Book Reports

I finished another couple of books:

The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson - Kindle edition. This one is quite popular. A friend told me she stayed awake on a red-eye flight, the only one awake and with her light on, unable to put the book down. She's the reason I bought the book. But I didn't like it that well. The first part is actually rather boring. Then when it starts to get interesting, I didn't like the story. It's gruesome, and I really didn't like most of the characters very well. So... I may be the only one in the world who is not in love with this book, but so it goes. I give it a B-. (BTW, it is translated from Swedish, and there are three books by this author. He died right after getting the three manuscripts to the publisher, so there will be no more from him; sadly for those who love the books. I probably will not read the other two.)



Right after I finished the above book, I picked another one from my list in the Kindle. What I Saw and How I Lied by Judy Blundell. For me, this one was the page turner. I could not put it down. I read the entire book and finished it in one day! This was a story that captivated me, and I loved the main character. She is 15. I did wonder at her maturity... quite far above most 15-year-olds that I have known... but, there are those mature 15-year-olds, and it kind of fit with the quick growing up she'd had to do during her tough early years. It takes place right after the end of WWII, centering on a family of a mom, step-dad, and the daughter. Step-Dad has just returned from the war. They have a lot of experiences that are shaped by the war and its aftermath and also by the pre-war poverty and single-motherhood status in the early years of this family. I recommend this fascinating page-turner that kept me glued to my Kindle all afternoon and evening. A+ (in fact, this book is a 2008 National Book Award winner, young adult category - I really enjoy this genre, apparently! I read them and love them and find out later that they are young adult books.. but old adults can love them, too. I'm proof.)

I still haven't finished the alphabet. I have J and Y left to read. But I've doubled and tripled up on some of the other letters, so I think I've met and surpassed the challenge. It was a lot of fun picking books by the letter with which the title begins! I still sort of do that as I choose which book to read next. I refuse to read them in the alphabetical order in which they appear in my Kindle! That's too boring. I like to mix it up.

What have you read lately that you couldn't put down?