My Book Retreat

Good morning. It's Monday and I'm actually posting this on time!! It's been two weeks since I did a week in review, and I've actually posted several reviews since then. Yay!

Reviews and Other Posts
Snow Day by Dan Maurer
The Lake House by Marci Nault
Play Something Dancy by Dee Simon
Banned Books Week

What I'm Reading
I'm now reading Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese, which is my October book club book. I've just started it and am a bit concerned that it's so long. But I've heard good things, so hopefully I can make it through the whole thing. I'm also reading The Funny Adventures of Little Nani by Cinta Garcia de la Rosa. I'll be reviewing that children's book tomorrow.

Up Next for Me
I'm considering reading Infidel by Ayaan Hirsi Ali for Blog Action Day, which is October 16. If I don't get to that, I will probably re-review Half the Sky by Nicholas D. Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn. The theme for this year's Blog Action Day is Hum…

I'm fairly certain that this is the first time in four years that I didn't participate in Banned Books Week. So I couldn't let it get away from me completely. I was hoping to have my son write a review of the Harry Potter books, which tend to be up on the banned books lists each year. But 4th grade homework takes up a lot of time so there wasn't much extra for writing reviews!

I did want to share an interesting perspective from a parent. I went out with some girlfriends on Saturday night, and one of them asked if any of our kids had read Twilight yet. Our kids are all in 4th grade. We all said absolutely not. She said that the school librarian had recommended it to her daughter, who is also in 4th grade. At that point, one of the moms said she was surprised it was even in the elementary school library. I immediately thought of Banned Books Week! After all, it's these sorts of experiences that cause parents to overreact and request that books be banned from librarie…

ABOUT PLAY SOMETHING DANCY Los Angeles-based comedian, radio DJ, and host of the Sick and Wrong Podcast, Dee Simon has written a collection of comical and gut-wrenching personal essays about his experience as a strip club DJ in San Francisco in the early 2000s. Most of the stories in the book concern sex, drugs, venereal disease, and diarrhea or a combination thereof. Therefore, if you lack a sense of humor or are easily offended, you should probably put this one down. Having the “wet dream” job of most adolescents, Simon offers a biting, realistic, and hilarious depiction of what goes on “behind the black velvet curtains” at a gentlemen’s club from the perspective of the guy upstairs with the cheesy voice spinning Def Leppard songs.

MY REVIEW If you read the description above, you'll probably realize this isn't the type of book I read all the time! But I really enjoy a wide variety of reading, and I was looking for something funny and off-the-wall. Something similar to what…

When travel columnist Heather Bregman decides she needs to get away from her city life and her controlling fiancée, she purchases a beautiful Victorian house on the lake. She figures she'll settle in to the Nagog community and enjoy her time by the lake making new friends. But soon she realizes that the residents of this little community have all been there since they were young children, and they're all senior citizens now! They have a strong history and are not welcoming at all. The only person Heather really connects with is Victoria Rose, who grew up at the lake but moved away to chase her Hollywood dream. It's been 50 years, and Victoria is back, trying to settle into the community herself. But she is learning that old resentments are hard to overcome.
The Lake House by Marci Nault was a wonderful summer read. And although summer is over now, if you enjoy women's fiction, you'll enjoy this one. It's about friendships and what makes them last - or fall a…

Billy was a 10 year old boy in 1975, having a blast with his friends in the snow, building forts, throwing snowballs, terrorizing each other as kids do. But a little fun turned into a horror that has stayed with Billy into adulthood, bringing nightmares every time the news reports a snow day.

Snow Day by Dan Maurer is a novella, so it's a short read. It also flows so well that you may find yourself reading it in just one or two sittings. It's a tale of innocence lost. And it's presented in an intriguing format that reveals the story in pieces, making it a suspenseful thriller.

As someone who group up in the ‘70s, this story really hit close to home for me. I remember when I was 6 years old, a girl in my town was abducted and later found dead. It was shocking for everyone. But even after that incident, my friends and I had so much freedom in our neighborhood. We played in the woods, far away from any houses, often. Today, I can’t imagine giving my children that much freedo…

So two weeks ago, I said, "This is the week. Really. This time I'm going to finally write some reviews!" Yeah, and then I wrote one other post (not a review) since then. I think I'm going to have to throw in the towel and admit that there's no way I'm going to catch up. So, I'm giving up my standard review format that I've been using since 2009!!! And I'm going to do something a little easier. And I'm going to get these reviews written! Really. I am.


What I'm Reading
I finished reading Wool by Hugh Howey. Loved it!! I also read Snow Day by Dan Maurer, and I also loved that one too. Two very different books but both excellent. The Snow Day review will be up on Thursday, since it's part of a tour. The Wool review will be up soon. I think I'll write the reviews for books I have for review first. Wool was one I just read for fun.

Up Next for Me
I'm not sure what I'm going to read next. Probably my next review book: Play Some…

Summer has come and gone, and I amazed myself by reading more big books than I had expected. The Big Book Summer Challenge was hosted by Sue at Book by Book. It was a pretty easy challenge: I just had to read at least one book that was over 400 pages between Memorial Day and Labor Day. I knew I'd succeed because I had a long book scheduled for book club. But I ended up reading even more, thanks to the Chaos Walking series!

Here are the big books I read this summer:
Firefly Lane by Kristin Hannah (479 pages)
The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness (479 pages)
The Ask and the Answer by Patrick Ness (on my Nook, but the paperback is over 500 pages)

Unfortunately, I haven't managed to review any of these. I've barely written any reviews all summer. But I feel that I've accomplished something pretty significant with reading three "big" books in just three months. Since I started by book blog four years ago, I have been more focused on reviews than I have bee…

This is the week. Really. This time I'm going to finally write some reviews! I have to do it. I am so behind!! I have been reading a lot but haven't written a thing. Sorry about that!

What I'm Reading
Last week, I read Silver Linings Play Book by Matthew Quick, which is my book club's September selection. Now I'm reading Wool by Hugh Howey. I had read the first part of the book a while ago, but when I was at the airport on Sunday and saw the full book sitting there, I couldn't resist!

Up Next for Me
Next up, I'll be reading a review book, Snow Day by Dan Maurer.

What C is Reading
C finished Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix by J.K. Rowling. He loved it so I got the next one for him from the library tonight. So he's now reading Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. I held off for a while before letting him read these last few since I've heard they're pretty dark, but he said he wasn't upset by book 5, so we're moving on to 6...

W…