Skip to main content

Week in Review & February Recap

       aaa1

I started last week's Monday recap with the following: "Good morning. It's Monday and my kids are finally back in school after being out almost all of last week. It's refreshing to have a quiet house and to be able to focus on work today." The funny thing is that I can say the exact same thing again this Monday. Once again, my kids went to school on Monday and then were home the rest of the week. This week, I'm convinced they will actually be in school for the whole week. They better be!!

Reviews and Blog Posts

Book Review: Son by Lois Lowry
Book Review: Dark Places by Gillian Flynn

Reading
I finished reading Dark Places by Gillian Flynn in time for my book club discussion last week. I have to admit I dropped my rating a bit after talking through it with others. I did enjoy it, but there were a few too many issues with the way everything was resolved.

I then started reading The Alphabet House by Jussi Adler-Olsen, but I just couldn't get into it. So I gave up on that one and moved on to The Daughter: A Novel by Jane Shemilt, which I will be reviewing next week. After that, I'll probably start September Sky by John Heldt.

What are you reading this week? It's Monday! is hosted by Sheila at Book Journey, so hop over there if you'd like to see what others are reading too. You can also check out the younger version of It's Monday!


Month in Review: February

It's hard to believe another month is gone in 2015. It will be Spring soon! Yay! Here's what I read and reviewed in February, and a running total for the year so far.

BOOKS READ IN FEBRUARY: 6
REVIEWS WRITTEN IN FEBRUARY: 5

  1. Gathering Blue by Lois Lowry - reviewed
  2. Gooseberry Island by Steven Manchester - read and reviewed
  3. Messenger by Lois Lowry - read and reviewed
  4. Night is the Hunter by Steven Gore - read and reviewed
  5. Son by Lois Lowry - read and reviewed
  6. Relish: My Life in the Kitchen by Lucy Knisley - read
  7. Dark Places by Gillian Flynn - read

TOTAL FOR 2015

Total Books Read: 10
Total Reviews: 10


Historical Fiction: 0
Middle-Grade Fiction: 3
Picture Books: 0
Young Adult: 0
Contemporary Fiction: 2
Mystery/Thriller: 3
Science Fiction: 1
Nonfiction: 0
Memoir: 1

For review: 2
For book club: 1
For me: 7


2015 CHALLENGES

Cloak & Dagger Reading Challenge - 3/10
Travel the World in Books Reading Challenge - 1/10
Library Challenge - 4/6
Finishing the Series Challenge - 3/7
Follow my progress here
Labels:

Comments

  1. Sue JacksonMarch 2, 2015 at 6:28 PM

    ha ha Good luck with the school thing - school was closed AGAIN here today due to ice!

    I'm still trying to decide whether to read Dark Place, so I will head over to your review.

    You had a good reading month - and way to keep up on the reviews! I'm trying to get better at that this year.

    Sue

    Book By Book

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. JulieMarch 2, 2015 at 8:41 PM

      I'm trying so hard with the reviews. I don't want to let them get away from me again! Sorry to hear schools were closed there again. I'm hopeful we are finally past the winter storms here in NC. Fingers crossed!!

      Delete
  2. fredamansMarch 2, 2015 at 10:43 PM

    You did great in February for books! Happy March reading!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. JulieMarch 9, 2015 at 10:31 AM

      Yes! February was good. March is starting off slow...

      Delete

Post a Comment

Thanks for stopping by! I'd love to hear your thoughts!

Popular posts from this blog

Banned Books Week: Junie B. Jones by Barbara Park

This is the end of Banned Books Week and unfortunately, I haven't had a lot of time to write about banned books this year. But I did want to include at least one post about it, so today I wanted to share one of the book series that it seems most people are surprised to find on the list: Junie B. Jones by Barbara Park.

According to Wikipedia:
The Junie B. Jones series came in at #71 on the American Library Association's list of the Top 100 Banned or Challenged Books from 2000-2009. Reasons cited are poor social values taught by the books and Junie B. Jones not being considered a good role model due to her mouthiness and bad spelling/grammar. This is an interesting example of a banned book. Many times there are serious, controversial topics featured in books that are challenged. Things like homosexuality, drugs, vulgar language, etc. You can actually understand why people may not want their children to read those books, and why they may challenge their inclusion in school libra…
10 comments
Read more

April Reading Review

Where exactly did April go? I swear it was just the middle of March and now it's May. Once again, I'm going to provide a quick review of each of the books I read last month. For the last two weeks of the month, I participated in the Spring Into Horror Readathon hosted by Michelle at Seasons of Reading. The only rule was that you had to read at least one book that was horror, thriller, etc. I read one book that qualified. With the exception of the first book in my list, the books I mention below were read during the readathon


My book club's May selection was Just Mercy by Bryan Stevenson. I had started reading this nonfiction book about the author's work representing men, women and children who were on death row in March but finished the book in April. This is an eye-opening story that everyone at my book club discussion agreed should be required reading for law schools and police officers and even legislators who are making the laws related to judgements. I learned to…
3 comments
Read more

Book Review: The Darkest Corners by Kara Thomas

Title: The Darkest Corners
Author: Kara Thomas
Genre: Young Adult Mystery
Published: May 9, 2017
Format: Paperback
Source: Random House Children's Books
Buy on Amazon (affiliate link)


Tessa Lowell left Fayette, Pennsylvania, when she was just 9 years old, moving to Florida with her grandmother. Now she's a recent high school graduate and heading back to town to say goodbye to her dying father. With no family in town anymore, Tessa stays with the family of her former friend Callie, which is pretty awkward since she and Callie haven't spoken since they were little. Being with Callie also brings up questions that Tessa has held onto for the years since she's been gone. Questions about the testimony the young girls gave that sent a man to death row. 

I don't read many young adult novels, but The Darkest Corners by Kara Thomas was touted as "the next twisted psychological thriller," so I decided to give it a try... and I'm glad I did. While the story moves r…
1 comment
Read more