Not sure if anyone still reads this blog!!!

I just wanted to give anyone who still reads this blog a heads up that I am merging it back into my "everyday blog" I found it to difficult to have two blogs going at once! I have a "book" section on the other blog where I will be doing book reviews and I also have a "GoodReads" account where you can see past and future reviews! Hope everyone is enjoying their Holidays and hope to see you on my other blog!

http://allaboutmeandabagofchips.typepad.com/

http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/921083-Eve-Recinella

Book #72

Serena by Ron Rash

The year is 1929, and newly-weds George and Serena Pemberton arrive from Boston in the North Carolina mountains to create a timber empire. Serena is new to the mountains - but she soon shows herself the equal of any worker, overseeing crews, hunting rattlesnakes, even saving her husband's life in the wilderness. Yet she also learns that she will never bear a child. Serena's discovery will set in motion a course of events that will change the lives of everyone in this remote community. As the Pembertons' intense, passionate marriage starts to unravel, this riveting story of love, passion and revenge moves toward its shocking reckoning.

This was another just "OK" read for me. I found the story to be interesting, in fact while reading it I felt it had a bit of a "There Will Be Blood" (movie) feel to it, but the two main characters were just so unlikeable that it really turned me off. I found most of the characters to be very one dimensional, with really only one that seemed to be fully developed and it was her character that kept me interested enough to finish the book. As I mentioned the story was interesting, but was often bogged down with boring passages about politics and land rights, so ya, Just an OK read for me...

Book #71

A Year on Ladybug Farm by Donna Ball

Their husbands were gone, their families were grown, and the future stretched out before them like an unfulfilled promise... Tired of always dreaming and never doing, Cici, Lindsay, and Bridget make a life-altering decision. Uprooting themselves from their comfortable lives in the suburbs, the three friends buy a run-down mansion, nestled in the picturesque Shenandoah Valley. They christen their new home "Ladybug Farm," hoping that the name will bring them luck. As the friends take on a home improvement challenge of epic proportions, they encounter disaster after disaster, from renegade sheep and garden thieves to a seemingly ghostly inhabitant. Over the course of a year, overwhelming obstacles make the three women question their decision, but they ultimately learn that sometimes the best things can happen when everything goes wrong...

I REALLY REALLY enjoyed this one, so much so in fact I read it from cover to cover in one sitting! It's one of those books that are fun, fluffy and heartfelt and puts a big 'ol smile on your face. Is the story predictable, yes, but so what, sometimes in life you just want to escape and dream and enjoy a really good book, and this one fits the bill perfectly!

Book #70

The Earth Hums in B Flat by Mari Strachan

Young Gwenni Morgan has a gift. She can fly in her sleep. She's also fond of strawberry whip, detective stories and asking difficult questions. When a neighbor mysteriously vanishes, she resolves to uncover the secret of his disappearance and return him to his children. She truthfully records what she sees and hears: but are her deductions correct? What is the real truth? And what will be the consequences - for Gwenni, her family and her community - of finding it out? Gwenni Morgan is an unforgettable creation, and this portrait of life in a small Welsh town on the brink of change in the 1950s is enthralling, moving and utterly real. Mari Strachan's debut is a magical novel that will transport you to another time and place.

I thought I'd enjoy this one more then I did, I found it to be a pretty slow and uninspiring read.

Rose and Laura Wilder and the Little House stories: newyorker.com

Rose and Laura Wilder and the Little House stories: newyorker.com

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My Apologies...

I have been neglecting this blog lately, I was starting to get overwhelmed and felt that every review had to be witty, well written and interesting, when really all I wanted to say sometimes was "The book was entertaining, worth the read" LOL

I am not sure why I felt such pressure, but there ya go, it caused me to take a step back. I love sharing books that I have read though, so you'll forgive me if some of my reviews and short and to the point, won't you? :D

I promise that I will try not to drop the ball again and as you can see I have added three new books that I have recently read!

Book #69

The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown

WHAT WAS LOST WILL BE FOUND…

Washington DC: Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon is summoned at the last minute to deliver an evening lecture in the Capitol Building. Within moments of his arrival, however, a disturbing object – gruesomely encoded with five symbols – is discovered at the epicentre of the Rotunda. It is, he recognises, an ancient invitation, meant to beckon its recipient towards a long-lost world of hidden esoteric wisdom. When Langdon’s revered mentor, Peter Solomon – philanthropist and prominent mason – is brutally kidnapped, Langdon realizes that his only hope of saving his friend’s life is to accept this mysterious summons and follow wherever it leads him. Langdon finds himself quickly swept behind the facade of America’s most historic city into the unseen chambers, temples and tunnels which exist there. All that was familiar is transformed into a shadowy, clandestine world of an artfully concealed past in which Masonic secrets and never-before-seen revelations seem to be leading him to a single impossible and inconceivable truth. A brilliantly composed tapestry of veiled histories, arcane icons and enigmatic codes, The Lost Symbol is an intelligent, lightning-paced thriller that offers surprises at every turn. For, as Robert Langdon will discover, there is nothing more extraordinary or shocking than the secret which hides in plain sight…

Dan Brown's Langdon series is one of my all time favorite series. I always feel like I have been taken on a fast paced ride, but also learned a thing or two along the way. This third installment of the series is good, really good, though not quite up there with Angels and Demons, which in my opinion is the best book in the series. I suspect if you are a fan, then you will find yourself enjoying The Lost Symbol. Fingers crossed it doesn't take another 6 years before we see a fourth book...hint hint Mr. Brown. ;D

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