest memory of reading one of her books was when my family and I were moving from Northern California to the Pacific Northwest, traveling in an RV. Maybe twenty years ago? I recall feeling a little like the characters in her book who were traveling across the country, the new frontier, looking to make something of their lives in a new place, starting over with ambition and hope in their hearts and minds. This book takes place in the late 1880s and tells the story of a young woman, Mary Gerritse (née Edwards) who meets and marries John Gerritse. He is a kind and loving, somewhat ‘traditional’male of the times. Which is to say he, like most of them, think the place for women is in the home tending to child rearing, cooking, sewing, and taking care of them. I’m tempted to say these were easier, simpler times fo...

While I’m reading my new Jane Kirkpatrick book, Across the Crying Sands, I’ll leave you with this … A Gentleman’s Gentleman by TJ Alexander...       This is a book, if I’m being honest, I kept wanting to put down. I’m definitely not a fan of romance books but I heard good things - and I did not put it down. I must have found the good things about it because I kept reading. I wanted to see how it resolved. Not necessarily resolved, but where it would go might be a better description. I think the main reason I kept reading was the likability of the main character, Lord Christopher Eden. There were very few characters in this book so that was probably very important. He presented as a down to earth, kind and caring sort of Earl. Very private. He doesn’t want nor does he need a houseful of servants. Unfortunately his slow, quiet and easy life in the country is interrupted when he learns that in order to keep his earldom and all that goes with it, he must take a wife. By his 2...

 Hi there. Every once in a while I’m going to feature one author for the entire blog. It’s obviously going to be a favorite author of mine. All of the books I’ve read by this author (so far) will be talked about.  This week I’m talking about a fairly new to me author, Kristin Hannah .  I’ve just come across Hannah’s books within the last six months or so. Boy am I glad that I did. I like the history lessons I get from the stories she tells, I like the way she writes, the flow of the stories, the strong characters, and the fact that there’s no fluff or filler. It’s all story. I would recommend any of these books I’ve read highly. Very highly. The first book I read by Hannah is The Nightingale (pub.2015). I think I’ve mention my attraction to historical fiction and this book is of that genre. It takes place in a French village during the WWII Nazi occupation. It involves two sisters, Vianne and Isabelle, trying to survive the best they can under the circumstances they now ...

 Of course it is. Although reading (definitely more so nowadays) can be social it is also very personal. The kinds of subject matter/genre which appeals to one may not resonate with another. One might like to read about trains because their grandfather was an old timey conductor on the Erie Lackawanna railway. One might shy away from novels with divorce as a running theme for reasons of their own. One might like road trip novels. It can be exciting to go where it’s scary or to places we’ve simply never been, or probably never will be, but it’s also okay to not go there. Whatever floats your boat. Recreational reading is something no one can force upon you. No one can tell you what you like or don’t like. Reading is all you. That’s great, isn’t it? All of that said goes to justify my decision to put down The Wedding People for now. From the comments I’ve read about this book it seems like I’m in a very small minority of readers for which this book did not hit the mark. It just was n...

 Oh no. I think I just started my new blog with an oxy moron. Oh well, one thing I want my blog to be above all else is honest, so I’m not going to fix that. What my main goal is here is to spread the love about books I’ve read, would like to read, have heard about, and things peripherally literary. That last part sounded pretentious. I should have just said other book stuff. I’m gonna keep trying to do this. Hopefully you’ll bear with me and I’ll get better. So, a little about me? I really like to read. Always have and hopefully always will. If you’re reading this I guess you like to read as well. Great, we should get along. Enough about me. How about my very latest book issue? I picked up a book which someone recommended to me from the library yesterday. I used to be a book snob (only reading books I’d chosen myself) but am trying to expand my horizons. The book is called The Wedding People by Alison Espach. A new author for me. I enjoyed the first few pages but found out that th...