Lucky Us by Amy Bloom
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Let's just say I am glad that it was a quick read. The book was simply OK. There isn't anything real special about it. The characters were bland....Even desipte their hectic-ness.

I am not always a big fan of authors who incorporate letters/notes/correspondeces into their work. It seems kinda like a cop-out. Like, you just summed it up and didn't have any things else to add, creatively. I had to back track once or twice because I wasn't exepcting things to happen so fast and it came from a letter. I thought some of it would have been better in detail.

I can't wait to hear the discussion at my work book club in a few weeks.

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Life After Life by Kate Atkinson
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Eh....I just couldn't get into it. I hear it gets better but I have simply moved on...Maybe in the future I will give it another try.

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You Are One of Them by Elliott Holt
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I am not really sure how I feel about this book. Did I hate it? Love it? I think I just got through it Okay and will make the best of it. I liked the whole idea of the story line but felt kind of robbed... There seemed to be a lot left out or kind of rushed. The ending really wasn't a surprise for me. I kind of expected it. I think the whole book built up to it. A growing period for the main character. It was kind of a stepping stone into adulthood after all she had to go through. The world was not what she thought it to be.

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Orphan Train by Christina Baker Kline
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

By chance I brought this book for $1.99 (or less?)a while back and now it has become my GR monthly book club read as well as my work one. I read it super fast and really enjoyed it. It was simple and yet endearing. I never knew of such trains and it is heartbreaking to know that it had exsisted for so many years. I also really enjoyed that it started out on a street (Elizabeth) where I currently live. I, of course, googled it and found so many cool images (one I found later that was in the book at the end).

I highly recommend this book because not only is it an emotional read but it is a great historical insight.

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A Review

The Light Between Oceans by M.L. Stedman
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

I only rate this 2 stars because it was too emotional. I sided with both families and just couldn't bare either one. I couldn't choose a side and I definitely hated the ending. It was an emotional rollercoaster and I am not to keen on books such as these. I have 2 girls 4 and 5 and the books just took it's tole on me.

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Review: The Art of Fielding - Chad Harbach

Genre: Fiction
Format: Trade Paperback
ISBN: 9780316126670
Pages: 512
Rating: 4/5 Stars
Read: July 2012
Recommended by: Work Book Club

I was surprised at how much I liked this book. Of course like everyone else, I thought that I would have no interest because it was about Baseball and it was not really about it per say. Of course there was a lot of talk about the baseball team and yadda yadda but the characters were all so great! Each had a strange personality. Like us humans we all have something that is wrong with us one way or the other. Every character in the book has something that matter.

There is so much I want to say about this book but am finding it hard for words probably because they are all so jumbled. There was a lot going on. The ending kinda was a eh but many books have to end and I feel that it is always hard to put an ending to something. It was a decent ending but left me with no real emotion but the rest of the book was great! Don't let the title fool you. It truly is a great book. AND don't let the largeness fool you either. It flows so well and it is a quick and easy read.

Review: Major Pettigrew's :ast Stand - Helen Simonson

Genre: Fiction

ISBN: 9780812981223
Pages: 358

Format: Trade Paperback

Rating: 5/5 Stars

Read: Nov./Dec. 2011

Published: November 2010

Work Book club read for November

I am kinda embarrassed to write a review since it took me more than a month to read it. Since my move my commute if 90% less and so my "time" is pretty much lost. I am a busy working Mom nut that should really be no real excuse (even though it is a pretty good one) I love my books and I have to make more time for them. Maybe that should be my New Year's resolution!!!

Anyway, back to the book. I truly loved it. I always like to think that I can always feel young no matter at what age. I love how chivalry still exist (in that world or at least England). I always love inter-racial and inter-faith interactions. It always seems odd to me how people still can't shake the idea of this world-wide melting pot. It is not just American and Great Britain anymore. Many countries are "mixing" and it should totally be embraced! My husband and I are inter-racial and we are just fine about it. We never even really thought about it. I see people and people only! That is how it should be so it was truly a joy to read this book and it is recommended by me to all people of all ages and what-not because it is simply a comfortable read that makes you feel good inside and still leaves a good taste in your mouth.

Review: The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks - Rebecca Skloot

Genre: Non-Fiction

Pages: 345

ISBN: 9781400052189

Format: Trade Paperback

Rating: 3/5 Stars

Read: August 2011 - Work Book Club

I enjoyed the book more than I thought I would. This is about a black woman who had cervical cancer in the 1950's and the doctors took a sample of her tumor and watched as her cells miraculously grew (and continue to to this day). There are a lot of scientific terminology in here but it is not too hard to follow. I loved how Skloot really dug into the family and revealed a real person behind the HeLa cells. The best parts of the book of our when Skloot goes into the past and see the family and of how they felt about what was happening to the cells of their mother/friend/wife/cousin/Aunt etc.

We have all heard about HeLa cells but no one really ever thought behind it and really, who would have if it is not truly linked to us? I mean, now, reading the book, it seems like it is linked to everyone as a whole because of the things that come from it. All that research being conducted on so many different things gave cures and better insights to diseases and so on. HeLa cells have a enormous impact on our lives as a whole without us even knowing and Skloot's book finally gives life to what is such a great scientific history,present and future to us all!

Review: A Visit from the Goon Squad - Jennifer Egan

Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 9780307477477
Format: Trade Paperback
Pages: 340
Published: June 2010
Rating: 3.5/5 Stars

Okay, there are so many mixed reviews regarding this book and I can totally see why. First it won a Pulitzer Prize and is a National bestseller so many people had high hopes. Second it was simply just a good read, not amazing just good. People I have talked to about this book said they didn't like it and that they didn't like the mixed stories but I liked that about it. All the characters were woven together and time was going back and forth and where many said they couldn't follow it, I sure had no trouble at all.

I can see why it got so much praise and awards because of her style and intelligence but I still feel that there was something missing. I loved how some of the lives were intense and glorious but there were other stories that I just wanted to pass by but I guess that's what makes a good story. I mean, we are reading about peoples lives and how they all come together in one way or another (especially in NY) so to say that some lives are more interesting than others, in an understatement!

I loved the whole rock star, punk age thing and I loved how everything turned out. These were rebel teens who are now parents and have settled into a more suitable life. I don't know how to put it into words but it totally makes sense in my head!

Review: Half Broke Horses - Jeannette Walls

Genre: True Life Novel

ISBN: 9781416586289 ARC

Pages: 265

Format: Oversized Trade Paperack

Rating: 3/5 Stars

Work Book Club Read for April/May

Can't say I was a big fan of this book. The Glass House was a decent read and it was more captivating then this one. I think this book should have came out first. It seems like The Glass Castle would have been a good sequel to this.

Half Broke Horses is about Jeannette's grandmother and although it is an interesting story I was not all too thrilled to read it. It was kinda flat at times and just didn't make me feel like anything after or even while I was reading it. Her grandmother, Lily, was a super strong women and was way before her time and her life was truly interesting but the written story just didn't seem to so Lily's life justice. I feel that Jeannette, although it would seem difficult, should have written it a little better but I do understand that she is writing the story from a different perspective. I am sure sitting down and talking with Lily would have been far more greater than reading it.

Review: Cutting for Stone - Abraham Verghese

Genre: Fiction

Pages: 667

ISBN: 9780375714368

Format: Trade Paperback

Published: Jan. 2010

Rating: 4/5 Stars

It really took me a long time to read this book, well over a month! Maybe it was because of school, or work, or whatever but it took forever! Whatever the reasons are it is now finished. I read this book because of my work book club and I am glad I did. I may not have read it or I may have just at a later point.

There were things I loved and of course things I hated. I really like Marion, even when I felt a little disconnected with him I still felt closer to him than Shiva. I loved Shiva's turn around at the end and of course I hated Genet. There is so much to this story that I wish I could get into but spoilers are not really my thing. Overall this story is about different cutlers and culture shock. A nun has twins and dies at birth with the father up and running from the tragedies. the reader follows the "older" twin, Marion and goes through his life and what he has to endure. The author did a wonderful job incorporating true events into the story. It is brilliantly written.

The story really is about family and culture and there is so much medical terminology that can get a little boring at times but it deems necessary for parts of the story. There were times when I just wanted to skim over some pages for sake of sanity. It is well over 600 pages and some of it may or may not could have been let out. That is solely up to who the reader is. I do recommend this book but take your time in reading it because there is much to get through. It does hold attention but can have your emotions everywhere.

The Imperfectionist by Tom Rachman

Genre: Fiction

Format: Hardcover

Pages: 269

ISBN: 9780385343664

Rating: 2.5/5 Stars

I just couldn't finish it. It is not that it is a bad book or anything I just simply could not stay focus and I had no drive to continue on. I got half way through and just was stuck and could not move on. So I went to another book and I know I am just not going to get back into it.

This is not a book I normally would read but it was a work book club read and some one let me borrow it so...

It just dragged and some parts were interesting and could hold me for a bit but when I got to the next "chapter" I just was bored again. There were lots of different characters and I am sure they connected at some point but it just took too long to get there.

The Lotus Eaters - Tatjana Soli

Genre: Historical Fiction

Format: Hardcover / Library

ISBN: 9780312611576

Pages: 386

Rating: 3/5 Stars

We read this book for our October book club read at work and I think we all had the same feelings: it was OK. Nothing so fantastic about it. We were all wondering where all these "great" reviews were coming from. I did love how the beginning was the end and you had to keep reading to find out how it got to that point but a lot of it was"really?" I just could imagine a woman going to Vietnam and taking pictures with no real inclination of what war can be, how to load a camera, and let alone culture shock. I understand that she needed adventure and needed to find out what happened to her brother (who died earlier) but I just don't understand...

I did really like the story but there were just things that were hard to believe but then again I don't know Vietnam like others may have. I was the youngest in my book club and they all remembered it and I wasn't even born yet! I did love Linh though, he was by far my favorite character. Helen was OK, and Darrow was unpredictable. At first he was supposed to be this standoffish guy who was a bad-ass per say, but then he was poetic and lovable. I dunno I really did enjoy the story and probably would have gave it a higher rating but because of the above I just couldn't.