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 weeks 10 recommendations (in no particular order):

　

1. The Way of the Wizard by Deepak Chopra
2. Everyone is Beautiful by Katherine Center
3. Back Roads by Susan Crandall
4. Crescent and Star by Stephen Kinzer
5. Destiny of the Republic by Candice Millard
6. The Guardian Angelino series (starts with Edge of Sight) by Roxanne St. Clair
7. On Love  by Alain de Botton
8. Never Knowing by Chevy Stevens
9. The Paris Wife by Paula McLain
10. Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn

Consider the Lobster

Consider the Lobster and Other Essays by David Foster Wallace

Amazon Description:

“Do lobsters feel pain? Did Franz Kafka have a funny bone? What is John Updike's deal, anyway? And what happens when adult video starlets meet their fans in person? David Foster Wallace answers these questions and more in essays that are also enthralling narrative adventures. Whether covering the three-ring circus of a vicious presidential race, plunging into the wars between dictionary writers, or confronting the World's Largest Lobster Cooker at the annual Maine Lobster Festival, Wallace projects a quality of thought that is uniquely his and a voice as powerful and distinct as any in American letters.”

My Thoughts:

I enjoyed this one…but didn’t absolutely love it. I have tried to read “Infinite Jest” several times and I just can’t get my teeth into it.  I liked Wallace better here, in essay mode, as I can only seem to read him in small doses. The essays were descriptive and entertaining and I thought about the subject matter after finishing the book. So I would recommend…but warn that you may or may not enjoy Wallce’s style.

Thrill Me to Death

Thrill Me to Death by Roxanne St. Clair

Amazon Description:

“Max Roper never lets emotion get in the way of his job -- not since the tragic shooting that killed his fiancée's father. Now the former DEA agent is a Bullet Catcher, and he's managed to block out Cori's bitter goodbye -- and their sizzling passion. Those dangerous desires come back with a vengeance when Max is assigned to protect a recently widowed heiress: who turns out to be Cori. But Max must also discover his ex's dark secret...and they both know she can't hide anything from him. Her luxury lifestyle suggests that Cori has gone from being a trophy wife to a merry widow, but nothing could be further from the truth. Suspicious of her billionaire husband's sudden death, she hires a bodyguard. But her protector is the one man who can melt her every defense -- the one man she blames for her deepest sorrow, the one man whose six-feet four-inches of solid muscle ignites reckless passion in her. And as they close in on a killer who hides in plain view, their high-stakes affair could cost her everything...including her life”

My Thoughts:

I enjoy St. Clair books, but this one was mediocre for me. I was bored…

Monday Recommendation List

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 weeks 10 recommendations (in no particular order):

1. Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck
2. Intimacy  by Hanif Kureishi
3. Don’t Know Much About History by Kenneth Davis
4. Match Me If You Can by Susan Elizabeth Phillips
5. Head Over Heels by Jill Shalvis
6. Unlikely Friendships by Jennifer Holland
7. Senseless by Mary Burton
8. Deep Down True by Juliette Fay
9. God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater by Kurt Vonnegut
10. The China Study by Colin Campbell

The Seven Steps to Closure

The Seven Steps to Closure by Donna Usher

Amazon Description:

“Tara Babcock awakes the morning after her 30th birthday with a hangover that could kill an elephant - and the knowledge she is still no closer to achieving closure on her marriage breakup. Things go from bad to worse when she discovers that, not only is her ex-husband engaged to her cousin - Tash, the woman he left her for - but that Jake is also running for Lord Mayor of Sydney. Desperate to leave the destructive relationship behind and with nothing to lose, she decides- with encouragement from her three best friends - to follow the dubious advice from a magazine article, Closure in Seven Easy Steps.”

My Thoughts:

This author has promise. I enjoyed her style but the book was entirely too long. Not just a little too long…but very much too long. Good plot, some good writing, but in desperate need of a strong editor.

Red Hill

Red Hill by Jamie McGuire

Curiously, I’m not sure how an author goes from a steamy romance to apocalyptic nightmare. I tried to get into this one, but couldn't.

Overall, this was not my type of read. If you dig horror you might like it.