Best Escapist Romp
The Forgotten Garden
Kate Morton
This is a delicious book. Mystery, romance, and dark secrets... Such fun. I had a bit of a hard time getting into it (too much backstory for my liking), but once Cassandra arrived in England, things really picked up. I also guessed the big plot twist long before the reveal, but the book was so enjoyable I didn't much mind. (Contemporary/Women's Fiction)
Best Page-Turner
The Hunger Games
Suzanne Collins
I devoured this book. In fact, I stayed up late reading it--and this is no small commendation considering my sleep is short and interrupted these days. It's fast and furious and made me hopelessly uncomfortable... In a good way. Definitely a book worthy of discussion. (Young Adult/Sci-Fi)
Best Tear-Jerker
Niagara Falls All Over Again
Elizabeth McCracken
I bawled over this book. Granted, I'm a little hormonal, but still. It's a beautiful book. Funny and fascinating and bittersweet. Though I didn't think I'd be much interested in the life of vaudeville, I was rapt as McCracked unraveled her story. (Contemporary Fiction)
Best Re-Read
Harry Potter (all of them)
J.K. Rawling
Seriously, do I even have to explain? I'm re-reading the entire series and I'm up to The Goblet of Fire. My heart breaks for Snape just a little more every time. Who's with me? I should start an "I love Snape" fan club... I'm such a sucker for the underdog, the unloved, the left-behind. (Young Adult/Fantasy)
Best Cat-Nap Inducer
One Thousand White Women
Jim Fergus
Okay, I don't mean to be nasty, but I could NOT make it through this book. I so wanted to, but every time I picked it up I started to doze off. I'm sure it's a wonderful book (it sure got enough acclaim!), but my nursing mind was simply not impressed. Maybe I'll try again when my baby is weaned... We'll see. (Historical)
How about you? Any "bests" to share with me? I'd love to hear...! :)
Posts
I absolutely adore Kate Morton's story-spinning skills! If you haven't already, you should read The House at Riverton as well. I pre-ordered Morton's next release, The Distant Hours, which will be on the store shelves in November. Here's the synopsis from the author's Web site:
ReplyDelete"It started with a letter. A letter that had been lost for a long time, waiting out half a century, stifling summer after cooling winter, in a forgotten postal bag in the dim attic of a nondescript house in Bermondsey…
Edie Burchill and her mother have never been close, but when a long lost letter arrives one Sunday afternoon with the return address of Millderhurst Castle, Kent, printed on its envelope, Edie begins to suspect that her mother’s emotional distance masks an old secret.
Evacuated from London as a twelve year old girl, Edie’s mother is chosen by the mysterious Juniper Blythe, and taken to live at Millderhurst Castle with the Blythe family: Juniper, her twin sisters and their father, Raymond, author of the 1920s children’s classic, The True History of the Mud Man. In the grand and glorious Millderhurst Castle, a new world opens up for Edie’s mother. She discovers the joys of books and fantasy and writing, but also, ultimately, the dangers.
Fifty years later, as Edie chases the answers to her mother’s riddle, she, too, is drawn to Millderhurst Castle and the eccentric sisters Blythe. Old ladies now, the three still live together, the twins nursing Juniper, whose abandonment by her fiancé in 1941 plunged her into madness.
Inside the decaying castle, Edie begins to unravel her mother’s past. But there are other secrets hidden in the stones of Millderhurst Castle, and Edie is about to learn more than she expected. For the truth of what happened in the distant hours has been waiting a long time for someone to find it..."
Thanks for the suggestions! I must try to fill the time before *your* next release hits the shelves. :-)
One of my summer faves was Here Burns My Candle by Liz Curtis Higgs. Re-telling of the book of Ruth, book 1...as this book was just the first 18 verses of the Bible book. I love her ability to tell a story.
ReplyDeleteAlso The Help by Kathryn Stockett. Had it recommended to me by quite a few on the Blogger...and once I got into it, I couldn't put it down.
Can I ask what your take is on Harry Potter as a pastor's wife?? I hear SO many conflicting arguments about the series from Christian groups...and I just wonder what you think :)
Best Page Turner -- Girl with a Pearl Earring by Tracy Chevalier (Yes, it's historical fiction which can sometimes slide towards the dry side of the scale, but I just had to know the fate of these characters!)
ReplyDeleteBest Re-Read -- A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith (I *just* devoured this one again, so the repeat is fresh in my mind. Love, love, love this novel -- it's in my Top Three, never mind that that category endlessly evolves.) ;)
Best Tear-Jerker -- I read it years ago, but I remember crying OUT LOUD over Dogs of Babel. I despise tear-jerker films but books that make me cry are always among my favorites (weird, huh?). I loved The Help and cried while reading it. Also the aforementioned A Tree Grows in Brooklyn. My heart is always bent for the underdog too.
Best Snooze-fest -- This may make me wildly unpopular, but I have tried to read Gabriel Garcia Marquez's Love in the Time of Cholera half a dozen times and cannot get past chapter 2. I waver between feeling really dumb ("Why can't I get through this?") and feeling really disgusted ("Why do I expect myself to get through this?!").
And... just for fun... my current Top Three (all of which would make great breastfeeding books):
1) The Color Purple, Alice Walker
2) A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, Betty Smith
3) The True Story of Hansel and Gretel, Louise Murphy (would also fit well into the tear-jerker category)
I'll take an I Heart Snape pin any time. I bawled -- BAWLED, I tell you! -- over the last book. I bought it at midnight and read all through the night and into the next day so I could pass it along to my husband who took full duty of the kids for the next 12 hours so I could accomplish this great feat. He came in from an ice cream outing to find me lying on the couch, book closed, sobbing, "I can't do it! I can't do it! I can't finish this!" Like any good man, he grabbed my shoulders, gave me a shake, and ordered me to finish the bloody book.... so he could get his hands on it. :)
Two of my nieces and nephews turned me on to The Hunger Games as well. I couldn't put it down either. It's post-apocalyptic theme and the gladiator style games with so many different sci-fi twists drove any thought of sleep away. Plus there's a great "Girl's Rule" theme :) I've read the sequel and am waiting for the final book in the trilogy - Mockingjay - to be released.
ReplyDeleteI've heard so many great things about The Hunger Games. That may be my next indulgence :)
ReplyDeleteI just finished reading Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro and I was on the fence about it the whole time I was reading, but I think I really liked it. It's very haunting, a little unnerving once you finish. It's modern, literary, a tiny bit graphic but not too bad. I recommend.
And I'm about to re-read Harry Potter as well! I have to refresh my mind for the upcoming film of Deathly Hallows (part one!). I can't wait to relive all the great moments of such a phenomenal series. (I heart Snape, too!)
And to Heather above who mentioned Gabriel Garcia Marquez--I am on your side! I tried to read 100 Years of Solitude and it was all I could do to get past the first page. No offense to Marquez, but magic realism isn't really my thing.
~Brandi
Thanks so much for the recommendations!! Much appreciated.
ReplyDeleteBina--Great question about Harry Potter. In fact, I'll address your query in another post. I'd love to hear where everyone else tends to fall on that issue. Believe me, it's not the first time I've been questioned about my thoughts on the controversial Harry Potter.
Heather--I'm with you. I think I blew snot bubbles crying over the final installment of HP. Ugly but true.
No Marquez lovers out there? I liked 100 Years of Solitude, but I felt a little like I was on drugs as I was reading it. Trippy.
Oh, and I should update you all on my Best Snooze-Fest book... I'm actually reading 1000 White Women and LOVING it. Took me a long time to get into and I don't think that Fergus writes from a women's perspective very well, but the story is breaking my heart. I don't know if I can finish the book...