Friday, October 2, 2015

September Book Recap

Well, I didn't get as much reading done as I had hoped in September, but here's the recap:


Read:
  • The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell was really interesting, and provided lots of case studies, but it just felt was missing something.  I don't know.  It's not the type of book I normally read, so maybe it was just that.  I'm not sure.  Don't let my review dissuade you from reading it, I guess just don't expect it to keep you up late waiting to find out more.
  • Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore by Robin Sloan was really highly recommended to me by the lady at the bookstore I bought it from, but I gotta say, I kept waiting for their to be some suspense, some frightening moments or something.  It was basically about attempts to use technology to crack a hundreds of year old code.  It was a let down.
  • Life Sentences by Laura Lippman was the worst of the three books I read this month though.  It was just hard to slog through.  I didn't really care about any of the characters.  They were all pretty selfish.  You couldn't understand why any of them were friends or what had made them friends to start with, and I really didn't care what happened to them.  You keep thinking there's going to be a deeper mystery, or some twist at the end, or some sort of big reconciliation, but it's all pretty shallow- just like the characters.
Acquired:
  • The Zookeeper's Wife by Diane Ackerman was only 50 cents at the thrift shop, so I picked it up.  It's a World War II story that takes place in Poland supposedly based on actual events.
  • Like Water for Chocolate by Laura Esquivel was given to me by my mom.  She thought it looked like something I'd like.  I think I saw the movie Chocolat, which I believe this is based on, years ago, but it should be an interesting read.
  • Running with Scissors by Augusten Burroughs was acquired via Bookmooch.  I've never read any of Burroughs books before, and am not entirely sure what to expect, but it should be interesting.
  • And finally, Faithful Place by Tana French, The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell, and Uprooted by Naomi Novik, which were all given to my by the lovely A Book Olive for the last Chaotic Goddess' Books and Bloggers swap.  You can read my recap about them here.
I expected big things from what I read in September but was kind of let down.  So, here's hoping for better things in October readings. 

2015 Totals:
Read- 33
Acquired- 48

2 comments:

  1. I read Running with Scissors, hated it. It is actually the only book I have ever thrown in the garbage. The others look interesting - I just bought Mr. Penumbras 24 hour book Shop, so I'll see what I think, and if we have similar tastes.

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    1. Oh no Terri! Well, at least if I hate Running with Scissors, I didn't pay anything for it. But that doesn't sound promising. I was probably a little too hard on Mr Penumbra. I found it at the used bookstore and it had been on my to read list, and the lady at the bookstore LOVED it! She told me she wished she could re-read it without knowing what was going to happen so she could experience it all over again and she just loved it. So I just went into expecting something that would blow my mind. It was fine, there just never were any big fireworks for me.

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