Summer Reading Thing Recap

1. How many total books did you read? Were you surprised by that number?

I completely read a total of 9 books. Six from my list and 3 extras. I started two books on my list that I didn’t finish and have one I’m still working on. I was surprised in that I read so many. I have definitely fallen off my reading game the last few years and this was just the kick in the pants I needed.

2. How do you feel about what you read?

I feel good about it. I tried a few authors/books I had heard about and hadn’t taken the time to get to know. And, reading really helps me with my own writing, so that was a definite bonus I very much needed.

3. Which was your favorite book, and why?

Gosh—I don’t know. I loved Peace Like a River, it was probably my favorite overall. But I also loved the Twilight series and Harry Potter was awesome too. They had been ones I’d been excited to read for a long time, so it was that much more awesome to finally get them. But Peace Like a River was an unexpected surprise and I loved it.

4. Which was your least favorite, and why?

For those that I read completely, my least favorite was Metro Girl, cause it was crude and plot-hole-ridden. But I liked the James Patterson one even less, which is why I didn’t finish it.

5. What about your stretch book? Did you find that you enjoyed it after all? Are you planning to read more of that genre/author?

My original stretch book was Einstein’s biography, but it was much more of a muscle pull than a stretch so I dropped it and made “Simplify” my stretch. I don’t really like non-fiction, especially guilt-non-fiction, but I really liked this one and it reminds me not to be too judgmental, but to try books that I can implement in my life.

6. Did you read as many books as you intended to? Or more? How do you feel about that?

More, and it feels great! I’ve missed reading and didn’t realize how much. I have one book, Peace, happiness and Joy that I’m still working on, and I wish I’d finished it in time, but I didn’t. I like that I’m not going to be sent to the principal’s office over it ☺


7. Did you discover a new author that you're excited about?

Yes, Stephanie Meyer. I can’t wait for the next installments, and I’ll be looking for Michele Holmes and Leif Enger’s next ones as well.

8. What did you learn about yourself through this reading experience?

That I DO have time, and that I need to find it. It is a worthy use of my time and I’m a better, more well rounded person, when I am reading. I’ve missed a lot of great books and don’t want to miss anymore.

9. Was this fun? Do you want to continue (if so, sign up for Katrina's Fall Into Reading challenge.)

Super fun—I’m already working on my book list. One thing I’m doing differently, is finding out which ones I have and which ones I can get from my library, I ran into problems with this because I don’t have a great selection at my local library and book stores are not easy to access. I plan to start with ones I need to check out and get them reserved, instead of having to look for them week after week.

Summer Reading Thing 2007: Twilight~spoilers

I bought this book a month ago, and my 13 year old hijacked it, read it in two days, and sent me to the store for New Moon. I then took Twilight on vacation to read--and my sister hijacked it. She then lent it to my mother, who then lent it to another sister (Big families suck sometimes), who returned it to my mom and by that time my mom thought it was hers. No worries, I wrestled it away from her thieving fingers last week, and I finally read it.

Jeff Savage posted about the morality dilemma that many people are debating about this book, if you want to read it, and some great comments, go here. I'm not going to debate the morality, mostly because I didn't have a problem with it. Yes, they spent the night together--BUT they did not have sex, they didn't even really make-out. And, the hero is a vampire that's trying to keep himself from killing her, so not only did they not have sex but he didn't kill her either--that's good stuff. To me, the story was fantastic (as in fantasy) enough that I did not feel it handed out any 'go to hell' cards. As I said before, my 13 year old read it before I did, then I heard the debates and I worried about what she'd been exposed to. But I've now read Twilight and New Moon, and it's just not an issue for me. They did not have sex. I don't think a teenager is going to read it and then think it's okay to do what Bella and Edward do--but they still did not have sex. Watch just one MTV video, or a shoe commercial for that matter and ask yourself if sex was on the agenda--I bet it was. In my opinion, the fact that there is a moral compass, the fact that such restraint is showed is a good thing. And the fact that it's a fantastic story (again, as in fantasy driven) I'm cool with it. I also told my daughter that if a vampire showed up in her room she was to tell me and not let him stay. She agreed that would be an appropriate response. We might need to come up with a signal.

So outside of liking the non-sex that took place, what did I think of the book? I liked it. Now, I have some complaints (of course, anyone that's ever had a conversation with me about any book I've read knows I always have complaints) and for me the problem with the book was that the story was boring. The precept was great, the hook was powerful, the writing was fabulous, the characterization wonderful, and the building climax was intense--but that whole 150 pages in the middle--yawn. I liked learning about the vampire stuff, and that nearly fooled me into thinking there was a plot, but then I'd read 18 pages of pure telling dialogue and realize that nothing was happening. The best books have good internal and external conflict that leads to ACTION, and there was tons of opportunity for action, it just didn't happen much. And yet, because of all the good stuff I liked, I read it anyway and, as I said, I liked it.

I picked up New Moon yesterday and finished it today. I liked it better than Twilight because stuff happened all the way through. As soon as my house recovers from my neglect, I'll read Eclipse as well.

And, I only have one book left on my summer reading thing 2007--Peace Like a River, which I can't seem to find anywhere in my two bookstore town. Annoying. But I am hunting it down tomorrow so I can finish my list.

I'd love to know what anyone else thinks of the series, and don't worry about spoilers for Eclipse. I basically know what happens, and I'll read it anyway. Also, according to Meyer's website there will be a book four, and a fifth book in the series that deals with some already written scenes from Edward's point of view--very cool idea.

Summer Reading Thing 2007: Two strikes, one homer

Strike one . . .

This is the second James Patterson novel I have read, well, the second one I've picked up--I didn't finish reading it. I made it to about the 4th chapter, which was about two chapters further than I ought to have gone. I must be getting old, but I just don't tolerate the icky stuff I used to not mind so much. The thing is, I love a good mystery. I love the drama, I love the conflict, I love the intensity and the way my heart races--and yet I don't want sexual sadism or stomach churning descriptions. The crux of the 'killer' in this book was "What's the worst thing anyone has ever done?" and I'm assuming the rest of the book is his attempts to top himself after killing newlyweds. No thanks. I will likely try a Patterson again, since I liked the other book by him that I read, but I'll be more careful in the ones I spend my time and money on. I paid $8 for it and gave it to DI.



Strike Two . . .

This was my stretch book--what does it say about me that I could not reach it? The paperback I got from the library was 704 pages--daunting for me if there are no Hippogriffs--and I made it to page 43. I enjoyed those 43 pages, or at least the 20% or so that I could make sense of. The information was interesting, but the context was one I have such little understanding of that it took me hours and hours to read these pages and there was just so much I didn't understand. I felt it was written for someone that already knew the basics of Einstein, for instance it would introduce someone and add a snippet about how important this person later was to Einstein's discovering of Quantum Grifindorum--but as this happened over and over again, it led me to feel even more out of the loop than ever. So, I called uncle, but with good feelings as we parted ways. I find Einstein fascinating and love what I did learn about him. Maybe if I had more disposable time I would invest it here, maybe there is another biography that is easier to read. Either way, this book was not for me.


Home Run!

I didn't set this up as my stretch book, but since pulling a muscle on Einstein, this could take it's place. The title is 'Simplify' but that does not mean it's simple. In fact, I started this book in April and finished it in August, I followed the author's advice to read one chapter at a time, often going weeks in between so that I could really bring the chapter home in my life and make it work. When I closed the book I felt as if the things I had learned were ones I really could count on to make my life a little better, a little richer, a little easier to navigate. I loved the authors not-perfect voice, I loved her realness, and I loved the topics she chose to focus on. I am not a big self-help reader, I find most self-help books to be idealistic and guilt-driven, but this was neither of those things, at least to me. I highly recommend this to anyone that would like to simplify, and needs to be challenged, but doesn't want to feel preached to or hit over the head with it. The advice in the book is something you can fit to any life and feel good about.

Summer Reading Thing 2007: Harry Potter 7 (no spoilers)

So, I didn't put Harry Potter 7 on my Summer Reading Thing 2007, but I've added it now. What was I thinking? Like I WASN'T going to read it this summer? Whatever. So I got it around 12:20 Friday night and finished it Sunday. Beyond the great story, I love seeing how Rowling's overall writing has improved. She's been a great storyteller ever since Sorcerer's Stone, but through reading her books you see her growth as a writer, and this one was really well done, with certain sentence structure and description I found myself wanting to remember for my own writing.

Last week I made the following predictions to an e-mail group I belong to, LDStorymakers. I believed the following would happen:

*Snape is good and had to kill Dumbledore to stay close enough to Voldemorte to help with the final scenes

*Ron and Neville die

*Hermonie and Harry comfort each other

*Serius comes back

*Draco Malfroy becomes good

*Harry becomes either a) an auror
b) the new dark arts teacher at Hogwarts

and then on Julie Wright's blog I said no way was Harry a Horecrux.

Well, I was right about one thing for sure, and kinda one other thing, maybe a third if you really stretch, but I won't tell you which ones.

I read this in about 8 hours, around page 300ish it sagged a bit for me, but it also seemed like there was a lot more introspection in this book which generally slows the pace. Rowling is brilliant in her descriptions of places and people, compacting so many details into a sentence or two, and her imagination leaves me in the dust. There were a few twists I didn't quite understand, and I should go back and read through them to get clear, but the book is 759 pages, I was lucky to read it once, let alone go back to it.

I loved the book and she ended it in a way that was very satisfying. I'm not even that sad that the series is over. If I were Rowling, I would want to end on a high-note and in our day of critics, how long can that last? Too much of a good thing eventually sours and so I'm impressed with her commitment to move on and wish her the best. Can't wait for the next two movies. I've watched the first four twice in the last two weeks--can't wait until we have all of them.

Summer Reading Thing 2007: Metro Girl

I've finished my second book as part of my Summer Reading Thing 2007 goal and am ready to report!

If you've ever read Janet Evanovich you probably know what I'm going to say, if you haven't read her before, I want to say right up front that I am not endorsing her. She's out of my usual reading barrel and if you're a conservative reader, you will likely not enjoy this book.

Metro Girl is a suspence PI type novel written in first person, which I don't always like (Julie Wright and Sue Graphton are my exceptions) and it moved very fast, perhaps too fast at times. There was a lot of sexual content, though no actual sex scenes, as well as suggestive dialogue and bold descriptions of things which I felt the book could have done without. But the story was good. The characters were also well done and pretty well developed for a first person novel. I especially appreciated all the imperfections and quirks of the main character, Barney. Evanovich had a fun writing style that was quick and quippy, with fun ending statements and a quick wit. I'd have liked to shake the book upside down and get rid of the dirt--in my mind it would have been a better read--but it could also have been worse.

Will I read Evanovich again? I don't know. Maybe if I have a four hour flight and nothing new by Sue Graphton. She's a worldly writer, and not something I'd read a lot, but I also won't swear her off forever. How's that for being of the world? Anyone else ever read her? What did you think?

2 down, 8 to go.

Summer Reading Thing 2007: Counting Stars

I pre-ordered this book and yet with the insanity of adjusting to summer vacation had a hard time finding time to get into it. The author Michele Holmes, is a wonderful writer and her first book is a sign of good things to come in LDS fiction. Counting Stars is one of the books that reflects a growing trend in what readers want from LDS fiction--we want meat. We want emotion, and conflict and a book that shows good, yet imperfect people--people like us. Counting Stars does a great job of this.

The story is about Jane; plain-Jane, thirty-something
-single-Mormon Jane, Hopeless-romantic-lonely-Jane. A girl who wants more than she has and doesn't know where to look for it anymore. And then suddenly her life not only changes when she answers a personal ad in the paper, but it is rolled down a hill at break neck speeds. Suddenly, lonely Jane, is not so lonely. And yet the new circumstances of her life are NOTHING she could have imagined. Through the story we see Jane's nature reflected in the lives of many people, you truly do laugh and cry and unless your kids exhaust you like mine do, it will keep you up at night. The last fifty pages of the book were incredible--don't plan anything for that last little stretch--you'll be late if you do. I can't tell you a single thing more or I'll give something away, and I hate giving things away.
Suffice to say that I enjoyed the issues she tackled--those are my favorite books, the ones that delve into the hard situations and this one is definitely one of them and it's been a long, long time since I've read a book that required Kleenex.

My complaint (because I don' t think it's fair to be less than honest in a review even when I love, love, love the person that wrote it) was that the middle 100 pages seemed so slow down for me. Certain motivations didn't seem to be carried through as well as I would have liked and the pacing was different. The beginning and end were fast and tight, which is probably why I noticed the difference in the first place.

I'm excited to see Michele's next book and loved that the first chapter of the sequel is included in the book. I definitely recommend Counting Stars, it's a great book.

Summer Reading Thing 2007

Karlene at Inksplasher has started up a Summer Reading Thing 2007, basically a reading motivation program that has prizes attached. The basic rules are to post a book list by June 29th, and be sure to link to it through Mr. Linky (a link tool, nothing scary, no membership required). Then you simply read the books on your list, post reviews if you want to, and at the end of the summer report back and be put in the prize pool.

Sounds like fun to me, and since I'm going to be reading anyway, what's there to lose? So here are my ten books with links added so you can go read up on them yourself. I have had a horrible time lately finishing books, I read them, then misplace them and don't get back to them. So beyond the expectations of this program, I promise to FINISH every title :-)

You're supposed to link your book titles to Amazon, but they didn't have them all so I used Deseret Books online store for some of them.

1--Counting Stars by Michele Holmes
2--Simplify by Carolyn J. Rasmus
3--Finding Peace, Happiness & Joy by Jeffery R. Holland
4--Twilight by Stephanie Meyer
5--A bend in the Road by Nicholas Sparks
6--Three Tickets to Peoria by Lael Littke, Caroll Morris & Nancy Anderson
7--Einstein: His Life and Universe by Walter Isaackson
8--1st to die by James Patterson
9--Metro Girl by Janet Evanovich
10--Peace Like a River by Leif Enger

If you would like to participate, go to Summer Reading Thing 2007 to sign up and read the full instructions. And then let me know too, of course, so I can check in and leave a comment. Happy Reading!