Skipping Christmas

Fiction by John Grisham.


http://www.barnesandnoble.com

I read this a few years ago and it is hilarious! I decided to revisit it on audiobook this holiday season.

I definitely recommend it!

The Spymistress

Fiction by Jennifer Chiaverini.


http://www.barnesandnoble.com

An interesting story about a Richmond woman who worked against the Confederacy during the Civil War. This offended me a little bit as a Southerner, but still...

It's based on a true story.

The Last Reunion of the All-Girl Filling Station

Fiction by Fannie Flagg.


http://www.barnesandnoble.com

Great fun read. Southern fiction at its best!

Before I Go To Sleep

Fiction by S.J. Watson.


http://www.barnesandnoble.com

This was a good book about an amnesiac woman.

The moral of the story... Just because you're paranoid, doesn't mean that they aren't out to get you....

The Chaperone

Fiction by Laura Moriarty.


http://www.barnesandnoble.com

This is a really interesting story about a woman who chaperoned silent film star Louise Brooks in 1922.



Other books I've read by this author: While I'm Falling and The Center of Everything.

The Cage

Youth nonfiction by Ruth Minsky Sender.


http://www.barnesandnoble.com

A Holocaust memoir, this is the other autobiography my daughter rejected in favor of that snoozer about Einstein.

This story was well-told without being too horrifying, probably because it was intended for young people.

The Secret Daughter

Fiction by Shilpi Soamaya Gowda.


http://www.barnesandnoble.com


A really good novel about a girl from India adopted by American parents, this book tells an authentic-feeling story.

Beautiful Ruins

Fiction by Jess Walter

http://www.barnesandnoble.com

What an awesome, AWESOME book, and it's made even better by the performance of the audio version I listened to.

This is a story about the 1962 set of Cleopatra, coastal Italy, and modern Hollywood. You have to read it.

Chinese Cinderella

Youth Nonfiction by Adeline Yen Mah.


http://www.barnesandnoble.com

This is a memoir of the author's childhood in China during the 1940's. (Hint from the title: she was cruelly mistreated by her stepmother.)

I got this because I was looking for a biography/autobiography for my daughter to read for a book report. This is one of the books she rejected but I thought it was very good. (More about the other book she didn't want in a couple of days.)

My daughter ended up reading about Albert Einstein instead, by the way. Much less interesting.

(Although we did learn that Einstien had a long-lost illegitimate daughter. Which makes him a little more fun.)

7: An Experimental Mutiny Against Excess

Nonfiction by Jen Hatmaker.


http://www.barnesandnoble.com

Okay. This was a great book, and inspirational. "An experimental mutiny against excess," she says.

Oh, that really resonates, doesn't it?

But it's also...problematic. I mean, I'm an American.

Excess is my life.

Although we (probably) all agree we SHOULD "make do with less," and that "less is more," and really "it's better to give than to receive".....

We really like having all our stuff. Or at least I do.

This book was definitely food for thought.

And, although I (ironically) finished reading about how I should be spending-consuming-wasting less today, while scarfing a fast food hamburger after Christmas shopping......

I'd definitely recommend it.

Safe House: A Thriller

Fiction by Chris Ewan.


http://www.barnesandnoble.com

Good book with an interesting setting, although a little slow for "A Thriller."

The Girl Who Would Speak for the Dead

Fiction by Paul Elwork.


http://www.barnesandnoble.com

This is a story about pair of adolescent twins in 1925 who decide to pretend to contact the dead, and then deal with some unexpected consequences. Hint: People don't like you to scam them. Even back in the 20's.

I chose it because the title is cool.

It was an interesting book but not very cheerful. As one might expect from the somber title I suppose...