I LOVE to read. When I was 10 or so, I actually checked out 80 books for 2 weeks from the library... and finished them all before the 2 weeks passed. I still bring recyclable grocery bags that I fill every time I visit. I actually have my library's website bookmarked on my computer so I can reserve or save titles as soon as I run across them. I consider it a great accomplishment that my niece likes to go to the library with me, and that checking out a book for her is a fun surprise.
So, allow me to introduce a new monthly addition to my blog - BOOKS! I'll provide the list of what I've checked out and, at the end of the month, I'll review what I managed to finish.
Before I get to the list, however, let me just explain a little about my reading "strategy." Because book reviews and recommendations are great, but not all that helpful without knowing the tastes of the person making the recommendation! So here are a few key things to know about the books I choose:
1) I read all genres, for the most part. I'm not into horror or erotic literature, so you won't see those books here, but you will see fantasy, sci-fi, chick lit, non-fiction, memoirs, etc. I read YF and JF, classics, biographies...
2) The reason that I enjoy all genres is because I read, primarily, for enjoyment. I won't turn my nose up at "books for kids." Because they're great. And you should try them. Because you'll find out they're great. Or awful and cheesy. But a lot of them are great!
3) I don't have favorites, and I rarely re-read books. A book may fall into the category of "one of my favorites," but I have a hard time ranking a book that I love that's a YF against a memoir that I love. How do you even compare them?
4) If I don't like a book, it will be for one of two reasons: I either can't stand the character(s)/narrator, or I can't stand the authors writing style and the story wasn't enough to keep me engaged. I may stop reading a book for these reasons, without apology. There are so many amazing reads out there- why waste time on the ones that I don't enjoy? I will try to make it through a book if I feel like there is something redeeming in the story... but I'm okay just saying that it just wasn't for me if it doesn't work out. It's not me... it's you...
Without further adieu, my July bookshelf:
The Center Cannot Hold, Elyn Saks
- Memoir
Barefoot, Elin Hilderbrand
- Fiction, Chick Lit
Darwen Arkwright and the Peregrine Pact, A.J. Hartley
- Fantasy, Jr Fiction
The Marble Queen, Stephanie J. Blake
- Youth Fiction
How to Create the Perfect Wife: Britain's Most Ineligible Bachelor and His Enlightened Quest to Train the Ideal Mate, Wendy Moore
- History, sort of Faux-Biography?, Non-Fiction
The World's Strongest Librarian: A Memoir of Tourette's. Faith, Strength, and the Power of Family, Josh Hanagarne
- Memoir
The Quilter's Apprentice, Jennifer Chiaverini
- Fiction
Cloud Atlas, David Mitchell
- Short Stories that combines into one novel
Death Comes to Pemberley, P.D. James
- Mystery
In the Garden of Beasts: Love, Terror, and an American Family in Hitler's Berlin, Erik Larson
- History, Non-Fiction
A Train in Winter: An Extraordinary Story of Women, Friendship, and Resistance in Occupied France
- History, Non-Fiction, somewhat biographical
Dark Places, Gillian Flynn
- Fiction
**I'll take recommendations for next month! Let me know what titles you are enjoying!**
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