September/October Books

Once again I'm tardy with my list of reads for the past few months so I'm combining the past 2 months into just one post. And after having typed that I realized I didn't even keep track of my October reads so I'll have to do my best by memory. Oy.

September:

1. The Golden Notebook - Doris Lessing.   The book is off our 501 Must Read list and at the beginning I felt it had some promise. Sadly I felt it never panned out. The book started interesting but I found that 1/2 way through it started to get confusing and frustrating. It was hard keeping up with what the real story was and what the make believe versions were. It make for a difficult read towards the end.

2. Oranges are Not The Only Fruit - Jeanette Winterson.  Another book off the 501 Must Read list. This was an interesting concept for a book but it was certainly depressing. The story follows a girl from youth to adulthood and her struggles with religion and her sexuality. The book didn't really have any closure which made it hard to put it down even after I put it down.

3. Night of Many Dreams - Gail Tsukiyama.  This is the second book I have read from Gail and I think I enjoyed the other one more. I liked the characters, and the idea behind the book but I didn't feel connected to the characters. It's like she just scratched the surface of the characters so you had a hard time feeling for them in each situation. I love mother/daughter/sister stories like this but I felt Gail could have made it a little longer with more character development.

4.  State of Wonder - Ann Patchette. I've read 2 of her other books and I find her to be a decent writer. The book was alright but ending seems to wrap up very fast and in a very odd way. I wasn't fond of the twist as it seemed so unbelievable.

5. The Last Champion - Rick Riordan. Maybe I would have felt different about this book if I had realized it was the last one. For some reason I thought there was 1 more so when I got to the end and realized it was over I sort of felt jipped, like I didn't get to enjoy it as much.


October

1. The Corrections - Jonathan Franzen.  This was a pretty depressing story. The characters were pretty messed up but I have to say I did feel for the mom who still wanted to at least pretend they held normal lives. It was such a desperate attempt at normalcy that it was sad as she didn't know how screwed up her own kids were. It was still an interesting book but not at all uplifting.

2. The Pursuit of Love - Nancy Mitford. Hilarious. I just read my notes on this book and I only wrote 'Ok. Nothing memorable'. And I'm sitting here and can't remember anything about the book!!!  Take that as a sign maybe to leave this one be.

3. Vendetta - Michael Didodin. this is a mystery where you follow the character of a detective. Part way through the book I realized that this is not the 1st book but it's the 2nd in a series so there was some back story that didn't make any sense to me.  I enjoyed the beginning of the book so purchased the 1st and 3rd book in the series but then found the book to kind of fall apart at the end. I'll read the 1st book and hope I like it enough to get through the 3rd!

4. Cleopatra's Daughter - Michelle Moran. Very much like her other books. Just an escape from some heavier books I read. They are all starting to seem similar but still an easy read and enjoyable.

5. I can't remember the last book I read so will need to wait until all loaned out books return and then I can add it here ;)