73/100

Moloka'i by Alan Brennert

My review

rating: 4 of 5 stars
I have been looking forward to reading this book for a long time since I have heard a lot of great reviews about it. It is the story of Rachel, a young Hawaiian girl, who is taken away from her family and sent to the island of Molokai because she has leprosy. Molokai is an island of lepers and missionaries and Rachel is forbidden to see her family. As she grows up, the letters from her mother stop coming and Rachel must learn to adapt to her new life by forming connections with people who are constantly dying. There is a lot of heartbreak in this book, but someone it doesn't leave you feeling sad.


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72/100

Big Stone Gap by Adriana Trigiani

My review

rating: 2 of 5 stars
This book was recommended to me somewhere along the way, and I happened to see it at a school exchange so I picked it up. I had a lot of time to read and I basically finished it within 48 hours. I have liked other small town books more, but I did find myself wanting to finish the book. I didn't love it but it wasn't bad. I didn't really love the "old spinster finds two men to love her but she doesn't want either" theme but I did like the various levels of friendship.


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71/100

Chicken Soup for the Woman's Soul by Jack Canfield

My review

rating: 2 of 5 stars
It doesn't really seem right to review this book because it is exactly what you would expect it to be. I didn't find myself into it at all, but that could be because of my recent distaste for short stories.


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70/100

Thin Is the New Happy by Valerie Frankel

My review

rating: 1 of 5 stars
I was so excited for this book that I requested on PBS instead of simply trying to get it from the library. I was really really disappointed. As someone who continues to struggle with weight and body image issues, I thought this book would be perfect for me. Instead, I found the book to be boring. I had no desire to finish it. Fat, thin, drugs, loss, love, fat, thin, sex, job, fat, thin. I don't know how to explain it other than I was not engaged. There are much better similarly themed books out there. Jen Lancaster comes to mind.


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69/100

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

My review

rating: 3 of 5 stars
I have been hearing about this book for ages. And every review that I looked at was pretty much a 5 or a 1. Rarely in between. So I am going smack in the middle with a 3. I didn't love it. But I certainly didn't hate it.



Any review will tell you that the book is narrated by Death. Some people love this, some find it hokey, I happen to like it a lot. I like that it was different. And although some people hate how Death intervenes in the story, I actually kind of like it.



The story takes place during the Holocaust in Nazi Germany. A little girl named Liesel is being taken to foster care because her mother is a communist and can no longer keep her children. On the way there, Liesel sees her brother die of a sickness. At his burial, she snatches The Gravediggers Handbook that had fallen near the casket. From this point forward, she occasionally steals books to help her deal with life. She is "The Book Thief."



I loved a lot of characters in the book: Rudy, the boy next door who loves Liesel desperately. Hans, Liesel's beloved foster parent who shows Liesel what happiness can be, despite major challenges. Rosa, the cantakerous foster mother who shows her love by namecalling. And Max, the Jewish man who unintentionally puts the family in danger, simply because of his race.



I tend to enjoy books about the Holocaust because I find that period in time so heartbreakingly fascinating. There are so many displays of unimaginable cruelty, but also some amazing stories of hope.


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68/100

History Lesson for Girls by Aurelie Sheehan

My review

rating: 1 of 5 stars
Bleh. I found this book to be dreadful. I kept waiting for it to get better, but it never did.



Allison is a young girl who has debilitating scoliosis that requires her to wear an ugly brace. Her hippie parents move her to a ritzy town in Connecticut where she is constantly tormented by her peers. She winds up meeting Kate, a girl who has decent social standing. Together, they become best friends who plan to open a horse riding school together in the future. That's really it. Kate's parents are crazy, there is open '70's drug use, and there is some tragedy. But I found it really boring and not worth finishing.


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67/100

Bones by Jonathan Kellerman

My review

rating: 3 of 5 stars
This was standard Jonathan Kellerman, and quite honestly that is why I gave it a three instead of a four. It is exactly like everyone of his other books, where I find myself daydreaming in the middle of the book and then finding myself stopping and saying, "Wait, who are they talking about??" This isn't to say I didn't like it, it just wasn't anything special.

A phone call comes into a volunteer at a marsh that tips off that there is a body buried in the marshland. When this body is uncovered, more bodies are discovered and Alex and Milo are on the case again, but now with a rookie detective named Moses. Good, but not great, mystery.


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