Readers and Reading discussion

please post here about the books you read in May....feel free t comment on them too!

My May reads: rating on a 0-5 scale plus/minus


1- Witch-Hunt: Mysteries of the Salem Witch Trials~Marc Aronson
Nonfiction Young adult
rate 1
I read this for GoodReads Book Nook Cafe May group read. This is the second book by this author that I've read and I've been disappointed in both. This will be my last.

2- C. S. Lewis: The Man Behind Narnia~Beatrice Gormley
nonfiction young adult
rate 2 plus
interesting bio of Lewis.

3- The Bee Eater: Michelle Rhee Takes on the Nation's Worst School District~Richard Whitmire
nonfiction
rate 3
Interesting read about Rhee and the D.C. school system. Good companion read to the movie Waiting for Superman.

4- One Hundred Names for Love~Diane Ackerman
nonfiction
rate 3 minus
author's husband suffers a stroke. Interesting read that got a bit too repetitive and new age for me.

5- Fail Up~Tavis Smiley
nonfiction
rate: 2
okay book. It was a bit too simplistic for me.

6- C.S. Lewis: Creator of Narnia~Michael White
nonfiction
rate 3 plus
A friend loaned me this book after I mentioned that I had read a Lewis bio this month. This one was superior to the other book. I liked that it gave a balanced view of Lewis; warts and all.

7- Bookplate Special~Lorna Barrett
fiction
rate 2 minus
This is a "cozy" mystery. It is the second book I've read in the series. The main character and her sister and not very likable, imo. The plot was silly even for a "cozy" mystery. I won't be reading anymore of the series.

8-The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time~Mark Haddon
fiction
rate 4
This is a re-read for me. I read it for GoodReads Book Nook Cafe June group read. I fell in love with Christopher all over again. I enjoyed the story and the character of Christopher.

Emily, Alone - Stewart O'Nan. Emily Maxwell is an 80 year old widow living alone in a changing neighborhood in Pittsburgh and this book tells her story. There's very little action in the story, but the details of Emily's daily life are heartfelt, beautifully written and so perfect and precise that you can see and smell and feel all of them. I loved this book and have to admit that even though I'm not 80, I saw myself in a few of the passages and events. I'm not sure if anyone under the age of 40 or so would appreciate it, but I happily recommend Emily, Alone to everyone. A+

The Last Brother - Nathacha Appanah. This book is set in Mauritius during World War II where a ship full of Eastern European Jews were imprisoned after unsuccessfully trying to escape their homeland. After losing his own two brothers, a young Mauritian boy, Raj, befriends one of the Jewish boys in the prison and this is the story of their brief time together. I wasn't as taken by this book as many of the other reviewers seem to be. It was fine, but nothing very special to me. B-

Mrs. Astor Regrets: The Hidden Betrayals of a Family Beyond Reproach - Meryl Gordon. What's better than juicy, gossipy, name-dropping nonfiction about one of the richest families in America? I didn't follow this story when it was happening, but reading about it later is fascinating. When Brooke Astor was 103, her grandson sued his own father (Brooke's son Anthony) for failing to provide for Brooke properly. The story is sad because Brooke did have Alzheimer's and was in a position to be taken advantage of, but her loyal friends and staff and seemed to have her best interests in mind and came to her defense in court and in this book. Stories like these make me happy I'm not rich. A-

Emily, Alone: A Novel

The Last Brother

Mrs Astor Regrets: Inside the Unraveling of a Great American Dynasty

Hi everyone,

Here are my May reads:

Top Reads

The Exception: A Novel
Christian Jungersen
I found this book to be quite riveting and thought provoking. Set in Denmark, it explores the relationship between four women who work at the Danish Center for Information on Genocide. When two of the women receive death threats the office is thrown into turmoil. The subject matter was quite dark but by shifting the narrative among the various character's points of view the suspense was sustained throughout the entire 500 pages.

A Drop of the Hard Stuff
Lawrence Block
Vintage Matt Scudder. Set during the early eighties when Matt was still trying to make it through his first year of sobriety the plot, setting, and characterizations were all up to the standards of the best books in the series.

Good Reads

Late, Late at Night
Rick Springfield
Interesting look at the Aussie rocker/tv star's life. I did not remember how many hit songs he really had. Not a one-hit wonder at all. The book was perhaps just a bit too long but the audio performance by the author was very good.

Bent Road
Lori Roy
Very atmospheric debut set in Kansas during the sixties. Lots of small town intrigue and interesting characters but I felt overall the book was a bit overwritten and somewhat overwrought. Thought the final portion of the book was very good though so I will probably give this author another try.

The Tuesday Club Murders
Agatha Christie
Collection of 13 short stories featuring Miss Marple. Each story follows the same format but the plots were so interesting and Miss Marple such a smart sleuth that I had no problem listening to each story one after another. The audio was read by Joan Hickson.

The Big Thaw
Donald Harstad
Not quite as good as the previous two books in the series. While I did like the rural Iowa setting and very realistic police procedural aspects in this book the plot was just a bit too out there for me.

Nineteen Seventy-Four
David Peace
Extremely dark, with characters who were particularly unsavory, a plot that at times seemed to go off the rails, and some scenes that were too graphic for me. The one upside though was the intensity and style of the writing. It grabbed me from the beginning and compelled me to keep turning the pages until the end.

Live from New York: An Uncensored History of Saturday Night Live
Tom Shales
Interesting look at the late night television show that has become a pop culture institution. A bit too long and, while I usually always enjoy the oral history format, I felt some of the editing left a bit to be desired. Probably would have enjoyed it more if I was as big of fan of the show as the guys who put together the book.

Pride's Harvest
Jon Cleary
This is one of my favorite series featuring a police detective. Scobie Malone is smart, tenacious, has no hang-ups, loves his family, and does the best job he can. In this book, Scobie travels to a small Aussie town to try and solve the murder of a Japanese national who was the manager of the local cotton mill.

The Lock Artist
Steve Hamilton
For the most part I thought this was a pretty good audio though I did not think it was as great as seemingly everyone else who has read it (including the Edgar voters). I liked the first person narration and the structure of the story but felt it could have been pared down quite a bit. My audio download skipped ahead a couple of times and when I went back to listen to what I missed I did not think it was all that important. The narration was done by MacLeod Andrews who did a very good job. I will look for further audios narrated by him.

OK Read

The Tenth Case
Joseph Teller
While not terrible this legal thriller just did not do a lot for me. The plot was adequate and the characters serviceable but nothing really stood out and while I finished the book I doubt if I read further in the series.

Not a whole lot happened in Emily Alone but I did like it. I had an admiration for her spirit and consider the book a primer for my possible future!

Connie wrote: "Emily, Alone - Stewart O'Nan. Emily Maxwell is an 80 year old widow living alone in a changing neighborhood in Pittsburgh and this book tells her story."

I will be sure to pick this up since I am over forty and should appreciate it. I've enjoyed all the books I've read by Stewart O'Nan especially Speed Queen. He is definitely very versatile and does not just rewrite the same story over and over.

My May Reads

That Summer in Sicily: A Love Story byMarlena De Blasi

Rating 4/5

This was an interesting story of the last prince of Sicily

Concourse: A Bill Smith-Lydia Chin Mystery by S.J. Rozan

This was a fun mystery

You can click here to see the 10 books I read in May, along with the short reviews for each. http://www.goodreads.com/review/list/...

My top read was Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption

Other 5 star books were Avec Eric: A Culinary Journey with Eric Ripert and When the Lion Feeds by Wilbur Smith, the first in the Courtney series. I am so excited to have a series to read, something I can look forward to.

My biggest disappointment this past month was Blood, Bones & Butter: The Inadvertent Education of a Reluctant Chef. I thought it was dreadful, whiny, and poorly written.

I really loved Emily, Alone: A Novel by Stuart O'Nan. After reading and disliking two books of his, I had sworn off reading him, but am glad I changed my mind.

William Cope Moyers's Broken: My Story of Addiction and Redemption was heartbreaking and Stash had some good twists and turns.

JoAnn/QuAppelle wrote: "Other 5 star books were Avec Eric: A Culinary Journey with Eric Ripert and When the Lion Feeds by Wilbur Smith, the first in the Courtney series. I am so excited to have a series to read, something I can look forward to."

I enjoyed When the Lion Feeds too. Great larger than life characters and very vivid writing. One scene especially still sticks in my mind because it was so harrowing. I've had the second book in my TBR for awhile but have just not gotten around to reading it.

Stash looks interesting.