Monday!

Monday Recommendation List

Random list of 10 books Monday! I have read and enjoyed each of these enough to flag for a potential personal library purchase.

Be bold and just choose randomly, stick to your normal genre...or step outside of your normal reading zone and try something you usually wouldn’t. You can look up the descriptions at Amazon.com, or search my blog for old posts by entering the title in the little search box in the top left-hand corner and clicking the magnifying glass.

This week-- 10 recommendations (in no particular order):

1. Schindler’s List by Thomas Keneally
2. The Big Short by Michael Lewis
3. The Quickie  by James Patterson
4. The Bright Side of Disaster by Katherine Center
5. The Giver by Lois Lowry
6. Natural Born Charmer by Susan Elizabeth Phillips
7. CEO of Me by Ellen Kossek and Brenda Lautsch
8. Siblings Without Rivalry by Adele Faber
9. Lucky Man by Michael J Fox
10. The End of the Affair by Graham Greene

Monday

Monday Recommendation List

Random list of 10 books Monday! I have read and enjoyed each of these enough to flag for a potential personal library purchase.

Be bold and just choose randomly, stick to your normal genre...or step outside of your normal reading zone and try something you usually wouldn’t. You can look up the descriptions at Amazon.com, or search my blog for old posts by entering the title in the little search box in the top left-hand corner and clicking the magnifying glass.

This week-- 10 recommendations (in no particular order):

1. A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving
2. Superfreakanomics by Steven Levitt
3. Say You Love Me  by Johanna Lindsey
4. Kiss an Angel by Susan Elizabeth Phillips
5. Those Who Save Us by Jenna Blum
6. The Collector by John Fowles
7. Dreams From My Father by Barack Obama
8. A Time to Kill by John Grisham
9. Are You There Vodka, It’s Me Chelsea by Chelsea Handler
10. Black Ops Series (starts with Show No Mercy) by Cindy Gerard

Between Shades of Gray

Between Shades of Gray by Ruta Sepetys

My rating:

4 stars—I really liked it.

My thoughts:

This is a beautifully told, heart wrenching story.

Sepetys says “Some wars are about bombing. For the people of the Baltics, this war was about believing. In 1991, after fifty years of brutal occupation, the three Baltic countries regained their independence, peacefully and with dignity. They chose hope over hate and showed the world that even through the darkest night, there is light. Please research it. Tell someone. These three tiny nations have taught us that love is the most powerful army. Whether love of friend, love of country, love of God, or even love of enemy—love reveals to us the truly miraculous nature of the human spirit.”

Through this fictional work my eyes were opened to this crisis that I had never explored before. And I will research, as the author implores. I will be putting some nonfiction selections on my list!

Description from Goodreads.com:

“Lina is just like any other fifteen-year-old Lithuanian girl in 1941. She paints, she draws, she gets crushes on boys. Until one night when Soviet officers barge into her home, tearing her family from the comfortable life they've known. Separated from her father, forced onto a crowded and dirty train car, Lina, her mother, and her young brother slowly make their way north, crossing the Arctic Circle, to a work camp in the coldest reaches of Siberia. Here they are forced, under Stalin's orders, to dig for beets and fight for their lives under the cruelest of conditions.

Lina finds solace in her art, meticulously--and at great risk--documenting events by drawing, hoping these messages will make their way to her father's prison camp to let him know they are still alive. It is a long and harrowing journey, spanning years and covering 6,500 miles, but it is through incredible strength, love, and hope that Lina ultimately survives. Between Shades of Gray is a novel that will steal your breath and capture your heart.”

The Sky is Everywhere

The Sky is Everywhere by Jandy Nelson

My rating:

3 stars—I liked it.

My Thoughts:

This one is “young adult” genre. I appreciated the plot and the writing was good. However, I felt like it was fuzzy, the emotion was hard to find.  

Description from Goodreads.com:

“Seventeen-year-old Lennie Walker, bookworm and band geek, plays second clarinet and spends her time tucked safely and happily in the shadow of her fiery older sister, Bailey. But when Bailey dies abruptly, Lennie is catapulted to center stage of her own life - and, despite her nonexistent history with boys, suddenly finds herself struggling to balance two. Toby was Bailey's boyfriend; his grief mirrors Lennie's own. Joe is the new boy in town, a transplant from Paris whose nearly magical grin is matched only by his musical talent. For Lennie, they're the sun and the moon; one boy takes her out of her sorrow, the other comforts her in it. But just like their celestial counterparts, they can't collide without the whole wide world exploding.

This remarkable debut is perfect for fans of Sarah Dessen, Deb Caletti, and Francesca Lia Block. Just as much a celebration of love as it is a portrait of loss, Lennie's struggle to sort her own melody out of the noise around her is always honest, often hilarious, and ultimately unforgettable.”

Monday Recommendations

Monday Recommendation List

Random list of 10 books Monday! I have read and enjoyed each of these enough to flag for a potential personal library purchase.

Be bold and just choose randomly, stick to your normal genre...or step outside of your normal reading zone and try something you usually wouldn’t. You can look up the descriptions at Amazon.com, or search my blog for old posts by entering the title in the little search box in the top left-hand corner and clicking the magnifying glass.

This week-- 10 recommendations (in no particular order):

1. Freakanomics by Steven Levitt
2. Are You Ready by Bob Harper
3. Day After Night  by Anita Diamant
4. Seeing Red by Susan Crandall
5. Escape by Carolyn Jessop
6. 365 Things to Do With Your Kids by Bill Adler
7. The Rich and the Rest of Us by Cornell West and Tavis Smiley
8. Nine Rules to Break When Romancing a Rake by Sarah MacLean
9. Bet Me by Jennifer Crusie
10. Rizzoli & Isles Series (starts with The Surgeon) by Tess Gerritsen