It's Monday, What Are You Reading (85)

It's Monday, What Are You Reading is a fun weekly meme hosted by Sheila at Book Journey where we share what we've read and reviewed over the past week and what we plan to read next.


I had a busy week this week with my book discussion Tuesday night and then the Ohio Library Council Convention and Expo from Wednesday-Friday. It was great being able to go to OLC Convention and I also had the opportunity to reconnect with a friend from college that I hadn't seen in 11 years. The Barnes and Noble store at the convention had a cool Book Lovers edition of Scrabble that I bought (you get extra points for building character names and book titles) and I can't wait to try it out. Even with the busy week I did find some time to read and participated in the Bout of Books Read-a-thon. 

Books read:

The Son of Neptune by Rick Riordan

I have to say that I enjoyed book two in the Heroes of Olympus much more than book one, probably because Percy Jackson is back as one of the main characters. I also liked the supporting characters, Frank and Hazel.  Something I like about this spin-off series is that these demigods feel very human-they have struggles and doubts about their abilities. Frank in particular was a favorite. I didn't care about Jason, Piper, and Leo (from book one) as much.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J.K. Rowling (reread)

It is always nice to reread the Harry Potter series and this is my favorite book of the series and the one I've read the least number of times (after Chamber of Secrets). I always seem to gain new meaning with each read.

Pandemonium by Lauren Oliver

 I thought it was good for a second book in a trilogy but the ending was a little disappointing. I am hoping that Lauren Oliver will surprise me with the final book. 

Bleeding Hearts by Alyxandra Harvey

This was a quick read that I finished in an afternoon. I like this series but it is getting to be harder to keep track of the different characters. I was very happy to see Lucy as one of the main characters (her cousin is a new addition to the series) but Solange is becoming more and more annoying. If she doesn't improve in the next book, I hope she gets bitten by a Hel-Blar!

Books reviewed:

What Alice Forgot by Liane Moriarty

Currently reading:

Love on the Line by Deeanne Gist

I am reading this for a tour I signed up for and I wish I hadn't. Sometimes I like Deeanne Gist's books and other times (like with this one), I am disappointed. So far I find Georgie to be incredibly annoying. Maybe things will get better soon.

What I might read next:

Wonderland Creek by Lynn Austin

I am really excited to read this because it is about a librarian. It also features an early "bookmobile" (delivery of books by mule) and it is set in Appalachia. One reviewer even compared it to Christy, a book I love.

The Best of Me by Nicholas Sparks

When She Woke by Hillary Jordan

I am eager to start this retelling of The Scarlet Letter. I know it is about a controversial subject which makes me want to read it even more.

Belonging by Robin Lee Hatcher

So that is what my week looked like.

What have you been reading?

In My Mailbox (67)

In My Mailbox is a weekly meme hosted by The Story Siren to share what books you received for review, purchased, or checked out from the library during the past week.

For review:

Pandemonium by Lauren Oliver

Courtesy of Around the World ARC Tours

I received the following books at the Ohio Library Council Convention and Expo:

Courtesy of Lara Oliver from Random House:

Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs

Behind the Beautiful Forevers by Katherine Boo

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

Courtesy of the publisher:

Flesh and Fire by Laura Anne Gilman

Purchased:

Delirium by Lauren Oliver

Scrabble Book Lovers Edition

So it's not a book but it is book related! I love Scrabble and this sounds like a fun twist on the original. You can play by the original rules or you can play the book lover version where you get extra points for building character, author, and book title names. I can't wait to play- but first I have to find some willing players...

Review: What Alice Forgot

What Alice Forgot

By Liane Moriarty

Publication date: August 11, 2009, June 2, 2011 (US)

My review:

Alice Love comes to after an accident at the gym believing she is 29 years old, happily married, and pregnant with her first child. In reality she is a 39 year old mother of three who is getting divorced. She has no memory of the past ten years and can't understand where her life went so wrong. The more she learns about her new self, the less she likes it. Can Alice reclaim her memory and save her family or is it too late?

Going into this novel, I was reminded of Remember Me? by Sophie Kinsella. While both protagonists suffer temporary amnesia, the books are different in tone. What Alice Forgot explores not only marriage and parenthood but also the issues of infertility, loss, friendship, and new love. Young Alice is portrayed as naive and perhaps a little immature. She is babied by her family and husband and they seem to think she isn't capable of handling much. They protect her from life's difficulties. I sometimes found Young Alice to be annoying (I could picture her being portrayed in film by Amy Adams-the character reminded me of the one she played in Enchanted).  In contrast, mature Alice is much more driven. She likes control and order and she expects perfection. Seeing this new and "improved" Alice is difficult for her younger self to take. 

In addition to Alice, we also see the story through the view of Alice's older sister Elisabeth who is a successful businesswoman on the outside but she struggles with her continuing inability to have children. Elisabeth is very different from Alice and her thoughts help readers to understand Alice better too. Interspersed with Alice and Elisabeth's stories is that of Frannie, the girls' honorary grandmother. Frannie has suffered loss too and she held their family together when Alice and Elisabeth's dad passed away and their mother fell into depression. Frannie's voice is not as strong as the sisters and I think it did not add much to the book. She is feisty but we didn't need to read the story through her eyes as well.

What Alice Forgot has some flaws but somehow it still works. One problem is that there is quite a bit of jumping around between past and present. It is also strange that no one around Alice seems to truly grasp that she has amnesia and what that means. They all keep expecting her to remember and know things in her present life that she has obviously forgotten. I didn't like the way the whole story-line with Gina was revealed and I also thought the ending wasn't very believable though it was still nice.

It is wish fulfillment to have the opportunity for a do-over in life and maybe some readers will have a hard time with this book because it comes across sometimes as a holiday movie. The amnesia plot device is used to explore the drastic differences in Alice's life then and now and it allows readers to reflect on how our choices can change so much of our lives. I liked how we were able to look at a marriage and see some of the things that went wrong. What Alice Forgot refers not just to the loss of ten years of memory but also to forgetting what is important to us in life. Mature Alice and Nick have lost sight of what mattered to them ten years ago and life has a way of changing people sometimes for the better, sometimes not. Overall I thought this was an excellent novel about family, friendship, and self discovery.

Readalikes: Remember Me? by Sophie Kinsella, PS, I Love You by Cecelia Ahern, The Opposite of Me by Sarah Pekkanen

Bout of Books Readathon

I just found out about this read-a-thon today and because I was hoping to do a personal read-a-thon this weekend anyway (since I didn't get to participate in last weekend's Dewey Readathon) I thought I'd sign up for this one instead. It technically started at midnight and it goes through Sunday at 11:59 p.m.


If you'd like to participate, visit Bout of Books to sign up and get complete details.


I am going to be out of town from tomorrow through Friday so I may not have Internet access to update very much. 


My goal is to just reduce my TBR pile as much as I can!


Books on my TBR pile:


The Son of Neptune by Rick Riordan (currently reading)
Love on the Line by Deeanne Gist (for review next week)
The Rose Garden by Susanna Kearsley 
Baby, It's Cold Outside by Susan May Warren
Bellfield Hall by Anna Dean
Belonging by Robin Lee Hatcher
The Best of Me by Nicholas Sparks
Between by Jessica Warman
The Emerald Atlas by John Stephens
The Full Moon Bride by Shobhan Bantwal
Glow by Amy Kathleen Ryan
Illegal by Bettina Restrepo
In the Sea There Are Crocodiles by Fabio Geda
Jerusalem Maiden by Talia Carner
The Kitchen Daughter by Jael McHenry
The Lost Wife by Alyson Richman
Next to Love by Ellen Feldman
OyMG by Amy Fellner Dominy
The Things We Cherished by Pam Jenoff
The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger
When She Woke by Hillary Jordan
Wonderland Creek by Lynn Austen


Since I have a three day conference I won't have as much time to read as I'd like but I am going to try my best!

Top Ten Books to Read During Halloween

Top Ten Tuesday is an original feature/weekly meme created at The Broke and the Bookish. There is a new subject each week and this week's topic is "Top Ten Books to Read During Halloween".

1. Hallowe'en Party by Agatha Christie


I read this as a young teen and at the time felt so creeped out that I hid the book high on a shelf in my closet as if its very presence were evil...Now I laugh at that memory but this is a good mystery for this time of year since a murder takes place at a Halloween party.

2. And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie


Besides being my favorite Agatha Christie novel this is also one of her more chilling works (no Belgian detective or Miss Marple to keep things lighter). People are stuck in a house on an island and they keep dying one by one...


3. Frankenstein by Mary Shelley


No Halloween reading list should be without this classic :) I don't really consider this to be a frightening story. It is more reflective on the nature of man and asks the question "Who is really the monster"?

4. Nevermore by Kelly Creagh


This book isn't entirely creepy but it definitely becomes that way as the story goes along. A good atmospheric read for Halloween especially with the Edgar Allan Poe references. Poe's The Raven is a good poem for this time of year too.


5. The Masque of the Red Death by Edgar Allan Poe


I read a lot of Poe's works for my high school English class and this is the one that stuck out to me as a "spooky" story. Really many of his works should be on this list like The Pit and the Pendulum, The Tell Tale Heart, and The Fall of the House of Usher but as a teen, this one had the strongest effect on me when I read it. I think it was my fascination with the Black Death.

6. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets by J.K. Rowling


With giant spiders trying to eat you, a basilisk, and the evil and creepy teenage Voldemort, this is a good Halloween read. Who could forget Nearly Headless Nick's death day party on Halloween night?

7. The Demon's Lexicon by Sarah Rees Brennan


I just found this whole book to be creepy with the black magic, demons, etc. I am not a huge fan of the series but I do think it is a good pick for those who want something edgy for Halloween.

8. Devil's Kiss by Sarwat Chadda 


While Devil's Kiss has some similarities with #7, I didn't find it to be quite as creepy to read. It does have plenty of monsters and a teenage heroine who has to slay them. There is also one nasty character in particular whose heart is black as night, if he even has one...

9. The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer by Michelle Hodkin


The romance isn't that great but The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer definitely has spook potential with all the hallucinations Mara keeps having (or are they real?). This book reminded me of Lois Duncan and Christopher Pike.

10. The Prophecy of the Sisters by Michelle Zink


Evil twin sister-check. Scary demonic creature-check. Dark magic-check. 


The Prophecy of the Sisters may be set in a historical time and there is some romance but it definitely has some creepy moments especially with all the astral traveling and the Jorgamund. If Alice's head started spinning around, I would not have been surprised...

Teaser Tuesdays (66)

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly meme hosted by MizB at Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:


Grab your current read
Open to a random page


Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page


BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)


Share the title and author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

My teasers this week:

"You will be my pawn. Percy didn’t play chess, but he was pretty sure that being a pawn was bad. They died a lot."

The Son of Neptune by Rick Riordan

p. 151

I am really enjoying this sequel to The Lost Hero, especially because Percy is one of the main characters again.

It's Monday, What Are You Reading (84)

It's Monday, What Are You Reading is a fun weekly meme hosted by Sheila at Book Journey where we share what we've read and reviewed over the past week and what we plan to read next.


To make up for reading so many books last week-I only read one book this week and it was a reread for my book discussion group. Maybe I should have participated in the Dewey Readathon :)


This week I will be going to the Ohio Library Council convention in Toledo. I don't know how much time I will have for reading but I am taking my Kindle with me. When I get back this weekend, I might have my own personal readathon to try to catch up on my TBR pile and reading challenges!

Books read:

Someone Knows My Name by Lawrence Hill

This is a reread (I first read it last year) because it is my book discussion group's October book. The discussion will be Tuesday and hopefully everyone enjoyed the book as much as I did.

Books reviewed:

Dearly, Departed by Lia Habel

Bet Me by Jennifer Crusie

Currently reading:

The Son of Neptune by Rick Riordan

I am really enjoying this book. As much as I liked The Lost Hero, I prefer The Son of Neptune so far because Percy is back!

What I might read next:

The Rose Garden by Susanna Kearsley

I am looking forward to starting this soon. I am a fan of Susanna Kearsley's books and this sounds like something I'd enjoy too.

Love on the Line by Deeanne Gist

I need to read this soon because it is a book tour book. I'm not exactly in the mood to read this (after reading a couple of chapters I find the heroine annoying) but hopefully I will like it anyway.

The Best of Me by Nicholas Sparks

I will need to read this soon as well because so many people are waiting to read it too! It looks like a good story.

What have you been reading lately?

In My Mailbox (66)

In My Mailbox is a weekly meme hosted by The Story Siren to share what books you received for review, purchased, or checked out from the library during the past week.

Purchased:

Bleeding Hearts by Alyxandra Harvey

I hadn't realized that this was available as an e-book already. It won't be published in print in the U.S. till next year so I thought I'd get it now for my Kindle. Thanks to Kathy at Ms. Martin Teaches Media for bringing it to my attention through her IMM post this week!

From the library:

When She Woke by Hillary Jordan

I am really looking forward to reading this futuristic retelling of The Scarlet Letter. I know it is about a controversial topic (abortion) and I think it will be the kind of book people will love or hate.  It sounds like a story that will provoke discussion!

The Best of Me by Nicholas Sparks

I decided to check this out on a whim. I liked Safe Haven when I read it last year though I did think the ending was strange. I'm hoping there won't be any weird supernatural elements in this one. I am not a huge fan of the author but I have enjoyed some of his books and the movies based on them.

The Christmas Wedding by James Patterson

This does not look like a typical James Patterson book! The Christmas Wedding sounds like a book that Nicholas Sparks, Debbie Macomber, or Richard Paul Evans would write. It has received mixed reviews but I thought I'd try it anyway.

The Lost Wife by Alyson Richman

The Lost Wife sounds like such a romantic book and it was inspired by a true story. The protagonists are torn apart by the Holocaust and each believing the other to be dead, they remarry and move on with their lives. Of course the story doesn't end there and I can't wait to read what happens.

Wonderland Creek by Lynn Austin

When I found out that this book featured a librarian, I knew I wanted to read it. I've enjoyed Lynn Austin's other historical fiction. The main character is a librarian who loses her job in the Depression and then has the opportunity to deliver library books to the poor people of a coal mining village in Kentucky. It sounds like a book I'll love!

Baby, It's Cold Outside by Susan May Warren

Baby, It's Cold Outside is a historical fiction novel set a few years after the end of WWII. The main character is in no mood to celebrate Christmas since the death of her son during the war but she's forced to put that aside and help others when a blizzard hits. I think this is the perfect book to put me in the Christmas spirit so I will probably read it sometime next month.

Won:

I won these books in a giveaway for librarians by Sourcebooks. They are all time travel historical fiction and some of them are reissues (Midnight on Julia Street, Whispers in the Sand). I love The Winter Sea but haven't read the others.

Midnight on Julia Street by Ciji Ware

A Cottage by the Sea by Ciji Ware

Whispers in the Sand by Barbara Erskine

The Winter Sea by Susanna Kearsley

The Return of Black Douglas by Elaine Coffman

This is not my type of book so I will be donating The Return of Black Douglas to my library. I am sure my library patrons will enjoy it :)