Shades of Milk and Honey, by Mary Robinette Kowal

I finally found time to start (and finish!) a book! And this one was a great one to get me back in the game, again!

If you like Jane Austen, you'll love this romance.  It's not mush and gush; it's just lovely.  :)  It sort of has a Sense and Sensibility feel to it.  There's a twist, though:  the author has her characters practicing magic as if it were just another talent young women learn to catch a beau.  I generally don't go for the magic-type books, but this one was worth the read.  I would take it with me in the car or to bed or wherever I could get a spare minute to read! I have the sequel on hold at the library, so stay tuned for the next one! :)

***Added July 13, 2012***

Tried reading the sequel.  Not as good as the first.  Didn't captivate me like the first one did.  Never finished it.

Hiatus

As you may have noticed, I haven't blogged about a book, lately. 

I had a baby January 24th and he's healthy and cries a lot.  ;) 

My MIL has confirmed that he is NOT a calm baby.  None of my babies are calm babies. 

They grow up to be healthy, independent, smart and confident kids, though.

Until then, my time is being taken up by this smallish person who's quite needy.

I look forward to the time when I can lose myself in a world other than my own.  :)

Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Cabin Fever, by Jeff Kinney

This is Kinney's most recent addition to his much-loved series.

I read it because I read the other ones and I'm anal enough to have them all read. 

I think this one was my favorite in that it was the least obnoxious.  It wasn't the funniest one, though.  It's a quick read, does have some funny parts, and will surely be a favorite to your son or daughter if they liked the other ones.  :)

Matched, by Ally Condie

This, I guess, is the first of a trilogy... of which I will not be finishing.

It was an ok book - took me a while to get it read due to my having a baby (!!!) and not being that interested in it.

It greatly reminded me of the Hunger Games - taking place in the future, a girl who has to choose between two guys (one she's paired with, one she's not), an all-powerful government that pretty much controls everything that happens because of chaos that happened in the past resulting in war, teenagers rebelling against the system, everyone being seperated into districts or providences... VERY similar. 

It's about a girl who's matched with a guy, her best friend.  But, she falls in love with someone she's not supposed to fall in love with and wants to rebel and make her own choices.  The government she has to answer to controls everything - from the food they eat, the songs they listen to, to when they die.  It was mildly entertaining, but not enough to get me to want to finish the series to find out what happens.  Maybe some day.  Who knows.  :)

It's a Book, by Lane Smith

This is one of the best books I have ever read.  Not kidding.

It's a children's book that my husband found at our local library... it's perfect for this day and age, he says.  So, I read it.  And laugh... and laugh! It's perfectly cute and funny and just perfect.  ;)

If you want to read it, click here - I highly recommend that you do, it'll only take you two minutes.  **You have to read the very first page it shows for the ending to be as funny as I thought it was.

Love it!

Lost December, by Richard Paul Evans

This book came out November 11th - the day of my last posting.  I didn't even get it until some time after that - and then I put off starting it because if you've ever read one of his books you know that they're super fast reads - and I just didn't want it to end so quicky!

This was a good one, of course.  It's a modern day story of the prodigal son.  It has your life lessons, your quotes you'll want to write down and remember, your deep and profound thinking, and of course, your love story.  It's a book about harsh reality, love and forgiveness.  You'll want to keep reading it as soon as you start.  And the ending - totally rocks!

I have to say, though, towards the end, it almost seemed as though he realized he was getting carried away with the story and tried to shorten the good parts just so he could get them all in before he hit a certain page number.  It was a very good story, though, and very well-written, otherwise.  :)  I hope he never stops putting these babies out.  ;)

The Shepherd's Song, A Christmas Story by Larry Barkdull

I found this little jewel among my own collection; though, where it came from, I do not remember.  (Probably my mother-in-law.)  Whatever the case, I'm glad it was there for me to find, it was needed at this time in my life.

Mostly, I'd say this is for the religious person, as someone who isn't Christian might not appreciate it as I did.  It's just a short, sweet story about a shepherd, Joshua ben Levi, going through the hardest trial of his life.  His wife is eight months pregnant, has been bleeding, her water has broken and she's in heavy labor.  The baby hasn't moved for two days.  The midwives don't look hopeful for either life at stake.  Amid serious and painful contractions, Joshua's wife tells him he has to pray.  God will bless them this day. 

He gathers his sacrificial lamb and reluctantly leaves his wife to walk to Jerusalem to the temple there to pray.  Before he leaves, his father offers him words of comfort as he, too, lost his wife during childbirth.  He tells him God did not abandon him that day, but the question remained - would he abandon God? Even now, as I type this, I cannot think of this without tearing up.  This was read in a moment in my own life when I was facing a trial that I felt I was alone in facing.  I refused to pray as I didn't feel I was getting any help.  After reading this, it was as if my Heavenly Father was reminding me that He really was there, but I needed to ask myself that same question.

*sniff*

Anyway, he travels to Jerusalem and ends up facing a journey he had not anticipated.  I'm not going to give it all away because, really, this book is worth seeking out and reading.  Truly. 

Deep and Dark and Dangerous, by Mary Downing Hahn

This one was better than the last one I read.  Although, it was strikingly similar to the one I read when I was in 5th grade.

Both stories had two girls, somehow related, who were being torn apart by a ghost girl, who drowned.  This one might have scared me a little when I was younger; it was well-written in the mystery and horror (if you will) area.  I got it for my kids, along with several other Halloween books appropriate for the season, but this one was neglected.  I had nothing else to read, so I thought I'd give it a shot.  It was decent, considering.  ;)  If you have kids in, I don't know, grades 4-6, maybe, and they like a good thrill, this would be a good book for them. 

A Three Dog Life, by Abigail Thomas

Have I mentioned how much I love memoirs? ;)

First, a little tidbit of information I learned from my husband and this book (he told me this before I read it on one of the first few pages):  Australian Aborigines slept with their dogs for warmth on cold nights, the coldest being a "three dog night". 

- Wikipedia

I've read about women losing their husbands to death, but this woman lost her husband to brain damage.  He was hit by a car, one night, and lost the front part of his brain, therefore losing any short term memory storage.  He lives in a nursing home that cares for TBI patients and she visits him once or so a week.  In this book, she comes to terms with life, who she is, what she wants, if it's selfish to not bring him home and care for him, herself (I'm with the decision she made, by the way), who her husband has become, and how to cope with the present, not paying any mind to the past or the future.  She talks about guilt, healing, living, and being happy in spite of her circumstances.  She finds simple pleasures in art, her friends, her husband, and yes, her dogs. 

I love the way this woman writes - so honest and raw.  I say raw, because she doesn't mince words, she doesn't go back over what came out on the paper and sugar-coat it.  It's real.  I feel like I was given a glimpse inside her soul, how she sees herself and probably would hope others see her.  Her writing reminded me of how I want to be able to write, or how I maybe even do write, but only in places no one else can read.  And maybe even how I sometimes write on my blogs.  Either way, I felt connected to her because of how open and real she is in this book.  I can't say enough how much I loved reading her life.  I can't imagine having to go through something like she is going through.  I'm glad I found this random book that I otherwise might never have noticed.  A real story from a real person.  Love it.  :)

Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children, by Ransom Riggs

I had this one on hold for quite a while, and finally got it and finished it a week ago.

It was definitely a peculiar book, that's for sure.  I have to wonder where some authors get their ideas - did they have a bizarre dream that, when written down with detail added, turned into some sort of novel?

This book had a mix of past, present, real, not real, and unreal, with a touch of weird.  A boy loses his grandfather, ends up in therapy about it because of the circumstances of his death, which bring out the stories he was told by him as a little boy... which leads him to the island his grandfather did most of his growing up on.  There, he finds the stories are real, that he's actually part of them, and has to choose to stay in the real world or the world he's discovered.  It pretty much leaves one hanging, almost as if there were going to be a sequel.  I doubt there will be, because it also had a sort of finality to the ending... and even if there were a sequel, I wouldn't read it.  The book was interesting enough at the beginning, but once the mystery was unravelled, the story seemed to drag on and lose its pull on me.  I finished it simply because I wanted to see how it ended, which, in my opinion, wasn't great.  The most interesting part, I'd have to say, is how the author weaved authentic, vintage photographs into the story.  I wouldn't say don't waste your time, because it might appeal to some, but I find my taste is for more realistic circumstances, and this book was full of fantasy.  Oh, well.  Not a complete waste of time.  ;)