Friday, April 1, 2011

Reading Log for March, 2011

I am going to digress from my personal examination for a morning, and list my reading log for this month - remember, 1-5 on the ratings, with 1s almost never showing up (I can't bring myself to waste the time finishing anything that bad) and 5 being life-changing (or really close to it!).

And here it is - March, 2011!


18. Death of a Witch – 4.25 – M.C. Beaton - more Hamish Macbeth

19. Death of a Valentine – 4.25 – M.C. Beaton – and a little more Hamish

20. Anne’s House of Dreams – 4 – LC Montgomery – Anne is married and in her first home. It picked up the last 1/3 of the book, but was pretty slow until then.

21. No Distance Too Far: Home To Blessing 2 – 3 – Lauraine Snelling – this is the third spinoff of the Red River series, not counting the Dakota Treasure series, which had a lot of similarities. Let’s put it this way – I knew how this was going to end. I even know how the next book, which has not yet been published, is going to end. After this many books there are so many characters that it is hard to keep track of. Anyway, it wasn’t great.

22. The Swiss Family Robinson – 4 – Johann David Wyss – a classic, but my gosh this was a lonnnngggg read aloud. The boys and I really didn’t get into it for about 150 pages. Some love it, some don’t. We ended up “liking it a lot”.   As a side note, we also watched the Disney movie.  I would say, definitely read the book BEFORE the movie - they are very, very different! The movie was still fun, but it would have been more fun without three people saying, "That's not how it happened in the book!" through the whole thing.

23. Death of a Chimney Sweep: A Hamish Macbeth Mystery – 4.5- M.C. Beaton – definitely one of the best – and it is the last, for now! Off to find a new obsession.


24. My Life From Scratch: A Sweet Journey of Starting Over, One Cake at a Time – 4.75 – Gesine Bullock-Prado – very good – story of Gesine Bullock (Sandra’s sister). Gesine had gone to work for Sandra’s production company in Hollywood, and eventually couldn’t take it or LA anymore. She and her husband bought a storefront in a small town in Vermont and opened a pastry shop. Very entertaining read.



25. Plain Girl – 4.5 – Virginia Sorensen – a Sonlight read aloud, that I read to myself! Very moving story about a young Amish girl in the 1950s who is forced to go to public school by the authorities. It is a childrens’ chapter book, so there is a happy ending.

26. French Women Don’t Get Fat: The Secret of Eating for Pleasure – 4 – Mireille Guiliano – this is a re-read from a few years ago. I don’t like most of her recipes, and many of her tips are not going to fit into my life – I cannot go to a local market every day to squeeze the fruit – but it is an encouraging little book about taking all things in moderation and being realistic.

27. A Homemade Life: Stories and Recipes from My Kitchen Table – 3 – Molly Wizenberg – hmmmm. I liked the first half of the book, but the 2nd half was after she met her future husband. Maybe I am getting to be a prude – no, maybe the Holy Spirit is convicting me – that I do not care to read accounts of people who are fornicating and talking about it like it is no big deal, or even appropriate. It wasn’t graphic or anything, not at all. But them living together was just presented as being so wonderful, to be in love, and living together, and it just bothered me. Up to the first half, when she was talking about her family and growing up, I’d give it 4.5 – after the future husband showed up it dropped to a 3.

I would love it if you posted some of your reads for this month in the comments!

3 comments:

  1. At your service:

    MARCH
    14. A Red Herring Without Mustard by Alan Bradley - You started me on these books. They continue to be good - 4.75

    15. The Dark Night of the Soul by Gerald G. May, M.D. - This is a book that describes John of the Cross and Teresa of Avila's struggles with dark times and how they found spirituality because of it - 4

    16. A Dog Named Slugger by Leigh Brill - 4 - I think you would like this one unless you are completely not a dog person...It's about a service dog that changed this woman's life - Non-fiction.

    17. Matchmaker 2.0 by Debora Geary - 3.75 - You would not like this one. It would aggravate you so just skip it.

    18. Sing you Home by Jodi Picoult - 3.75 - this is definitely, definitely not your cup of tea. Don't even read the amazon blurb. It's way too far to the left politically.

    19. The Way of a Pilgrim translated from Russian by R. M. French - 5 - My pick for you this month.

    20. The Persian Pickle Club by Sandra Dallas 5 - You read my review. You started me on this author too.

    21. Change We Must by Nana Veary - 3 - too loosey-goosey for me. Probably the same for you.

    22. This Bird Flew Away by Lynda M. Martin - reserving comment. Interviewing author on 4/14. Very dark subject.

    23. Wicked Lovely by Melissa Marr - 5- It was good writing. It was pretty modern day teen stuff but the writer really does a good job with character development.

    How in the world did Anne only earn a 4 from you? My head is spinning.

    Total Read: 10
    My Pick for You: The Way of the Pilgrim

    Love you,

    Belle

    P.S. I've broken free of Sonlight. I can't keep up with blogging and Bibliovores. I'm not as sad as I thought I would be to leave Bibs. The time is right.

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  2. Gosh, I read a bunch of great stuff in March, and right now, I'm blanking out. I finished a Hamish MacBeth, like you. Death of a Dreamer, I believe. I read another Mary Russell mystery, The God of the Hive. I'm currently reading (and loving) The Help, by Kathryn Stockett. Also read Gulliver's Travels. I think that was in March.

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  3. Glad I'll still be able to keep up with your books, even if not on SL. :)

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