I've decided that this year I'm going to try a little harder to give a better description of the books I read each month. Hopefully it either spurns you on to pick up a new book or avoid others like the plague!
1. A Dance With Dragons - George R.R. Martin:
I have owned this book since July and have been ready to read it since then but knowing how long I'll potentially have to wait for book 6 I kept this book on the shelf as long as I possibly could. For anyone who has heard of the Game of Thrones series but haven't picked it up yet...you're missing out! The series is full of great writing, interesting characters, and some fantastic twists and turns! A Dance with Dragons doesn't veer from George's masterful path. I found it to be very much along the lines of the other books but left me itching for the next one. ITCHING! I won't say much about the storyline as if you haven't read the first 4 books it's pointless going into the plot!
2. Kidnapped - Robert Louis Stevenson:
This is one of our Bookies Book Club selections and I have to say it's very much in the same style of his more famous Treasure Island. It's about a young lad on a perilous adventure when his only living relative (his uncle) bribes a ship to kidnap him and sell him into slavery in America. You follow his journey when he escapes and pairs up with Jacobite who adds to his level of peril. It's fairly easy to like the main character and I feel that I enjoyed the small little jokes that Stevenson drops into the story. Worth the read to always pick up a classic author.
3. Water - Bapsi Sidhwa:
This is a book that was actually based on a movie. I've never seen the movie but I did enjoy the book enough that I would watch the movie. The book is about 1938 India and the plight of widows. In the Hindu tradition when husbands passed away the widows would become ostracised and generally sent to a widows ashram. This story follows a little 8 year old who becomes a widow and is sent away from her family. She must live in a widow ashram and beg to support herself. The story is about her journey and her budding friendship with the other occupants of the ashram. I had a feeling I knew where the story was going, and I was right, and yet I still enjoyed it all the same. Worth a read.
4. Moneyball - Michael Lewis:
I'm not going to say much about this book because it's a movie and most people have heard about it. All I have to say is that it is the LONG, BORING version of the movie. I've never read about so many stats and formulas since I took statistics in college. Just a few words of advice...don't do it.
5. Poultry Collective - Susan Juby:
Wow. What a different book as compared to the previously mentioned book. This one is lively and fun! This is the story of many characters. You follow a short time in their lives when they all end up living on the same farm together on Vancouver Island. They are all so different as there's the crunchy young single woman, the ol' timer set in his ways, the screw-up 20-something, and the young pre-teen girl who is escaping her unpleasant home life.The writing is full of really fun expressions, I loved them and wanted to start a list of them to remember. At times I felt it was like sitting down with my grandpa or great uncles; the language is very colourful and expressive. I enjoyed this book enough that I wanted it to be the start of a series of books where we follow the characters even further. Pick it up!
It was a great start to the year...let the books flow!
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