All the Missing Girls

Fiction by Megan Miranda.


http://www.barnesandnoble.com

This was the selection for my online book club this month. It was supposed to be a thriller but I had some trouble staying interested in it.

Six Years

Fiction by Harlan Coben.


http://www.barnesandnoble.com

This was a great thriller about a guy searching for his lost love. Not in a sappy way, mind you, but in a butt-kicking way that's much more exciting. I liked it a lot!


I also read recently by this author: Gone for Good

Alaska

Fiction by James Michener.


http://www.barnesandnoble.com

This is one long book. 1152 pages, according to the webpage above. I listened to it on audiobook, however, where it's measured at a whopping 57 hours and 19 minutes. That's a lot of time. This thing took me months to get through.

It had a lot of good history in it, but I had some troubles staying interested for such a LOOONNNGGG time. I would get interested in a character, and then he'd finish with them and move on to someone else. I guess there's no way around switching characters when you're trying to cover millions (yeah, MILLIONS!!) of years in a story, but still...

I dunno if I'd recommend this one or not. It depends on how much time you have , I guess.

Black and Blue

Fiction by Anna Quindlen.


http://www.barnesandnoble.com

I've loved everything I've read by Anna Quindlen. Since this was one of her early books, I was prepared to lower my expectations; however, it was not necessary.

This was both a character novel and a thriller, a story about a woman fleeing her abusive husband.


I also read by this author recently: Miller's Valley

Talk Before Sleep

Fiction by Elizabeth Berg.


http://www.barnesandnoble.com

So... this book is about a woman whose best friend dies of breast cancer. This is not a spoiler, because it's obvious from page one. The sleep referred to in the title is of the dirt-nap variety. There is no hope of recovery.

Now, I don't expect a story like that to be cheerful, but it was a bit too bleak for me.

Two by Two

Fiction by Nicholas Sparks.


http://www.barnesandnoble.com

Okay. I really like Nicholas Sparks as a writer, and I usually enjoy his books. However, I had some trouble with this one at the beginning. Here's my summary of the first half of the book:

Once upon a time there was a guy. He was completely awesome. Mind you, he wasn't perfect, but his flaws were so minor as to be almost imperceptible to the naked eye. Certainly, he was ALMOST perfect. But this awesome guy had a problem: he was married to a terrible terrible woman. But, because he was so VERY awesome, he tried very hard to love and understand this terrible terrible woman. He even tried to make excuses for this woman, so that others wouldn't see how very terrible she truly was, but it was obvious to the reader that she was a complete B. Clearly the only solution here would be to divorce this witch, but our awesome hero would never do such a thing. What is an awesome guy to do?

Clearly, I had some trouble swallowing this premise. (And yes, I admit that if had been about a saintly long-suffering WIFE married to a complete jerk I'd have had no problems. Sorry. Call me sexist.) The whole setup seemed very contrived. Why was the author trying so hard to make us see the blamelessness of his protagonist? So I looked up Nicholas Sparks, and found that he just recently divorced his OWN wife of over 25 years. AHA!! I said. NOW we understand the statement he is making.

Be that as it may, once I got past the first half of the book and the B was finally out the door, the novel got way better. So it was okay, I guess?



I also read recently by this author: See Me

Sky Raiders (Five Kingdoms #1)

Youth Fiction by Brandon Mull.


http://www.barnesandnoble.com

I've been reading this book to the twins, who are about to turn nine.

It was unexpectedly scary at the beginning, since I picked it up at the thrift store and didn't know what it was about. It started out as a regular sixth-grade kid going to school with his regular sixth-grade friends, and then WHOA! BAD THINGS started happening. The twins were shocked. (So was I.)

And for those of you who think I should have known what was coming from the scary-looking cover --what IS that crazy black crab thing?!-- remember, I got it from the thrift store. It had a much calmer cover, I promise.

Anyways, it's pretty good so far. I might keep reading the series even if the twins lose interest.

Crazy Rich Asians

Fiction by Kevin Kwan.


http://www.barnesandnoble.com

This book was recommended to me by a friend. She is from Hong Kong so she probably got the jokes without reading the footnotes, but even a white-bread like me could appreciate the over-the-top fun of these crazy characters.

So I was expecting to see inside a different culture from a slightly humorous perspective, but I didn't realize the story would be so good as well! I enjoyed this book.

The Women of the Silk

Fiction by Gail Tsukiyama.


http://www.barnesandnoble.com

Set in early twentieth century China, this was a good character novel. I enjoyed reading it, and was disappointed when it ended.