Bi-Monthly Book Reviews

Happy St. Patrick's Day!!  Below you will find my bi-monthly book list and brief reviews with 5 stars being the best.

BOOK REVIEWS

When She Woke, Hilary Jordan - 5 stars
I found this to be a RIVETING, creative novel based on the book The Scarlet Letter.

Getting Past Your Past:  EDMR (which stands for Eye Desensitization Movement and Reprocessing) by Francine Shapiro - 2 stars
EDMR is something that I've been working on personally.  The whole concept is extremely complicated and someday I'll share my experience.  This book does a decent job explaining the process.

Sarah's Key, by Tatiana de Rosney - 5 stars
I LOVED this book about the French involvement in the concentration camps of World War II - great book.

12 Tribes of Hattie, by Ayana Mathis - 3 stars
This is Oprah's Book Club current pick, but the book focuses on 12 different characters and I really wanted to know more about each one so I felt a bit frustrated but the book was well worth my time.

The Dressmaker of Khair Khana, by Gayle Tzemach Lemmon - 4 stars
This is our book club pick for March and I thoroughly enjoyed this book about a female entrepreneur and her family in Kabul, Afghanistan.  I feel like I learned more about the Afghan culture and it was non-violent as compared to 10,000 Splendid Suns and the Kite Runner (amazing books btw).

MY NEXT READ:

Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern - I'm excited to delve into this novel.

Thank-you to Lit Lovers for the adorable cartoon

My St. Patrick's Day was full of house chores and a great ski with my friend Colleen.  How was your St. Patrick's Day?  What book do you recommend?  If I had to pick a book from above I'd pick Sarah's Key first with When She Woke as a close second.

Thanks for reading,

Kristin

P.S. - I heard Gail Francis speak this week about her adventurous hike along the entire Pacific Crest Trail (California to Canada) and her presentation was amazing and inspiring - she's writing a book too.  I bring this up because I want to remind you about the book Wild by Cheryl Strayed which I still highly recommend if you haven't read it yet.

Book Update

Since I'm in Washington DC with some time to kill (I'm not inclined to roam the city at night by myself), I felt the urge to write an updated book review since my last book list written in January.

My mom has a crazy passion for books unlike no one else (seriously!), so it didn't surprise me when she set up a "Little Free Library" in her front lawn filled with good books for anyone to grab.

Here's information about the Little Free Library movement.  Gosh, I would love to set one up in my community of Seeley but I have to make sure I have the time to properly care for it.  Isn't that a cool idea?? 

Here's a list of my books in 2012:

• The Sun Also Rises, Ernest Hemingway  - 1 thumb up
• The Immortal Times of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot    - 1 thumb up
• 50 Shades of Gray by E.L. James - 1 thumb up 
• 50 Shades Darker - 0 thumbs up
• 50 Shades Freer - negative 0 thumbs up
• The Sense of an Ending by Julian Barnes - 2 thumbs up
• Quiet: The Power of  Introverts, Susan Cain- 2 thumbs up

As I said in my earlier post, I read a non-fiction book in between every fiction book but Quiet is a long book so I picked it up in between each book I read above.  I really, really loved this book mainly because I've spent a lot of my life disliking the fact that I'm on the quiet side or that I'm not good about promoting myself or any accomplishments.  Anyway, I highly recommend this book for an introvert looking for validation or trying to figure out how to better communicate or co-exist with an extrovert.

Currently, I'm reading The Tiger's Wife by Tea Obreht and so far I'm REALLY enjoying it.

My trip to DC has been great!  My favorite hang-out has been the local whole foods market and the white house garden (pictures coming soon).

On the back side of the Washington Monument.  My pictures have been turning out GREAT because of the amazing clouds and the way the sun is hitting.  LOVE IT.

I had two big rookie mistakes though on my first day.  First of all, I reached in my suitcase and pulled out a gun.  Yes, one of my boys put an air soft gun in my suitcase and I really have no idea how or why they would've put it in there.  Zoinks - so glad no one searched my suitcase.  Then, the first time on the subway I hoped on the wrong train (oops), and I wore cute but uncomfortable shoes and then walked close to 10 miles.  Luckily, I was able to go barefoot on the clean DC streets.

More to follow!!


What book are you reading?

Kristin