Life as we knew it

Youth fiction by Susan Beth Pfeffer.

http://www.barnesandnoble.com

Great end-of-the-world book for young adults. My oldest daughter recommended it.

Nothing like a good post-apocalyptic novel to make you appreciate your life now. Also to make you feel like stockpiling a LOT of canned goods........

Here's a few other apocalypse books I enjoyed. (For adults...)


The "Restoration" series by Terri Blackstock, including Last Light, Dawn's Light, Night Light, and True Light.





The Host  by Stephanie Meyer. Which was far FAR superior to her more-popular Twilight books.



...and of course.....The Stand  by Stephen King.


BTW, each of these four books has the "world's-end" achived by a different mechanism: natural disaster, technological failure, alien invasion, and pestilence, respectively.

But all of them would have benefitted from those stockpiled canned goods....

Beautiful Lies

Fiction by Lisa Unger.


http://www.barnesandnoble.com

Great thriller. I highly recommend it.

A Stolen Life: A Memoir

Nonfiction by Jaycee Dugard.



http://www.barnesandnoble.com/

This book was tough to read but real.

I assumed there was a ghostwriter when I heard Jaycee had written a book, but her voice felt very authentic. So if someone wrote for her, they did a good job. You felt as if you were meeting the real Jaycee.

Reading this both terrified and fascinated me.

This One is Mine

Fiction by Maria Semple.



http://www.barnesandnoble.com

This was a pretty good book.

It had good characters and funny dialogue; however, the only problem was it had one of those main characters who just keeps doing stuff you know is WRONG for her.

After a while it just gets excruciating to read a book like that. You're like, "Please stop, protagonist. You are being so STUPID!" You feel like giving up on reading, but then you REALLY want to know what happens.

The good news is, it all ended up okay in this story. So stick it out. :)

Although I have read some books where it didn't.

Example: A Visit From the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan. I kept waiting and reading, and the characters' bad decisions just kept coming. It did NOT come out all right in the end. I was not happy.

But I guess it was a successful novel, in a way, if I'm still thinking of a year later.

I mean, unless you like to read for ENJOYMENT.....

Be a Perfect Person in Just Three Days

Children's Fiction by Stephen Manes.


http://www.barnesandnoble.com

I read this book to my nine-year-old daughter. It was funny.

It's about a kid who reads a book of the same name and tries to follow all the directions in order to become perfect. I enjoyed it.

However, here's a review from "Anonymous," who disagreed with me:

"I thought it was a kind of a not so good of a book .The reason why is because it was not that exciting it was not that funny. I still liked a little. All and all it was better than a bad book and worse than an ok book. I think it needs more adventure in it too."

Isn't that a hysterical review? That's the blurb I want on MY book cover: "...better than a bad book and worse than an ok book."

The Center of Everything

Fiction by Laura Moriarty.


http://www.barnesandnoble.com

Great book. Really really good.

It's a beautiful character novel, about a kid with a poor single mother.

For once the blurb on the front is true: "One of those novels that makes you feel sad when it's over."

Michal

Fiction by Jill Eileen Smith.


http://www.barnesandnoble.com/

This is the first in the "Wives of King David" series. It was pretty good, but I don't know if I want to go on to Abigail and  Bathsheba or not.

(Those are the other two books, if you couldn't tell. Although David had more than just the three wives. He liked the ladies, although not as much as his son did...)

This book was better than the one I just read about Hadassah, but not as good as some other Bible character stories I've read. But Michal was an interesting woman, and worth reading about.

I do think it kept in line with the Bible pretty well, so I would recommend it on that score.

So, one-and-a-half thumbs up, maybe?

Queen of Babble Gets Hitched

Fiction by Meg Cabot.




http://www.barnesandnoble.com

Book number three in the "Queen Of Babble" series. I told you I wanted to read it right away!

Meg Cabot is the Queen of Fun Fiction. Really.

The Queen of Babble in the Big City

Fiction by Meg Cabot.


http://www.barnesandnoble.com/

A fun read!

This is the sequel to The Queen of Babble, and apparently there is a third book which I'll have to get from the library right away.

I like Meg Cabot. She's funny and readable. Chick-lit at its best!

Hadassah: One Night With the King

Fiction by Tommy Tenney with Mark Andrew Olsen.

http://www.barnesandnoble.com

This book was okay but not great.

I like novelizations about Bible characters, but his one was a little disappointing. I mean, Esther is about the MOST exciting character in the Bible, but this story was a bit tepid.

Here's a little rundown of some of my favorite Old Testament novelizations:



The "Women of Genesis" Series by Orson Scott Card (Sarah, Rebekah, Rachel and Leah)
The "Chronicles of the Kings"Series by Lynn Austin (Gods and Kings, Song of Redemption, The Strength of His Hand, Faith of My Fathers)
The Red Tent  by Antia Diamant

200 Pomegranates and an Audience of One

Subtitled: Creating a Life of Meaning and Influence
Nonfiction by Shawn Wood.



http://www.barnesandnoble.com

Good book.

Short, but I like that in nonfiction. I felt like this guy made his point but didn't beat it to death.

Gives you something to think about, definitely.

As a side note, for those (like me) who care about book aesthetics, this cover looks a LOT better in person. This is a bad reproduction of the colors, which are beautifully vivid in my copy.

A Perilous Proposal

Fiction by Michael Phillips.


http://www.barnesandnoble.com

Good book. This takes a character from a previous series by the same author and expands the story a little more.

The "Shenandoah Sisters" series was four books, starting with Angels Watching Over Me, set in the time right after the Civil War. The other books were all very good.

I did enjoy this new book as well, which is apparently the beginning of a spinoff series called "Carolina Cousins."

The only thing I didn't like (in Perilous Proposal) was that it rehashed a lot of stuff from the books I'd already read. But I guess that's unavoidable.

The Heart Mender

Fiction by Andy Andrews.


http://www.barnesandnoble.com

Well, sort-of fiction, I guess. It's listed as a novel, but Mr. Andrews says it's a true story.

It was a really good book, but I couldn't get into it until Part Two.

Part One was a bunch of stuff about how he found the story and how it's true, etc. Maybe nonfiction readers like this sort of thing, but I just want to get to the story part. After I read the actual story, I might be interested in facts about it, but not before.

But that's my only complaint. I recommend starting at Part Two.

Very Valentine

Fiction by Adriana Trigiani.


http://www.barnesandnoble.com/

A romance novel with a bit of a surprise at the end.

Not bad at all.

Winter Garden

Fiction by Kristin Hannah.



http://www.barnesandnoble.com

Great book. LOVE Kristin Hannah.

Unfortunately after I started reading I realized I'd read it before.

So... on the bright side... a good enough book to read twice!