I’m Back – November Reading List

(My blogging has kind of lagged lately. My neck has been hurting and computing makes it worse, so I have cut back a little for now. I have fibromyalgia and my computer chair no longer works for me. So please, don’t give up on me!! Until I can get more comfortable, I will be blogging sporadically, but I’ll still be blogging!!)

Anyway, I now present…

Here are the books I have read for the month of November. There’s a legend that explains the rating system below the reviews.

1. How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents by Julia Alvarez ©1991 – I love novels about ethnic families, but this one was to me quite lackluster. It involves the lives of five Dominican girls who come to the US with their parents and how they assimilate into US culture while maintaining ties to their native cultures. ☻☻☻

 

2. The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd ©2002 – One of the most absorbing books I have ever read. A young motherless girl in the South runs away from home due to her father’s abuse and her guilt over her mother’s death. She is taken in by a beekeeper who helps her come to terms with her family’s past. ☻☻☻☻☻

 

3. Stir of Echoes by Richard Matheson ©1958,1986 – After a man is hypnotized at a party, he discovers he has gained unusual mental powers. As he struggles to deal with these powers, he learns some uncomfortable truths about his neighbors. ☻☻☻☻☻

 

4 Eleven Hours by Paullina Simons ©1998 – Pregnant woman is kidnapped by psycho. I don’t normally read books like this, but I love everything I’ve ever read by this author, she’s one of my favorites. The book is action-packed and has a satisfying ending. To say anything more would ruin it. ☻☻☻☻☻

 

5 Pretty Birds by Scott Simon ©2005 – Melancholy novel of Sarajevo, starting from normalcy and follows the devolution of the city and the spread of the genocide. The plot revolves around a young girl who is a high school basketball star in Sarajevo and how her life changes after the fighting begins. Makes you wonder how you would hold out in similar circumstances.☻☻☻☻

 

6 Bones of the Moon by Jonathan Carroll ©1987- If you are a fan of the book Alice in Wonderland you’ll like this book. If not, well…it was one of the most ridiculous stories I have ever read. And I like fantasy and sci-fi! Not worth describing, I just want to forget I wasted 4 hours of my life reading it. ☻

 

7 The Android’s Dream by John Scalzi – A bizarre book about a future Earth where aliens from other planets live among us. The plot contains elements of politics, genetics, and comedy. It revolves around the retrieval of a genetic strain of extinct sheep that is required for the coronation ceremony of a certain alien race. Prevention of an interstellar war is at stake. Yes, it’s definitely weird. ☻☻☻

 

8 Life After Life by Richard Moody, MD, PhD ©1975 – Very exciting study of life after death. This is the research from which the ideas of white lights and tunnels seen after death came from. ☻☻☻☻☻

 

 

LEGEND:

☻☻☻☻☻ Excellent. I highly recommend this book. Wonderfully plotted or chockful of insights.

☻☻☻☻ Very good. May have minor aspects of style or plot that prevented it from getting 5 smileys.

☻☻☻ Flawed, but of some entertainment or thought-provoking value.

☻☻ Read this book if you are stranded on a desert island and have nothing else handy to read.

☻ Don’t bother, it’s a waste of time. A suggested use is to light the fire for cooking your fish on the desert island.