The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon

My friend 'Domino' is a reader like I am. In fact, he was my first friend on Goodreads.com. Goodreads is a website where you can keep track of what you're reading and rate books. You can share your opinion and write a book review. It's also fun to find friends who are on it. I've come across many a good book to read through my friends on Goodreads.

Back to Domino...he originally mentioned this book to me. It's one of his favorites. I trust my friends to recommend the cream-of-the-crop books to me. So far, I'm not disappointed.

The book is about a boy who finds a remarkable book in a place called the Cemetary of the Forgotten Books. He devours the story and it leaves him yearning to learn all he can about the author and to find more of his work. This leads him to discover a mysterious life surrounding the author. Through the course of events, the boy also comes in contact with a man attempting to obtain and burn all of the work by this particular author.

My favorite part about the book thus far (besides the story) is the rich vocabulary used. I read with my dictionary sitting next to me :) I enjoy looking up a word or two every few pages to get the full meaning of what's happening.

It keeps the story interesting when more characters are introduced and their lives inexplicably intertwined - how they're related and what experiences they share, I'm not yet privy to. But I'll keep reading.

What a Pig!

My friend 'Ham' (ha ha, I'm so funny...) mentioned liking the last page the best in the entire book. My favorite part is the very last line in the book. Hence my pig-o-meter:







The book is about a bunch of farm animals revolting and taking over a farm. They change its name from Manor Farm to Animal Farm. It's astounding all that animals can accomplish.

Eventually the pigs take on the leadership role and even associate with humans in order to accumulate materials necessary for making a windmill and other farm equipment-esque materials. Throughout the book, the pigs develop more and more human characteristics...and unfortunately, they aren't very flattering characteristics.

It's a good story, and it makes you stop and think about the human race. How civilized is the human race really?

It was pretty good. I'm interested in where the topic of Animal Farm will take us during book club in a few weeks.

Animal Farm by George Orwell

You know how you were required to read certain classics in high school? Apparently this is a pretty common one. Not when I went to high school...or should I say, not where I went to high school. Not sure which is more accurate. But in all honesty, I don't think I'd even heard of this book until a week ago.

'Kit-Kat' participates in a book club once a month. I'm not currently attending a book club though I'd like to be! Kit-Kat mentioned that I might like going to hers and they're reading Animal Farm for September. In her words, it's a quick read and it's pretty good.

In talking with other friends, many had to read it in high school. I may be a few years late, but better late than never :)

The book is about the animals on a farm who decide to rebel against the farmer and take over the farm. Guess who's in charge once the rebellion happens? The pigs - most clever of all the farm animals. The catch-phrase is "Four legs good. Two legs bad."

The farm animals divide up the work according to who is capable of doing what. I can see the potential for disaster and I'm just in chapter five - then again, the book is only 10 chapters long :) So I'm halfway through!

Where Are You Now? By Mary Higgins Clark

I am a Mary Higgins Clark fan. She writes mystery novels. Her latest is Where Are You Now?

It's about a woman whose older brother mysteriously went missing 10 years previously. He calls her and her mother every Mother's Day just to tell them he's well. The assumption is that he disappeared purposely.

Then a young woman goes missing and between the most recent phone call from Mack to his family and her disappearance, the cases merge and re-open as a myriad of characters play into the plot.

I know her writing style well enough at this point to try to figure out who did it and coming closer than I used to when I first started reading Mary Higgins Clark :) I have to admit that this time, I was right-on the money! Well, pretty close anyway. I had one person pegged because it seems that someone close to the main characters and not suspected is often the culprit.

My final rating is four wrecking-balls. When you read it, you'll know why I chose wrecking-balls for my rating. It was good (as all her books are) but I wasn't super enthralled. It did keep me interested and keep me guessing. I just wasn't compelled to keep reading for chapters on end each night.

It's a good book and an easy read, once you keep all the characters straight :)

I Love Ian

I finished "The Host" by Stephenie Meyer the other day. I don't know why people originally didn't care for it. I admit it didn't capture my attention quickly like Twilight did.

But I really liked the book! I love Wanda, and I have to admit, if there were teams (like Team Edward and Team Jacob) I am a Team Ian girl myself :)

Yes it's sci-fi...but in the best way possible! Don't let that deter you from giving it a shot. I liked this book better than "New Moon" and quite possibly better than "Breaking Dawn" (shhhh!).

Final rating: seven caves. I can't give it any less. I got close to the end and thought I would hate it (I do love a happy ending...). Luckily I kept reading and loved the end!

The Host by Stephenie Meyer

I'm reading The Host by Stephenie Meyer. When it first came out, I heard mixed reviews. The most common was that friends told them they couldn't really get into it and that it's very different from the Twilight series.

Lately I've heard more good than bad. In fact, 'Raindrop' claims she might even like this book better than the Twilight series...is it possible?!?

If I had the time, I could sit down with this book for hours and just read. It didn't capture my attention immediately like Twilight did. But I keep reading and as I'm now halfway through, it's great!

Yes, the book is about aliens (kind of) or at least a different species :) Sure if you want to call them aliens. Whatever :)

It's basically about a species that places a 'soul' in a human's body - the human becoming the 'host'. Usually the spirit of the human disappears when the soul takes over their body. But Melanie is strong and stays with her body. Eventually her memories and emotions convince the soul to go against others of her species and look for Melanie's brother and the man she loves.

I like it!

Breaking Dawn by Stephenie Meyer

I read the final book in the Twilight saga, Breaking Dawn by Stephenie Meyer. What can I say? I loved it!

Stephenie did not disappoint - she created a book with romance, danger, unexpected twists and turns, and a happy ending. Actually, with about 200 pages left to read, I felt that the book could've ended there and I would be happy. But I guess it was good that it kept going :)

My next book is another Stephenie Meyer book, The Host. I've heard mixed reviews thus far. I don't doubt I'll enjoy it.

If you're holding out on reading the Twilight books based on the phenomenon they've become, let go and just read them. They're terrific books!

Final rating:

Foggy isn't Always Good

My rating:




Don't bother. The story is good but the book d-r-a-g-s on and on and on....

I wouldn't call it a happy ending though it was happy in one way.

When I finished the book, I wished I hadn't bothered. It could have been half the length with the same effect.

The Year of Fog

I'm currently reading The Year of Fog by Michelle Richmond. This book was actually not recommended to me. I noticed it on the kitchen table at a friend's house several weeks ago, read the inside flap, thought it sounded interesting, and asked her about it. Her roommate had actually checked it out and decided not to read it. So...I'm not sure if I should have assumed that was the opposite of a recommendation or what. I checked it out.

The story is interesting - it's about a woman who loses her fiance's daughter while walking on a beach one foggy day. The little girl walks ahead for a few seconds and disappears.

The book is well-written with lots of good description. Have you read "New Moon", the second book in the Twilight series? If you have, you probably remember the chapters that are each only one page; the pages say OCTOBER, NOVEMBER, DECEMBER, JANUARY. It's an inventive way of showing the passing of time and how unimportant it is to Bella at that time in her life. The author of this book does something similar - she gets into the mind of the woman telling the story and how her days are spent and what trivial things occupy her thoughts during several difficult months.

But in my opinion, she creates a whole bunch of extra stuff that I'm tempted to skim over. To me, the book is slow-moving and I keep waiting for it to get to a specific point mentioned on the inside flap.

One other issue I have with this story - and it's quite minor compared to some of the other books I've read - but still, what's with the sex? It doesn't change the story, it doesn't help the plot move along, it's just extra and I don't want to read about it. I have a hard time recommending a book to friends and family with questionable scenes in them. Honestly.

Now that you know how I really feel - ha ha.

When Crickets Cry

Another fabulous book by Charles Martin! I just can't get enough of this author. And to think I randomly came across him as I glanced through the library shelves. How lucky!

I adore Charles Martin as an author - his writing style, the beautiful description (and I'm the type of reader that typically glosses over description), the touching story, the real characters... everything about his books! Okay, so I've only read two, but I definitely plan on reading the other two he's written that I know of.


Let me tell you right off, it's interesting to me that within a few short weeks of each other, I would read two books about people needing a heart transplant and the donor. Wacky! It's a very serious subject, one that I know far more about now than ever before. To tell you the truth, it makes me a bit nervous...

This book is about a man with a past he's running from and wants kept secret. It's also about a spunky little girl who needs a new heart. I hate it when people ruin books for me by giving too much away, so I don't want to say much more than that. Read it!

The only reason this book got one less heart than Charles Martin's Wrapped in Rain (which got seven Aunt Jemimiahs) is because in comparison of the two, I liked Wrapped in Rain better. Just slightly :)

Walking Through Shadows

I have been so busy traveling and doing some reading in the meantime that I haven't had the chance to keep up on my blogging as I've done in the past. So here goes nothin'.

I finished Walking Through Shadows by Bev Marshall last week. This book was another random find when I perused the shelves at the library.

It's a book about a young woman who is hired out to help on a dairy farm several miles from her home. The farmer and his wife decide to hire her because they hear her father beats her. She has a hump on her back and is small for her age. She falls in love and gets married. The book starts out with her murder. It continues with a variety of characters telling the story. There are several suspects and it was fun trying to play Sherlock and wonder who did it. I assumed I had it all figured out...then I changed my assumption...and originally I had it right!

I loved the way the author had multiple people tell the story from their perspectives, getting into their heads, knowing why they did what they did and what they were thinking at the time. She did an excellent job of meshing the events together, regardless of who told what.

The book was darker than I would have liked - more violent than I was expecting. I had a hard time reading certain parts of it. I did like it though.

My overall rating is cows (as the main scene was a dairy farm).

Orchestra, Real Estate, Football, and One Heart

Thanks to Ma-Na-Na for such a great recommendation! For the record, I didn't really care for the ending either.

As I mentioned in my previous post, the book goes into more detail about the boy who died than I had anticipated. The reader actually gets to know him quite intimately, which was a nice touch.

The author doesn't focus solely on the mom or the dead son - there are other characters who come into play: the girlfriend and the ex-husband for instance. I like the way the reader gets to know the background of the minor characters and why they do the things they do. I find I'm a fan of flashbacks and getting into the mind of the characters.

I'm glad the piano man was a good guy. I do like a happy ending. I mentioned not caring for the ending of this book - not that it wasn't happy, it was just odd.

It's an easy read with short chapters and interesting content. I liked it! Thanks Ma-Na-Na - I'll try to recommend a few more good ones for you :)

Final rating:


After all, he really was a violinist rather than a piano man...