What I Read...Well I completed 9 books this year, it wasn't quite my goal of 12+, but it sure beats my record the past couple of years. I'm excited to start my
New Year's Reading Resolution of Classics, History, Biographies, and some Cookbook Reviews throw in for good measure.
1. Dear John by Nicholas Sparks
The year started off with Dear John, my first Nicholas Sparks book. It was such a great book, but then the movie was released and it turned out the way I wanted to the book to end, but by that time it just seemed ruined and untrue, although I do like Amanda Seyfried and Tatum Channing in the movie. (For those who didn't read or see the movie... total opposite ending!)
2. Garden Spells by Sarah Addision Allen The cover art of this book drew me to this book when it first came out, and I spent months picking it up and setting it back down at the bookstore, before I finally bought it in an airport and read it on my flight from Reno to Ft. Lauderdale. A tale of empowerment in women, creatively written with lots of food for thought!
3. In the Woods by Tana French This was my first book for the Aventura Book Club, and I fell in L.O.V.E with the author, Tana French. About the Dublin crime squad investigating the murder of a teen girl, and how it ties in with the disappearance of children decades ago. This book left me frustratingly wanting more... so much so that I had to read Tana French's next book and therefore not participating in book club the next month because I was became so wrapped up in Irish crime.
4. The Likeness by Tana French Turns out
The Likeness was not a sequel to
In the Woods, rather a spin-off with a new case, and the best supporting character from
The Likeness as now the main character in
In the Woods. None of my questions were answered in the second book, but the new undercover case of a college girl left me quickly turning the pages nonetheless, and wanting more from French. (I eagerly waited until July for her third book to be released.)
5. Look Again by Lisa Scottoline Read for my book club. A quick read, with a predictable outcome. A mother discovers her adopted child looks strikingly like a child who went missing some years back. It was a true,
The Face on the Milk Carton take 2.
6. Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert Surprisingly I struggled getting through this book prior to the release of the movie. All the whining and self-loathing that one goes through in a breakup, leaving you just want to shake the main character, and say, "Get over it already!" But I'm glad I read the book before the movie, because I really did appreciate the movie. Who wouldn't want to travel for a year to "find oneself"?
7. Faithful Place by Tana French After waiting for it for a few months, it was finally out! But sadly, it didn't really compare the first two novels. This one was a little more predictable, and ironic that yet again the members of the Murder Squad have a past involvement with a case dating decades old. All three books by Tana French show a realistic side to the inner battle it's members go through to protect the emotion of their involvement with each case and how they struggle ethically.
8. Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen Another book for Aventura Book Club. I read it quick because I was intrigued by the movie due out in 2011 with Reese Witherspoon and Robert Pattinson. The idea of the circus has always been a little entertaining. But the heirachy system and the truth in the way it's employees and animals were treated was what made this story great. You will understand why an "elephant never forgets".
9. Soul Survivor: The Reincarnation of a World War II Pilot by Bruce & Andrea Leininger with Ken Gross.I loved the concept of this book. And if it really is true, then I love it that much more. Although a struggle to get through the first half, I found it fascinating in the last half. About a WWII pilot who died in combat, and whose soul is reincarnated in a little boy over 50 years later, and the family's quest for answers half a century later. Read more
HERE.
To Read all
Books & Hollywood posts again from this year, click
HERE.
What were some of your favorite books this year?
