Good Reads – March 2013

ReadingBench

My first read of March was The Bad Beginning (A Series of Unfortunate Events #1) by Lemony Snickett.  The first lines: “If you are interested in stories with happy endings, you would be better off reading some other book.  In this book, not only is there no happy ending, there is no happy beginning and very few happy things in the middle.  This is because not very many happy things happened in the lives of the three Baudelaire youngsters.”  To be honest, I can’t remember why I picked up this book…perhaps just curious as to its popularity.  It was…just “meh” for me.    The children are told their parents are dead on the first page of the book and that they are to stay with their Uncle Olaf – who is a bad man.  The children are pretty much abused by the adults in this book – they aren’t listened to and they are in terrible situation after terrible situation. Obviously you have to suspend your disbelief to get into this book.  The writing was certainly aimed at children, as definitions were constantly brought up throughout the book. Ex: Page 2: “…occasionally their parents gave them permission to take a rickety trolley – the word ‘rickety,’ you probably know, here means ‘unsteady’ or ‘likely to collapse’ – alone to the seashore….”  (3/5 Stars)

I then finished the last in the Charley Davidson audiobook series – Fourth Grave Beneath My Feet by Darynda Jones.  (4/5 Stars)

I grabbed a free kindle read – This Little Piggy Went to the Liquor Store by A.K. Turner – mainly because I was looking for something different to read.  I am so glad I chose this one – as it was hilariously funny and even raunchy in some parts!  The book is a compilation of the author’s life from refusing to ever fall in love to falling in love and getting married, and from not wanting children to finally having kids.  For the most part, the chapters are in order of life events, but each chapter is dedicated to some crazy or quirky story.  I have to say I was laughing out loud during sections of it.  I love how the author just told it like it was. (4/5 Stars)

Always Know What To Say – Easy Ways To Approach And Talk To Anyone by Peter Murphy, was picked as a free read on Amazon kindle.  The first lines: “This book is a how to guide to making conversation with new people. I present ideas, strategies and approaches that can help you only if you apply the techniques.”  I found it to be very basic…and even patronizing at times! Oh well-at least it was a quick lil’ read while traveling.  (1/5 Stars)

Due to my increased travel time, I decided to download another audiobook Paris in Love by Eloisa James.  You know, I didn’t love this book.  I think part of the reason is because this was an audiobook, narrated by the author herself, and I didn’t really connect with her voice.  Also, I think if I had read the book as intended – it was written in a series of Facebook and Twitter posts – I would have enjoyed the structure better.  Summary, from Goodreads: “In 2009, New York Times bestselling author Eloisa James took a leap that many people dream about: she sold her house, took a sabbatical from her job as a Shakespeare professor, and moved her family to Paris. Paris in Love: A Memoir chronicles her joyful year in one of the most beautiful cities in the world.  With no classes to teach, no committee meetings to attend, no lawn to mow or cars to park, Eloisa revels in the ordinary pleasures of life—discovering corner museums that tourists overlook, chronicling Frenchwomen’s sartorial triumphs, walking from one end of Paris to another. She copes with her Italian husband’s notions of quality time; her two hilarious children, ages eleven and fifteen, as they navigate schools—not to mention puberty—in a foreign language; and her mother-in-law Marina’s raised eyebrow in the kitchen (even as Marina over-feeds Milo, the family dog).”  (3/5 Stars)

BooksMar2013

What has been your favorite read of 2013 so far?  Any recommendations for me?

 xoxoJen

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