197/200

My Booky Wook by Russell Brand

My rating: 2 of 5 stars


I heard an interview with Russell Brand on Preston and Steve, and I thought he was down-right hilarious. He mentioned his book and how he will have to write another one now that he is a one-woman man who is off drugs. So I figured his book when he was a druggie prostitute would be great! Oy was I wrong. I thought it would be funny. It wasn't. Not even a little. He talks about being molested. Twice. Yikes. Not sure that is what I thought it would be. But most of all, it was just boring. Plain ole I don't want to read this anymore boring. I get it, you're wild, you're crazy, you're unpredictable. But sadly, not very entertaining.

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196/200

Impatient with Desire by Gabrielle Burton

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


This is the story of The Donner Party, reconstructed from theories, and told in the form of letters and journal entries. I found the whole tale of the journey to be heartbreaking, but interesting. The massive party felt that life would be better in California and decided to make the trek. They were caught in snow without hope of rescue. The only thing I didn't like about this book, was the jumping through time. I found some of it to be confusing in parts. But overall, it really made you sympathize with the plight of early pioneers just striving for the America dream.

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195/200

Animal Dreams by Barbara Kingsolver

My rating: 2 of 5 stars


Looking at these other reviews, I feel like the minority here. Maybe I just missed something, but I found this book to be pretty boring. Codi is quite nearly a doctor but winds up working as a 7-11 clerk instead. She lives in a loveless relationship while trying to aggressively forget her past. Her sister Hallie is a martyr who apparently can do no wrong. She moves to Guatamala to basically save the world and Codi is distraught. She moves back home to her small town in order to take care of her affection-less father who is suffering from Althzeimer's. I was bored with this book with most of the first 85% and then it hit me that if this was typical Kingsolver, that it wouldn't end well. The end, while sad, was really the only part that interested me. *I am sure there are many errors in this review because there is a stupid Science Diet ad in the way that is impossible to close.

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194/200

Cream Puff Murder by Joanne Fluke

My rating: 2 of 5 stars


I listened to this book and I felt like parts of it were absolute torture. I had listened to a different book from this series, and don't remember it being this annoying. I was hard pressed to find a character who was not childish. A 60-year-old woman is called old and she gets in a huge huff? Really? And she must say the word "dear" after every single solitary sentence, which makes it even worse when you are listening to it. The guys are complete cheeseballs, despite being in their 30's. And despite everyone telling Hannah she had to lose weight, they were constantly downing dozens of cookies at every juncture. And the cat putting the food back in the bag? Don't even get me started. It was fine for a listen, but I will NOT be reading any more of the books in this series.

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193/200

Honestly, I thought there was very little substance to this book. I feel like it tried to be deep, with the story of a girl who moves so much she has no roots, and a dead father that she knows very little about. Her mother just up and leaves her to do doctorate work and dumps Izzy in her home village in New Mexico with people she doesn't know. These people are able to give her some information about her father, and of course, she grows from the experience.

I don't even want to post the review on GR because she is a GR author and has rave reviews so far. Maybe I was expecting too much, but I don't think it was worth reading.

192/200

First Comes Love, Then Comes Malaria: How a Peace Corps Poster Boy Won My Heart and a Third World Adventure Changed My Life by Eve Brown-Waite

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I was fully expecting to hate this book. I started it on the way home from the library, and I couldn't stop. I wound up reading until midnight. It was everything that Eat, Pray, Love was not. It was funny, and it was interesting. It didn't make me feel inferior for not being in the Peace Corps, and the main character was somewhat human in her reactions to living in a third world country. I say somewhat because I found her whole pregnancy to be crazy and more than a little reckless. But, hey, it is her life and her child, so who am I to judge?

I don't know why I found this so hilarious, but this part had me hooked:

"Everyone knew that your Peace Corps passport should be stamped for no less than two years. So there I'd be, like the awkward girl at the Girl Scout jamboree. All uniform, no merit badges.

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191/200

The Summer I Dared: A Novel by Barbara Delinsky

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I have had this book on my shelf for years, and I just got around to reading it. I actually really enjoyed it. Julia is a New Yorker in a loveless marriage who decides to go to Big Sawyer, an island off of Maine, to visit her aunt and take a photography course. When the ferry she is on inexplicably crashes, her life and only 2 others are spared. This prompts Julia to reexamine her life and truly find herself. I wound up really disliking Julia's family, including her daughter. They were so needy and whiny that it was draining. I was really happy with the outcome of the story. I would've given this 3 and a half stars if I could.

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190/200

Assassin by Grace Cavendish

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I liked it because it reminded me of a Philippa Gregory-type historical fiction. I didn't guess the twist, but after the first twist, it seemed to get far-fetched with another. By the end, I felt like it was a Scooby Doo episode because the villan practically said, "And I would've gotten away with it too if it wasn't for that pesky kid." I highly doubt I will continue with the series, because it just got too cheesy for me by the end.

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189/200

California Demon: The Secret Life of a Demon-Hunting Soccer Mom by Julie Kenner

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I listened to this book, like I listened to the other book by this author and it was enjoyable. I found the voice used for Timmy to be really annoying, but otherwise, it made my "read a paranormal" task much easier for me!

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188/200

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban by J.K. Rowling

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Well, I do agree with people who say the series gets better as time goes on, although how much so, I have yet to find out since most people say #4 is where it gets serious. I am unwilling to take that plunge yet because #4 is over 700 pages. But I enjoyed this book the most of the three so far. I am still not enthralled but I will continue to see what happens.

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187/200

Going Bovine by Libba Bray

My rating: 2 of 5 stars

I really wanted to like this book. I purchased it because I was a ta book signing and Libba Bray seemed like a really cool person. I was even able to get my copy of Going Bovine signed. I really liked the first 100 pages and I flew threw them. My only complaint was the name of the MTV-like VJ: Parker Day. I immediately thought of Carson Daly. Any way, after Cameron gets sick, the resulting book is what I would perceive an acid-trip to be like. The book references Don Quixote and I assume the book was supposed to be of the same vein. I despised Quixote in high school so that may somewhat explain my distaste for this book.

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186/200

Hurry Down Sunshine by Michael Greenberg

My rating: 2 of 5 stars

As I am reading everyone else's reviews, I couldn't agree more. Uninspired feels like a good word to use to describe this memoir. It felt rather clinical to me for something that could've been gripping and emotional. Greenburg's daughter, Sally, is gripped by madness at age 15. She is committed to a psychiatric hospital and given the diagnosis of Bipolar 1. The author talks about how everyone suffers and then basically needs to babysit her until she comes out of her manic mood. I just felt like I was reading something that was tough for someone else, but didn't really affect people the way I thought it would, the author included.

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185/200

Sizzling Sixteen by Janet Evanovich

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Okay first, what is with the goodreads description? Yuck! That was torturous. Where was Lula in a Ponzi scheme? Did I miss something?Anyway, I hate to say it but I am getting a little jaded about these books. They are still a good read and I still love the series but...how many times can you forget to bring your cuffs? How many times can you forget to buy bullets and think things will be okay?Maybe I didn't like it because Stephanie and Morelli were on the outs, but I am also getting a little tired of the love triangle. If you aren't going to pick one, at least sleep with Ranger for crying out loud. When Stephanie was complaining of heartburn and feeling sick, I was sure she was pregnant. At the time of Finger Lickin' Fifteen it was rumored that the series was wrapping up. If that is true I will be interested to see how Evavnovich ends it. In the meantime, I am a little eh.

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184/200

Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout

My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Since this book had won a Pulitzer and I kept hearing about it, I wanted to check it out. But I tend to hate short stories. I thought this would have a redeeming quality in that the stories were all related somehow. I thought Olive was an annoying, unlikeable character. She had a few redeeming qualities, but they didn't really come through very often. I had a hard time getting through the book which made me forget who the various characters were and I wondered if I was forgetting prior relationships with some of them. I was happy with the ending, but overall I didn't think it was worth plodding through.

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