Book Round Up

I’ve been neglecting my Goodreads account lately. That and sharing books I’ve read with my blog readers. So, when a friend asked me if I’d read anything good lately (she just got an ereader), I said, “You betcha.”

And then I had to try and recall something I’d read in the past few months.

Fortunately, that wasn’t a problem. Briefly, here are a few…

Room by Emma Donoghue. Room is about a girl who is kidnapped and has a baby while in captivity (the kidnapper is the father) and when her child turns five, they manage to escape. It wasn’t nearly as disturbing as I thought it would be–which is kind of a relief, actually. I don’t like it when books mess with my mind in a huge way. The first half of the book deals with their imprisonment, the second half with… well, I won’t spoil it by telling you what they deal with.

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The Immortals by J.T. Ellison. This one also had mind messing potential, but thankfully didn’t leave any scars. It is about some teens involved in dark magic and murder. Fast and entertaining while the main character tries to track down the murders. Uses several point of views which works well for the story.

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Secret Daughter by Shilpi Somaya Gowda. I really enjoyed this one–more than I thought I would. It follows two families–an American family that adopts a baby from India who was given up because the family was too poor to raise her. It also follows that Indian family. I was worried it would be slow and work to read, but I couldn’t stop reading it! It also shows you a bit about Indian culture and the way things aren’t as balanced as you may think.

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The Irresistible Henry House by Lisa Grunwald. This was an intriguing book as Grunwald set her story of a man unable to commit to relationships in a university practice house during the 1940s. These practice houses existed (my grandmother-in-law attended one as part of her home economics education) and were intended to teach students the latest in home economics. Babies (supplied by an orphanage) included. My grandmother-in-law said there was a waiting list for babies who had been in the practice house as they didn’t play strange. Go figure, having how many mothers. Anyway, this story follows one baby who stays in the practice house instead of being adopted out and his own journeys into making lasting bonds with the women who come and go in his life.

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Half Broke Horses by Jeannette Walls. This was pretty good, as I do love Walls’s voice. However, I did like her memoir about her own life better–The Glass Castle. Half Broke Horses was about her grandma (who was a pretty amazing woman and character), which was cool, but at times I wanted to reach in the book and smack the grandma.

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Love the One You’re With by Emily Giffin. A chick lit novel that had me waffling back and forth on what I thought the main character was going to do… go back to her husband? Get back together with the ex-boyfriend who still stirs her heart? There were times when I wanted to shove the character one way and other times that I wanted to smack some sense into her and drag her back the other way.

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People of the Book by Geraldine Brooks. A novel that moves back in time, following the story of a religious text from it’s daring wartime rescues back to its creation. While it may sound technical and dry, its a great story that is an intriguing mystery and is tied together by a current day protagonist who is not only dealing with her own issues, but also with solving the mystery and history of this book while restoring it.

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How I Became a Famous Novelist by Steve Hely. A humourous novel about a guy who decides he’s going to become a famous novelist to ‘get back’ at his ex-girlfriend who is getting married. He decides he can add in all the great elements of the nation’s greatest best-selling novels to make his The Big One. That means road trip, exotic locations, war, love stories, and philosophical moments. The novel (not the one he writes) follows his progress, downfall, success, downfall, and ultimate… share it… or spoil it? Nah… I couldn’t spoil it for you.

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P.S. Full disclosure: If you purchase one of these books using the links I’ve provided, I get a couple of cents. Does that make me an enterprising sell-out? (However, I haven’t ever ‘sold’ anything from my blog, so maybe it doesn’t–or just makes me an ineffective one. Har, har.)