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.

View all my reviews >>

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.

View all my reviews >>

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.

View all my reviews >>

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.

View all my reviews >>

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.

View all my reviews >>

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.

View all my reviews >>