Blogging and Books

I'm finding it difficult to write reviews of the books I'm reading. I've read four books recently, and don't really have too much to say about any of them. So I think I'll just write a sentence or two, and leave the real reviewing to Les! 


Sing You Home - Jodi Picoult - Lesley has written an excellent review of this book so I won't even attempt one! As usual Picoult has written an engrossing story, and I found the book to be as good as most of her others, with interesting topics. A Plus read.


Burnt Mountain - Anne Rivers Siddons - This is not one of my favorites of hers. It was a quick read, and entertaining, but not something that will stay with me for very long.


The American Heiress - Daisy Goodwin - Something of a fluff book, but it kept my interest enough that I finished it! Tale of a very rich American woman who goes to England to "catch a Duke." Modeled after Consuelo Vanderbilt's era of titled husband-hunting in Europe.


Breaking Silence - Linda Castillo - Mystery in Amish country in Ohio. The Chief of Police in the community is an excommunicated Amish woman. This is part of a series, and I got into it after the first two books, so there were some spoilers. I liked this book, and will look for more of hers.


So my blogging will now be shorter, and even more infrequent than it has been! I hope to be able to add pictures from some of our trips some day, and do a Wordless Wednesday!

Roofing

We have been under attack for a week with much pounding on the roof. Our shake roof only lasted a bit over 13 years, thanks to the dampness and the towering trees shedding their needles. So this is the summer to re-roof, and it has taken quite a while. The rat-a-tat-tat-tat-tat is becoming a real distraction. I'm finding it difficult to read for more than a few minutes at a time, and have had to do most of my reading in bed. So it took me a long time to finish These Lovers Fled Away but it was worth every minute of reading. 


I know I read Spring's book years and years ago, but didn't remember any of it. It is somewhat reminiscent of Delderfield's books in that the characters develop along the way in a detailed plot. The descriptions of England are fantastic. This is not the England we saw when we traveled there  ten years ago, but the England of the 1910s to 1940s. I most definitely recommend reading These Lovers Fled Away, if you want to immerse yourself in a "jolly good tale."

Family Reunion 2011

We had a lovely time with a good number of the families represented. The weather was very nice - for a change!

A part of the family  celebrating Bill's 80th!

If all had been able to come, there would have been twelve more of our children and grandchildren. 

Maybe next time!

HOOKED ON NOOK

I recently got a Nook for my birthday, and I'm saving the books I've downloaded to read on our trip to Alaska. We'll be away for fourteen days, and normally I would have at least ten books in my suitcase. Of course I wouldn't read them all, but I'd be sure to have something to read just in case the first five weren't exactly what I wanted to read! Now with the Nook I have seven books available, and can download new ones if necessary!!

My Nook also has the feature of getting my emails, so I won't be wondering what catalog has arrived - or maybe even an email from one of my children. I could even download some music from my iTunes and not take along my iPod! What riches! I'm very happy with my new toy.

This week - the week after our family reunion week - has been quiet. Almost too much so. I've started a new book after not reading for quite a while. I found it hard to get started on These Lovers Fled Away, by Howard Spring, but I'm enjoying it very much now. It is a comfortable story set in Cornwall and Yorkshire at the time of the Boer War and on into the 20th century. I love the descriptions of the countryside. Spring makes you really see what the moors, glens and all the flowers and animals look like. A lovely book - so far.

And the Last Two

I don't understand blogging. I saved the last reviews to come back to, but wasn't able to tack on the next two, so will start anew!

Two Rivers - t. greenwood - An involving story of a young widower with a twelve-year-old daughter. He is trying, but not very hard, to get over the death of his wife. He has loved her since they were twelve years old.
The book goes back and forth from the present to the past telling the story of Betsy and Harper and their growing up together, and the story of today when a train derails in the town of Two Rivers and brings a young pregnant woman into Harper's life. This was somewhat slow going in spots, but picks up the pace later in the story.

Mind's Eye - Hakan Nesser - And now for another Scandinavian mystery! This author also has a middle-aged, overweight and overworked Detective Chief Inspector. In this case he is Van Veeteren. He and his team set out to solve the murder of a beautiful teacher whose husband remembers nothing of the night in which she died. The case becomes more involved as the book progresses. Do they have the right suspect? Why would the victim become a victim? The twists and turns make this a good quick read.

The Rest of June

I've only read four more books this month. With a cousin reunion in California and preparing for our family get-together in early July, I found my reading taking place mostly late at night. Two of the books were passed on to my sister before I could form my thoughts about them, but I'll try to remember a bit about both.

Other People's Children - Joanna Trollope - A story about "extended families" and the repercussions when a parent marries, has children, divorces and then marries someone new who has also married, had children, divorced etc.  Following the lives of the children and the parents was sad, but I'm often what happens. I thought this was a good book, but as my husband says "Not a Jane Austen."

The King of Liars - John Hart - I found the plot of this mystery to be quite good, but the flowery prose left me very irritated. Hart seemed to be trying too hard with his descriptions of a woman crying. Why not just say she was crying instead of saying "silver tracks made their way down her cheeks." Maybe he is paid by the word because most of the book is filled with these things! But the story itself was okay...

MORE READING

I started this month with a bang – one good book after another - almost. The first had me “on the edge of my chair” from page one.

Blood Harvest – S. J. Bolton – This is the third of her books I’ve read, and by far the best. I had to stop reading every so often because it was so tense – but I had to go back almost immediately to see what was going to happen next!

The Fletcher’s new house – built between two churches in a small village – out to be paradise, but they’ve barely settled in before they find that someone seems to be trying to drive them away with increasingly dangerous threats targeting their oldest child, ten-year-old Tom.

Bolton has won various awards for her thrillers, and with good reason. She keeps you guessing and keeps you from reading late at night with her tales. Scary!!

Tomorrow River – Lesley Kagen – I bought this ARC from our book sale at the library because I had read one of her books before and liked it well enough. I had a hard time at the beginning hearing the “voice” of Shenandoah Carmody. Shenny and Woody are twin sisters living at Lilyfield – a beautiful home in the country, but Woody has become mute since their mother’s disappearance, and Shenny has to speak for both of them. The girls start searching for their mother with very little help from their father who has become a drunken, mean person, and not the loving father he had been. The search includes a varied group of friends of Shenny’s, but no one can really help her – or will. The family seems to disintegrate and Shenny faces many heartbreaking times ahead.

I See You Everywhere – Julia Glass – I liked The Three Junes when I read it several years ago, so looked forward to this new book. It was a book that held my interest, but I had a hard time identifying with the two sisters who tell the story in alternate chapters. Both Louisa and Clem are very flawed people, and not too fond of either each other or of their parents. Louisa has always been jealous of her younger sister, and through the years the jealousy continues. Early in the book is a chapter about a great-great aunt who is ninety-eight. Clem comes to be her companion for a summer. I could have read a whole book about Clem and her aunt Lucy! There are chapters about ecology and conservation that involve Clem, and chapters about art and Louisa, but overall the book doesn’t hold together very well – at least for me. Sometimes if felt as if I was reading a lot of short stories.

Now to see what the next book will be!