Third Quarter Books

These were not the best months for reading.  I have been so busy and still adjusting to life as a mother of two so I haven't had as much time to read.  I've had to return lots of books that I never got a chance to start, and I've wasted time on a few duds.  Better luck next quarter.

Excellent
20. Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell- Bryan and I listened to this on our drive to Utah and we kept having to stop it to discuss.  It was fascinating, and excellently read by the author.

Great
21. Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card- We listened to this on our drive to Oregon.  I struggled in the beginning to figure out or like any of the characters, but about halfway through this changed and I really got into it.  I'm not the biggest fan of sci-fi, but I did think this was very well-written and a great story.

22. Serena by Ron Rash- This was really fun to read.  It's set in a North Carolina lumber camp in 1929.  The owner of the camp brings home his new wife- Serena- whom he's madly in love with, but most of the camp is not so sure about her.  I liked how the story was told from many different perspectives, but never from Serena herself.

23. Sisterland by Curtis Sittenfield-  This book had a great premise- twin sisters have psychic powers but other than that are quite opposite and choose very different paths in life but are brought together when one sister predicts a powerful earthquake.  I love when authors piece together a story by going back and forth between the present and the past.  But the ending of the book kind of killed me.  I've had a few weeks to think about it and I understand why what happened happened, and I can even see how it was a good ending.  But in reading I had connected with the characters so much and I hated the outcome of their story.  It still was a great book though.

Good
24. To Whisper Her Name by Tamera Alexander- This was cute romance set in the south right after the Civil War (which gave it a soft place in my heart.)  It was quite predictable, but fun to read while relaxing on the beach.

25. Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn- This book was intriguing, fascinating, and unpredictable.  I perhaps could have loved it, except it had way too much vulgarity and was so dark and negative.  I kept going and finished it, but I'm not sure if I'm glad I did.

Meh
26. The Audacity of Hope by Barack Obama- I thought this would be more of his story and less about his political views, but I was wrong.  And, I was not interested in his politics so I only read the first couple chapters then returned it to the library.

27. The Zookeeper's Wife by Diane Ackerman- I heard this was great, and I tried really hard to like it but finally gave up halfway through.  At first I didn't realize it was nonfiction and I thought I was being given background knowledge before the story began.  But it was taking forever to get going.  I finally realized it was not fiction, but I was too disillusioned.  I wonder if I had known it was nonfiction from the beginning if I would have enjoyed it more.

Second Quarter Books, First Quarter