Before I Go to Sleep by S. J. Watson

Engrossing: taking up the attention completely. Okay, that just about sums up my thoughts.....just kidding. Before I Go to Sleep was mentioned in October as a suggestion for the next book club read but it was not chosen until December. The library was out, the local used book store did not have a copy, nook ebook price was $12.99 and the Nashua used book store price was $15.99 so ebook wins. It felt good to get some use out of my nook even though $12.99 is not a bargain. I still can't get over how much ebooks are when you compare 'production' costs to an efile versus printed books! So on December 15th I downloaded this book and I finished yesterday, December 19th. Four days and all but the last 9 pages were read in 3 days, I was up until midnight the 18th! From the start this book grabs your attention and leaves you hanging on for more. It felt great to dive into a book that didn't take it's time getting the readers attention.

Christine suffers from amnesia after 'an accident' and every morning wakes up thinking she is in her twenties, or younger, then has to be reminded of the two decades she has missed. Dr. Nash is trying to help Christine recover some memory function and has her start a journal that he will remind her about every morning as a therapy. Only Christine, or Christine's journal, knows about Dr. Nash and the work he is doing. Every day Christine learns something new about her life or has a new memory to add to the last. Before her journal, all that gain would be lost by morning but now she can start pulling the pieces of her life together and is more confused than ever. The man she wakes up with everyday is keeping secrets, is it for her own good or is there something she needs to know?

I give this book an 8 out of 10 and hope that a movie comes out of this! Read!!

Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen

Woohoo! At the beginning of the school year my kids came home with great news, their school started a parents book club. Of course the very first book was The Help and I already read it but I really enjoyed our first meeting. We met at Owen and Ollies, had a drink, socialized, talked about how great the book was and opened up our minds to different views. After, we all gave suggestions for the next book, voted, and this month Water for Elephants was chosen. I can't say I was all that excited about this choice because I picked up this novel before and it didn't appeal to me. I guess this is the bad part of being in a book club, or as I see it now the good part because I ended up enjoying this book very much!

Set in the early 1900's, the young Jacob Jankoski was aspiring to be a Veterinarian just like his father. While away at an ivy league college, his parents died in an unfortunate car accident. He soon found out that his parents were broke and everything including the house would belong to the bank. Jacob found himself grieving, homeless and without a plan. In just a matter of months Jacob is learning to be a survivor traveling with a train circus. He falls in love with the lovely Marlena who is also married to the schizophrenic August. Jacob bridges social gaps and earns respect from many after paying his dues. After a fight erupted between Marlena, Jacob and August his life is now on the line. Keep your friends close and enemies closer.

The first half of this book is admittedly slow but steady. If it wasn't for the book club I may have given up but I am so glad I didn't. As the story developed I wanted to read more and more, the end had me not wanting to stop reading. I love the characters and truly loved the history of this era. I look forward to tomorrows book club meeting and more so watching the adaptation to film! I give this book a 7.5 :)

Former Things by Gail Lowe

274 pages

I am happy to announce that Gail Lowe, the author of Former Things, is a local resident of Massachusetts. This book was purchased by a wonderful friend of mine, Matty, at the cutest locally owned book store cafe in Tewksbury, MA. While Matty enjoyed a relaxing cup of coffee  she struck up a friendly conversation with Ms. Lowe who was in the shop doing book signings. Matty purchased a copy and had it personally signed as a gift to her sister in law Jenn after. Jenn enjoyed this quick read and handed it to me for my enjoyment. :)

Emily lost her first born child, a daughter named Becky to SIDS. This life changing tragedy changed Emily and put a great strain on her marriage to John. A couple years later an unexpected pregnancy gave her another child, a daughter they named Nicole. Her grief was so overwhelming she struggled to give Nicole 100% of herself but Emily worked very hard to give Nicole what she could. Twenty years later, the death of John led to a huge fight between mother and daughter leading to a 20 year family estrangement that broke Emily Prestons heart. Emily meets Evan and quickly they form a friendship like the grandchild she never had. With the help of Evan and the new world wide web, they go on an adventure together to find Nicole.

This book touches on so many emotions and makes you question what could have been done for the better. We all make mistakes, is everything forgivable? I hope as a Mother, as imperfect as I admittedly am, my children and I have a bond that never could never be broken.

On my literary liking scale of 1-10, 10 being the best, I give this book a...6.5

The Nook Color by Barnes & Noble

I figured since my blog is about books and my recent purchase of the Nook Color is the latest way to read books, then I can post my Nook review here too. Right? So, I know people with the Kindle, Literati and also the Nook and have been really reluctant to even consider wanting one. See...I love the feeling of book, paperback specifically. They're light, take anywhere, quiet and you can share them with ease with your friends. Actually I like my tradition of writing on the last page after you are done reading to 'post' your opinion and pass it on. Anyway, for my birthday I got several gift cards to BN and together they equalled enough to buy the Nook Color (thanks people). I considered using the money for just books as I go but really BN is overpriced and I like getting my bargain books on the hunt. I decided I was ready to try out e-reading and once I made this decision I was so excited to get it! I bought the Nook on Saturday May 7th.
Now my warnings and praises for those who want to know. When you get home you will have to charge it, maybe 2-3 hours. When charged or while charging you turn it on and you can not do anything until your WiFi is configured, fine for most people but my household WiFi is set up by the IT Nazi I live with so this was a PITA. If you do not already have a BN account, you will need to do so after the WiFi is set up. Now you can use your e-reader. Oh wait, not if you want books, even the free ones from BN.com. In addition to the gift card I loaded on 'my account' BN.com you also need a major credit card to be kept on file. This card will not be charged if you have money available on your gift card but yet you need it there anyway. This pisses me off. The "LendMe" feature that I planned on using absolutely sucks. Not all books you buy and own are able to be lent out to other Nook friends. Nope, only LendMe labeled books can be shared (7 day lending I think) and very few have this link. Aside from my local library and older free books on line the new ebooks for sale are hardly discounted from the hardcover books. My first purchased book, "Dead Reckoning" was $15.01 hardcover and $14.99 ebook?!
On a happy note, you have like 2 free books loaded, 2 kids books, 2 apps and some wallpaper pictures. The kids books have a "Reade Me" feature that is soo cute, it becomes a visual audio book that my kids loved! I did buy for $1.99 the Drawing Pad app and the kids have so much fun (okay I do too). Also, the web is pretty usable and the keyboard ain't so bad either. I do love the bookmarking feature to save your page and also by a click of a little book pic it takes you back to your book. Lastly, I love Free Friday's with BN.com, every Friday I get a facebook post with the book of their choice for you to download for FREE.
Overall if I had to do it again...hmmm...I don't know. I guess since it was like a gift I am glad I own it but I wouldn't have wasted $249.00 of my money at this time to get one. :)

The Notebook by Nicholas Sparks

213 pgs.

For every few book I read I always seem to throw in a Nicholas Sparks novel, he has such a way with his words and tugs at the heart in every story. This is the first book I read after I watched the movie. It has been a couple years since I watched the well known love story "The Notebook" and I couldn't help myself when I found a copy used for a whopping .50 cents! Like most of Sparks books the story takes place in North Carolina and it's a timeless love story. Good guy meets good girl, falls in love, torn apart and something brings them back together and you hope they get to keep each other. Aside from the traditional Sparks patterns in every book...I still love me some Sparks. Now I have to watch the movie again because I think there were some variations, as there usually is. Of all the N. Sparks books I rate this one...hmm...a 7. That is it for this blog and thanks for reading up!

Catching Fire & Mockingjay

Catching Fire & Mockingjay

by Suzanne Collins

March 11, 2011-March 15, 2011

Oh my goodness, where do I start? I can't really tell you much about the next two books in The Hunger Game series because I do not want to be a spoiler for those who have not yet read the first book (you really must). I am so completely owned by this series and only one other book has ever had this effect of me. If you are my age you must have watched The NeverEnding Story at least a few times. Well, you know how Bastian (had to google this) is not just reading about Fantasia and some silly story, he can't close the book. He is now in the adventure and has no choice but to keep on going. Okay, I haven't lost it, I know I am not going to jump into District 12 or The Hunger Games but I just can not seem to pull away. I don't get a chapter that leaves me satisfied enough to take a break. So I will leave you with this, never overestimate any one in this story!

I just finished the last book, Mockingjay, and can finally have a night to just mindlessly chill. This last book was very intense, dramatic and mysterious. I was not sure who I trusted, what was real and how I could imagine this series ending?! I have no doubt that The Hunger Games will be the latest craze and may even give Harry Potter & Twilight some competition. I am ever so thankful to Jenn (and George) for handing this adventure over to me, it will be some time before a book this great will capture me I am sure.

The Hunger Games

The Hunger Games

by Suzanne Collins

373 pgs Day 1
Wednesday March 09, 2011

I can not help but to start this blog before I even finish this book...yes it is that good! I have missed my regular tv shows, stayed up just a little bit later and this morning I had to force myself to stop at the end of the chapter. I will write this blog excerpt and then get my but in gear for the day! First, let me say thanks to Jenn for giving this book her high recommendation because with out fail this book has lived up to its praise.

The story is based in the future, post North America, in a new age of Districts, a Capitol, peacekeepers and ..The Hunger Games. Every year one boy and one girl from each of the 12 districts must be contenders in the deadly reality show like game, The Hunger Games. Only one can survive, be crowned 'the victor'. The Capitol is immune to all of the devastating district lifestyles, the starvation, the hard labor and they view The Hunger Games as entertainment. You are not sure at any given moment what you should be hoping for in this story, so many paths all lead to something tragic. Would you be able to watch The Hunger Games knowing only one child would survive and who would you be rooting for? The story has many layers of love, friendship, family, strength and most of all survival. Later I will start, Part II "The Games" and I just might have to read until I finish this time.

Thursday March 10, 2011
Done

Wow, that was a journey I did not expect to take. This surely was a change in direction form my usual books yet it has some of what I crave. It captures you quickly, has likeable if not lovable characters, a hint of love a story, mystery, one of a kind and best of all anticipation that keeps you thinking of the story long after you put the book down. The book has many surprises in store for the reader and ends with a twist leaving you hanging on for more. Yes, there is more! I will start the 2nd book Catching Fire tonight and as I said when I first started reading The Hunger Games, what should I be hoping for?!

if i stay

if i stay
what would you do if
you had to choose?

by Gayle Forman

Monday March 07, 2011
234 pages, less than 24hrs

I haven't been totally slacking, I was reading Under The Tuscan Sun, or trying to that is...Unfortunately I just could not get into the book and after I gave up I just hit a lull until yesterday. My daughter, my little beautiful reader, asked to make another trip to B&N to keep spending that gift card of hers. I made a girls day of it asking my mother in law who also loves a good read to go to church with us then hit up the book store, just us girls. We had a wonderful refresher of faith at church and then hit up B&N! I told myself not to look because I have too many other books waiting for me at home and even one at the library on hold for me. Yikes! I casually looked around just to see what is out and then we headed upstairs to the kids section. Keara, my daughter, is on her second book in a series Frankly Frannie. Her very first chapter book and she loves it! Anyway, I pass by a table with a sign labeled as "Tough Reads". What that means exactly I am not sure, emotionally pulling?! "if i stay" has an appealing enough cover with a girl about 18-20 years old lying down and looking up and looking just...heavy. The book says it's a New York Times Bestseller and "Will appeal to fans of Stephenie Meyer's Twilight."-USA Today (that would be me!). So I pick it up and at the same time a youngster tells her friend this book "is soo good!". Okay I have to buy it.

This story is about Mia, choices, music, true love, friendship, family and one incredibly hard choice only she can make that will change everything. Mia, a senior in high school, has a wonderful life surrounded by supportive loving people. Right away you love her and everyone she has in her life. In the beginning of this book tragedy quickly turns this happy ending story to a hold-your-breath page turner that sucks you right into the life and mindset of Mia. It flips from her present time to past tense memories in her life that gets you more and more involved with all the characters. It pulled a couple of emotional strings and I just could not put this book down! I had to find out what will happen to Mia, what will she decide or if she even has a choice at all. Every time I looked at the clock it seemed to just skip 30 minutes in what felt like seconds of reading. I hate that but love it at the same time. All in all I give this book an 8. Oh, and the best part...Summit already has the movie rights, yayyyy!

My next book will not be YA, it is either The Hunger Games recommended by a great friend or the book on hold at the library which is fantasy-ish. Thanks for reading my blog!

hold still...

how does your life move forward when all you want to do is...hold still

by Nina LaCour

229 pgs read in 3 days

Jan 2011

I was doing my weekly food shopping a few weeks ago and, as always, I browsed the book isle even though I never buy my books at the food store. As I pass by the 'Young Adult' shelf I see the blue green cover of a teenage girl with her arms out in the wind. I read the title & excerpt above it "how does your life move forward when all you want to do is...hold still" (yes without caps). I picked the book up, already captured, and read the back to see if the story line is as good as I feel it will be and I love it. It isn't my usual type of book, love stories mostly by Nicholas Sparks or Nora Roberts and yes even Twilight (sigh..) but I have read a few books in the mind of teenage years or more so teenage girls. I put the book down and kind of make a mental note that I will add it to my list of books I want to read someday. At the time I was reading Nights in Rodanthe (blog that later). So now the book just keeps popping in my conscious, I even tell a friend about it and she says it sounds good. My daughter, who is 8, loves to read and I am trying to get her into bigger books, novels. She got a gift card (thanks Matty) to Barnes and Noble and has been dying to go! Sunday January 23rd she is bored, as I am too, and asked to go to the book store (how can I resist). We get there and I start browsing the shelves for hold still, only I don't remember the title as much as that cover. She gets bored with my quest and so I give up, go upstairs to Children's and look for just her. She found a dog book, Balto and is very happy with her choice. As we head back to the escalator I see a shelf on the way with young adult fiction, mostly vampire, supernatural stuff and stuffed in between a couple series is the blue green binding I recognize. I pull it out and there it is, "hold still". I, out loud, shout "yes!"

The story is about a high school girl named Caitlin who lost her BFF Ingrid at the end of the school year. Ingrid struggled with depression, unknown to her friends/family and committed suicide. Before doing so, she left her last diary under the Caitlin's bed to find at some point later on. Caitlin, who is now completely lost without her BF, has to go back to school and face life after Ingrid.

Okay so my thoughts on the book now, boy I hope I can stretch it out as long as the anticipation of buying it. The beginning got right to the point which I was a little surprised, no build up to the big moment when Caitlin's best friend Ingrid ends her life?! I do have this urge though, that I love, to stick with Caitlin and her grief to know the story. I love the character build up and the reality to the drama, not over doing it. As I read there is so much to identify with (no, not the offing myself part)! Maybe those high school years, teenage girl years are just so strong and such a part of who you are that it is easy to do this. I did take a photography class and did have similar friendships, feelings give or take and enough of me back to the book. I do not want to spoil your journey, that is not the purpose of my blog so I will end with my final opinion. I loved it, not the best book ever but I just like how it kept me going. Sometimes it isn't the story as much as the drive to keep me reading that I love. Ya know?!