Books - October (8/5)

I read a few extra books this month to make up for last months slacking.

On the Edge of the Woods – Diane Tyrrel
A Fatal Thaw – Dana Stabenow
Answered Prayers – Danielle Steele
Birth: the surprising history of how we are born – Tina Cassidy
Liquor: a novel – Poppy Z. Brite
Ramona and her Father – Beverly Cleary
The Printer's Devil – by Paul Bajoria
Lakeside Cottage – Susan Wiggs

On the Edge of the Woods – Diane Tyrrel
This book kind of reminded me of a Victoria Holt book, except set in present day and a little bit earthier. It was an okay read. I got a Victoria Holt book out of the library after reading it though (see Nov) and it was much better. I had NO idea how much Victoria Holt wrote. /boggle. Over 200 books (under different pen names) - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victoria_Holt

A Fatal Thaw – Dana Stabenow
I thought I wanted to read a mystery, so I got this. It's part of a girl detective series set up in remote Alaska. There wasn't really anything wrong with it, and the details of Alaska life were interesting, but the characters weren't very compelling and I don't think I'll pick up another in this series.

Answered Prayers – Danielle Steele
This book was so lame. How can this woman sell so many books? It was about a woman with an abusive past, married to a dirtball man, and the book just kept going on and on about how pathetic she was, and how many bad things she'd been through. Over and over and over again. It would say that her husband was cold, and then repeat it to me so many times I actually felt insulted. Like did she think I couldn't remember? L – you could write so much better than this.

Birth: the surprising history of how we are born – Tina Cassidy
This was non-fiction and I really liked it, and learned a lot of things I never knew. For example, there was a bad time during the Industrial Revolution when a lot of women had rickets (no sun or fruit) and their bodies wouldn't grow and their pelvises were too small to have their babies. I learned about Twilight Sleep and wondered if that's how my grandmother's delivered my parents. It is a lot worse than it sounds. I read about how men couldn't be in hospital rooms and briefly felt proud of how much we'd progressed. But then I read on and agreed that my experience having my husband in the room was not all that great. He didn't know what to do and I felt like I had to be brave for him because he was so worried about me being in pain. Now I think it might have been nice to have my sister there, or a woman friend, or maybe a trained doula. But having husbands in the room is what we do now, just like having having epidurals and babies sleep-in, and scheduled c-sections. We always think that what we're currently doing is "the best and most enlightened," but it seems that women's birth experiences through history are mostly a product of what is acceptable to society at the time, and will continue to evolve and change.

Liquor: a novel – Poppy Z. Brite
This book was set in New Orleans and was about the restaurant world. I really liked it, with just a couple of reservations. These 2 guys come up with an idea for a trendy restaurant and the book takes off from there. I wish they had just stuck to the story, but the author decided to make it into a thriller. The part of the book about what goes on behind the scenes with chefs and line cooks and sautee and desserts, etc.. that part was great, and the thriller part you can kind of disregard if you want and just enjoy the restaurant scene. The other thing that wasn't quite for me was that the 2 guys were gay. I don't have anything against gays, but I don't really like reading romantic scenes between 2 guys.

Ramona and her Father – Beverly Cleary
This is a kid's book from the Ramona series. It's the story of Ramona's perspective of her dad's being out of work and quitting smoking. This is a fun series for kids and I got it because it would be safe car listening for DD.

The Printer's Devil – by Paul Bajoria
This book was pretty well done, set in London a few hundred years ago during early printing presses. The main character is an orphan apprenticed to the printer and gets ] involved in a mystery trying to discover what happened with a mysterious boat shipment from India. There were interesting characters, and the setting really made the story. I think this would be appropriate for young adult age.

Lakeside Cottage – Susan Wiggs
Trite romance about a single mom that goes to stay at her family's lakeside cottage for the summer and finds romance. Pretty good for what it was.