Books June-Sept (18/20)

June
Black Dahlia – Nora Roberts
The Giver – Lois Lowry
Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants – Ann Brashares
Tangerine – Edward Bloor
Replay – Sharon Creech

Black Dahlia is typical Nora Roberts, but know that it's the first of a trilogy. I wish I'd known. I don't mind finishing a campy romance, but I'm not really into committing to a trilogy of it. The Giver was the best book I read in June, and Replay was the worst. Traveling Pants was good. I'd have liked it at 15 or so. Tangerine was kind of weird but not in a great way.

July
"B" is for Burglar – Sue Grafton
A Great and Terrible Beauty – Libba Bray
Rebel Angels – Libba Bray
Our Man in Havana – Graham Greene
"C" is for Corpse – Sue Grafton

DH checked out a bunch of the Sue Grafton books on CD and that's what was in the car, so that's what I had to listen to on the commute. They are crap. After 3 or 4 books I still don't care about the characters, the plot devices are totally contrived, and they are very predictable. The 2 Libba Bray books were fun though, kind of goth and dark and Elizabethan and young. The best book this month was Our Man in Havana. It was subtle and funny and made me LOL.

August
"D" is for Deadbeat – Sue Grafton
Modesty Blaise – Peter O'Donnell
My Life on a Plate – India Knight

I am sure I read 5 books in August, but I am drawing a blank. Good thing I was ahead for the year already. More Sue Grafton nonsense. I read Modesty Blaise for my book club. It was fun, it was like a woman 007. My Life on a Plate was one of those britcom mom books, kind of Jennifer Weiner-esque, but edgier.

September
Housekeeping – Marilynne Robertson
Confessions of an Ugly Step-sister – Gregory Maguire
Forestwife – Theresa Tomlinson
Spinners – Donna Jo Napoli
The Book of the Lion – Michael Cadnum

Housekeeping was like an Oprah book or maybe like Snow Falling on Cedars. It had a lot of imagery and beautiful writing, but it was also dark. Its themes were about beauty and abandonment and loss and gypsies. It was kind of haunting, and I'm not sure if I liked it or not. Book of the Lion was mediocre.
I took DD to the library and she was causing a ruckus and ended up putting a bunch of books from a fairy tale display in my bag. I like fairy tales so I kept them - Confessions was a great re-telling of Cinderella and an interesting angle. Forestwife was Maid Marian, and it was very juvenile. I really liked Spinners at the beginning (Rumplestiltskin) and I even wanted to start knitting again (since I will never learn to spin or weave) but I hated the last page. It ended far too abruptly.