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I’m a mom who likes books and book clubs and I love reading fiction! My favorite fiction includes many of the classics because they don’t get much better than that. I don’t know why, but often I’m drawn to big, long books with a lot of characters in a New York setting. The best of these books have lots of thematic layers and great dialogue. (Anyone who knows me well knows that my all-time favorite book is one of these – Youngblood Hawke, by Herman Wouk!) I also love short fiction because of the forced economy of words and inevitable twists. I don’t like reading more than one book at a time, so I like squeezing in a short story when I’m reading something long.

But I don’t want to get lost in the past, so I’m always looking out for the next greatest book in today’s world. I especially enjoy reading young adult and historical fiction. Lately, I’ve been reading more mysteries and suspense novels. I really like seeing how writers develop plots and how they keep the reader interested. When I read non-fiction, I prefer books about history and biographies. I’ve learned to stay away from memoirs that have made a big publishing splash, though. They just aren’t my thing.

I often choose books that are already on my shelf. These books come and go, the result of a loose network of friends and family who trade and circulate whatever is on their own shelves. I also like borrowing books from the library, especially for my Kindle because it’s so convenient!

I try to see the best in everything I read. Just because I don’t like something, doesn’t mean it isn’t good. I think it’s important to understand and respect the genre. See its purpose. If a book is written to entertain, embrace it for that. If it’s to escape, then expect fantasy, not reality.  I’m thinking about expanding my reading list a lot more in 2015.  I haven’t read any plays or poetry in a long time, so those are on my list!

My reviews have a lot of three-star ratings. A three-star rating means I liked the book. My pet peeve is to see an online review with thousands of five-star ratings. How can you distinguish the good books from the great books and ultimately from the best books ever written if everything gets five stars?

So if you can live with that system, check out what I’ve read and leave a comment.  Tell me what you’re reading!

And thanks for visiting!

Five books I want to read

Empty Mansions:  The Mysterious Life of Huguette Clark and the Spending of a Great American Fortune – Bill Dedman and Paul Clark Newell, Jr.

Update: this is a fascinating story of a wealthy heiress who spent the last twenty years of her life in a hospital – by choice. A contentious lawsuit followed her death. Highly recommend – see my review here!

 

Dogfight:  How Apple and Google Went to War
and Started a Revolution – Fred Vogelstein

Update: Still want to read this one. Here’s a description from Amazon:

“The rise of smartphones and tablets has altered the industry of making computers. At the center of this change are Apple and Google, two companies whose philosophies, leaders, and commercial acumen have steamrolled the competition. In the age of Android and the iPad, these corporations are locked in a feud that will play out not just in the mobile marketplace but in the courts and on screens around the world.”

 

The Interestings:  A Novel – Meg Wolitzer

Update: I loved this book about teenagers who meet at a summer camp in the 1970s. Highly recommend! Check out my review here.

 

Life After Life:  A Novel – Kate Atkinson

Update: One of the best books I’ve ever read. I can’t gush about this one enough. Set in England and beginning in 1910, this story spans both World Wars, but focuses on the period during World War II and the heavy toll it took on Europe. Atkinson explores the “what if” question for characters and world events. Read my review here.

 

Sea Creatures – Susanna Daniel

Update: with great skill, Daniel connects themes of love, marriage, family, death, art, weather and the sea and the disabling effects of sleep disorders and selective mutism. Much of the story takes place in Stiltsville, a community in Florida of about a dozen stilt homes, built on sand flats about a mile offshore. Read my review here.

Thanks for visiting – come back soon!