Girls In Trucks

I finished this last night and it was sooooooo good.

This is a new author, this was her first novel and I highly recommend it.

I do have to say that she writes a little differently than most authors. She doesn't follow the characters day to day in that kind of storyline, she'll sometimes skip months.... years... on the same page. She definitely leaves a lot open for your imagination to fill in the blanks.

I definitely enjoyed it, though. I also have to say that I'm failing miserably at my 100 book goal for the year. This is only my SECOND book for April! Ugh!

I did start another great one today. I'm LOVING it!! It's Barefoot by: Elin Hilderbrand. Excellent summer book! :)

Beatrice and Virgil

I only picked this book up because it's written by the author who wrote Life of Pi. That is one of my all time FAVORITE books. So if you haven't read that one, you must. Fantastic. Anyway, this one was really so-so but it was so short I couldn't just abandon it, plus I had a feeling the end would be worth it. I skimmed a lot of the boring parts and there were a few, but was still able to get the gist of the story. Thankfully, the ending was worth it so I'm glad I stuck it out. It's super short and only took me a day to read. With all that being said, I would recommend it if you loved Life of Pi but don't go out and buy it. It's $24 and if you can borrow it from the library, you'll feel better...I know I do :-)

And...if you haven't read Life of Pi, do it now. I think you'll love it. It's a little out there, but a really great story.

The Girl Who Threw Butterflies

I know you decided on the May picks..but wanted to suggest a cute quick read....

The Girl Who Threw Butterflies ~by Mick Cochrane


it's cute, full of detail, action and drama!

May's Books

The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo

Let The Great World Spin

Those Who Save Us

Okay, girls, these are the three that won for May! I'm so excited because all three of these are books that I've been eyeballing for quite some time! :)

Can't wait for May!! :)

This is an "old" one; I love Jodi Picoult, but not this one:( I just finished it today. One of the main characters uses "GD" a number of times (which I HATE)....I feel that could have been avoided. The story hooked me at first but then seemed to drag on and on and the ending was nothing spectacular; left me disappointed:( Oh, well. I am ready for a GREAT READ!!

Waking Up in the Land of Glitter

Just finished Waking Up in the Land of Glitter...it grabbed me from the 1st chapter....I read it in 2 days...
I know you all was complaining about the months picks, so did any of you happen to try this one?

Oops!!!

Sorry girls, I've been so caught up in all that's going on with me this week, I completely forgot to post this voting blog!! :) Forgive me!

So, let's go ahead and vote for your top three!

Voting will end Sunday Midnight... maybe more voting time will give everyone a chance to get a vote in!

Hope you guys have a great weekend!! :)

COME ON GIRLS!!!!

I am in a funk.

NOTHING I pick up lately holds my attention.

I think it's because my business is doing well, I'm busy. I am not complaining. I love it more than I can even express.

HOWEVER

I'm so tired after doing my work stuff each day that when I get in bed, it HAS to be something amazing for me to want to read more than a chapter a day.

For example,

Right now, I'm reading a GOOD book. But it's just that.... GOOD.

It's "One Door Away From Heaven" by Dean Koontz. It's really good, but it's not GREAT. It's just not engrossing enough to make me want to read longer.

So, we HAVE GOT TO PICK SOME GREAT ONES FOR MAY!!! PLEASE!!! ;)

So far, Tempie, Erica, Heather, and I have made suggestions. If you haven't yet, please do! I want us to all have an imput! :)

Thanks! ;)

My May Suggestion

I may be the only one who hasn't read it (!??!), but it was highly recommended to me! ;D

Catching up on Reviews

I've been so bad at updating as I read, so now I have to do three books all in one review. Sorry about that.



Love this author and this was a good book from him. Not my favorite, but still a good read and I was interested the whole time. An abusive husband and his wife are found dead in what appears to be a murder/suicide, leaving their only daughter, teenage Kate, an orphan. It takes place in a small town in New England and the local pastor is somehow connected in the whole mess. I don't want to give too much away because it is written as sort of a mystery. You wonder what actually happened that night and as you get further into the story, you start to suspect everyone.



I only tried this book because the description on my Kindle and on the Barnes and Noble website was so mysterious. Click on the book to see what I mean. So, I tried it and was really interested at first. Then, it started to kind of drag on a bit. It's a VERY serious book so if you don't do heartbreak and violence very well, it's probably not for you. The concept of the book was very interesting, dealing with a Nigerian refugee fleeing to England on a cargo ship because of the awful things that happened to her family and her village. It just seemed to lose steam towards the second half. Still a pretty good read and made me really think about how many people in the world suffer on a daily basis.
I just finished this one and I REALLY liked it. It's a story of a young girl coming of age in the mountains of North Carolina in the 1930s. She dreams of becoming a singer and making it big in Nashville. She falls head over heels in love with a local pastor and soon starts to question whether she'll be able to live out her dream as a singer or live up to her husband's strict expectations. You'll meet a lot of lovable characters and the author does such a great job of describing the local community that you'll feel like you've been there. I highly recommend this one.

May Suggestions

Ok, these are ones on my to-read list...

1. I've seen this one EVERYWHERE for quite a while and I'm finally intrigued. Don't know too much about it, but people seem to like it...

2. This is on my request list from the library and should be in soon. One of the reviews on B and N's website said it was great for book clubs because it led to a lot of discussions...

May Suggestions

I went to the books I already own but haven't read yet for my suggestions for this month. They are:

My May Suggestions

Okay, these were both highly recommended by People magazine this week and reading the summaries, they both sound really good to me! :)

Check them out and I'd love it if EVERYONE had a suggestion for May! April's suggestions turned out to not be all that great, so we need to do a really great job for May!

Let's try to get suggestions in by Wednesday midnight! :)

p.s. TOTALLY off topic for the book club blog, but I launched my BRAND NEW PROFESSIONAL blog for my photography this past week and I'm so proud/in love with it. :) It's been a loooooonnnnnggg work in progress. So, in short, I'd love to invite you all to come check it out and if you're a blog reader, please bookmark/subscribe to it. Few things make me happier than comments on my work! :)

www.graciejamesblog.com

Dragonfly in Amber

About a month ago I posted a blog about the book Outlander. This is the follow up to that book. It definitely wasn't as good as the first one. This book was also 1,000 pages and I struggled reading it. The back of the book contained an excerpt from the third book and it looks to be a little more interesting so I will try that one and see.

The Sugar Queen

Has anyone read this yet? I started it yesterday and I don't think I can finish it. It's a little quirky, which I can handle but it also a little on the bizarre end. I read the first 50 pages and then skipped to the last chapter. I think I am skipping this one. If someone else has read this please let me know if I should read the in between. :)

Catching Fire to Friday Night Knitting Club

I just finished the second book in "The Hunger Games" series last night, "Catching Fire". These books are soooooo amazing, I'm going to go nuts waiting for the next book to come out.... I think it comes out in July.

Anyway, so I just finished it last night and I read the first few pages of FNKC before I went to sleep and oh gosh.... it's soooooo boring after reading 'The Hunger Games' and 'Catching Fire'. Have any of you gotten very far in it yet? Please tell me what you think of it! I think Heather and Alynn are reading it or have read it, not sure about the rest of you guys. But if you are or have read it, PLEASE tell me if it's worth going on or not! I'm thinking it's just so boring to me because the last two books I read were anything but, there was never a boring moment to be had.

:)

Friday Night Knitting Club

Has anyone started this one yet? Do you love it? I just finished a book (thanks to Candace for letting me borrow!) tonight and plan to start 'FNKC' tonight or tomorrow. I feel like I have been on a hiatus, though I have been reading! I am just s-l-o-w compared to you awesome girls! My goodness, how ya'll seem to fly through them! I'm jealous! ;D

Shanghai Girls

I loved this one! I learned so much about the effects of WWII on the Chinese who came to America before, during, or after the war. This book centered around two sisters who were pretty well off before the war started, but whose father lost everything, including selling the two of them off as brides to men they had never met. As the Japanese start to invade China, the two sisters try and escape to America. They experience horrific trauma and eventually make their way to L.A. but are help in customs for months before they are allowed to meet up with their new family (their "husbands" lived in America already).

Their life in America is not what they hoped for and life with their new family is hard. As China becomes a communist country, all Chinese-Americans are suspected to be communists and the American government interrogates everyone. Even years after the war is over, they are all still walking on egg shells as they try and make their life in America. They are also torn between their Chinese heritage and the American way of life.

I highly suggest this one! You'll learn a lot and it's a great read, although I'll warn you...the ending is a little abrupt.

The Little Giant of Aberdeen County

This was a cute one. It's told from the perspective of a woman with giantism (Truly) and her life growing up in a super, small town in New York. Her mother died while giving birth to her, leaving her sister and her with an alcoholic father. After he drinks himself to death, her pretty sister goes to live with the local pastor while she is cast aside and sent to live with the poorest family in the area, out on their dilapidated farm. She grows up as an outcast, watching her sister get all the love and attention that she herself wishes for. But when things take a turn for her sister, you start to see that having good looks and attention isn't necessarily all it's cracked up to be.

The book has some great characters....you can't help but love Truly. The story is good and fast moving and the ending is happy :)

A Tree Grows in Brooklyn

I may very well be the last person on the face of the earth to read this book... but it was so good! So simple, and so good. It's all about growing up as a girl. I am so impressed with the author, Betty Smith. She was one amazing lady -- the story is loosely based on her life. I would have loved to sit and have a good chat with her! I will definitely read this one again!

Since I'm so bad at writing summaries, try this one out for size I pulled off of goodreads.com:

"A poignant and moving tale filled with compassion and cruelty, laughter and heartache, crowded with life and people and incident. The story of a young, sensitive, and idealistic Francie Nolan and her bittersweet formative years in the slums of Williamsburg has enchanted and inspired millions of readers for more than sixty years. By turns overwhelming, sublime, heartbreaking, and uplifting, the daily experiences of the unforgettable Nolans are raw with honesty and tenderly threaded with family connectedness..."

I hate it when I finish a book at 9:30 at night! Too late to start something new... and too early to go to bed! I'm starting The Friday Night Knitting Club tomorrow!

April's Reads!

Hey girls!

Happy April! Yay!! I planted a ton of flowers yesterday and had naked babies running around my yard while I sprayed them with the water hose! It's getting warm and I LOVE it!!!

Hope you guys are enjoying spring where you are as well.

I am in the very last pages of 'The Hunger Games' and I flippin LOVE this book!!! I went yesterday to B&N and got 'Catching Fire' because I know when I'm done with this one, I am going to be hungry for more!

So, I know I won't be starting 'The Friday Night Knitting Club' for a couple more days.

You girls start whenever you're ready! I hope more of us are going to be reading together this month! :)