Mrs. B's Book Reviews 2008: Wrap Up

Yeah, I know...I sorta petered out on this one. Well, I just ain't into it. And, it's hanging out there undone so, I decided I'd at least list the books I read last year (and listened to) and a rating and leave it at that.

My rating system, in a nutshell: 1 Star = Shit. 2 Stars = So So. 3 Stars = Good Enough. 4 Stars = Really Enjoyed it and 5 Stars = Excellent; destined to be one of my all-time favorites.

Here are the left-overs:

Bridesmaids Revisited (CD) by Dorothy Cannell. I listened to this on my drive down to FL last year. It was an entertaining enough tale about a bunch of old broads living in a big house somewhere in England and the granddaughter of their dead friend all attempting to solve a mystery. 3 Stars.

The Babes in the Wood (CD and Book) by Ruth Rendell. Apparently, Rendell writes a lot of crime/detective novels featuring the same characters. This one was ok; the CD crapped out on me about 1/2 the way through and I was into it enough to go to the library and check out the book to finish it up. Something about two teenagers that go missing and are apparently murdered, but, are they? 3 Stars.

Temple of the Winds, Soul of the Fire, and Faith of the Fallen (Books/Series) by Terry Goodkind. I continued to plow through Goodkind's "Sword of Truth" series in 2008, knocking off three of 'em. Guess what? There is now a TV show based on his first book. Anyway, I enjoy his books and give them all 4 Stars. I only have 17,201 left to go :-)

Saving Fish From Drowning (Book) by Amy Tan. I pretty much like anything of Tan's that I read, although she's yet to top (IMHO) The Joy Luck Club. This story was different; a dead woman helps to guide her friends on an adventurous trip (that she had planned for all of them before she died). It's told from the dead woman's perspective; quite engaging. 4 Stars.

Becoming Laura Ingalls Wilder (Book) by John E. Miller. Being that I'd re-read all of Wilder's books AND gone to her home in Missouri, I got interested in reading about her as a person. This book was pretty good and I learned things about her (and her family) that I did not know. Like, in her books, she says her husband was 9 years older than her but he was in, fact, 19 years older. Which means when he was courting her when she was 15, he was 29. Sorta UGH, that. However, the author did a fine job of describing how Laura came to write in the first place and how she and her daughter Rose collaborated on the Little House Books. 3 Stars.

Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil (Book) by John Berendt. This is actually a non-fiction book but it's written more like you're reading a novel. I got interested in reading this book after our trip to Savannah in November 2007. It's extremely well-written (and the movie version pretty much does it justice). Berendt has a new book out now (another non-fiction) that takes place in Venice, Italy. Guess I'll have to track that one down! 4 Stars.

Guilty Pleasures, The Laughing Corpse, Circus of the Damned, The Lunatic Cafe and Bloody Bones (Books/Series) by Laurell K. Hamilton. If you like the Twilight books, you'll probably like these; an adult version of the human-vampire-werewolf love triangle. The heroine in all of the books (a series, obviously) is Anita Blake, a no nonsense vampire hunter. These books are really easy to read; adult mind candy! I read most of them while sitting by the pool in Puerto Vallarta. Like the Goodkind series, I have a lot more to get through! Hamilton pops out two or three books a YEAR. 3 Stars for all.

Genghis: Birth of an Empire (Book) by Conn Iggulden. Iggulden (famous for his series on Julius Caesar which I read and liked) tries his hand at telling the tale of Genghis Kahn. Pretty damn well, too. This is the first of at least two books. 4 Stars.

Twilight and New Moon (Books/Series) by Stephenie Meyer. If you don't know about this series, you're living in a cave somewhere (or you haven't been paying attention to the Flair on Facebook). The Kid read them and loved them (of course), so, I got curious and read the first one. And, like every other person who reads them (or so it seems), I got sucked in. Briefly, the books are about Bella, human, who moves to a town in Washington. She attends high school there and gets involved with a vampire family. She falls in love with Edward, one of the vampire sons (and vice versa). She has a best friend, Jacob, who also happens to be a werewolf. Lah-ti-dah, but, they are quite interesting and definitely mind candy. I gave Twilight 4 Stars and New Moon 3 Stars.

Ines of My Soul (Book) by Isabel Allende. Not really one of her best, in my opinion. As I write this, I cannot really remember who or what it was about, other than it had something to do with Chile in the late 1550s. I gave it 3 Stars because it was readable, just not (obviously) very memorable.

The Hand Maid's Tale (Book/Re-Read) by Margaret Atwood. Speaking from a woman's perspective, this has got to be one of the creepiest books I've ever read but it's very good. Flash forward several hundred years and you'll find a society where women are divided into three or four classes: Wife of someone important, wife of someone not important, house cleaner/servant and Hand Maid. Hand Maids get to have sex with the husbands of the important wives who cannot have children of their own. Once a month in a eerie celebration. There's more to it than this, but, even if there were not, it has to have intrigued you, right? Don't bother with the movie version, though. 3 Stars.

Wicked and Son of a Witch (Books/Series/Re-Read of Wicked) by Gregory Maguire. The first time I read Wicked was in March/April 2004. I'd just met Mr. B and, frankly, I wasn't paying a whole lot of attention to what I was reading then :-) I picked up the sequel and, in fact, there is now a third book in the series. So, I figured I'd better re-read Wicked and go from there. Since I'm a Wizard of Oz nut, I loved Wicked and liked Son of a Witch well enough. Some people have trouble with books that are, in essence, sympathetic to someone that we've all believed up to now to have been evil to the core. These books are fascinating; but, I wouldn't advise reading two in a row. A bit much. I didn't think the 2nd book was as good as the first. I gave Wicked 4 Stars and Son of a Witch 3 Stars. Note: I also have the third book in the series on tap to be read sometime in 2009 and hope to see the musical, Wicked, this year too!

Jordon County (CD) by Shelby Foote. Before Mr. Foote wrote his renowned books on the Civil War, he wrote novels. This one was one of his first (I believe written in 1954 or 1955). It's in essence seven separate stories about people that live in this particular county in Mississippi. The timing of the stories are all over the place; pre-Civil War, late 1800s, early 1900s, etc. I really loved listening to Shelby Foote when he was interviewed for Ken Burn's Civil War series on PBS. He was so entertaining and well spoken. This book was an early indication of his ultimate success. Now, I might just get motivated to read that Civil Wars series (I have the first book and know my brother has all three!) 3 Stars.

Telegraph Days (CD) by Larry McMurty. I LOVED listening to this; both because it was fairly well written (and fun) but also because it was expertly read by Annie Potts (Designing Women). This is a much more light hearted romp than McMurty's Lonesome Dove. It's about a young lady and her brother who are orphaned in the 1870s (or so). They live in "No Man's Land" (New Mexico) and end up running into all sorts of real-life characters such as Wyatt Earp (and his brothers) and Buffalo Bill Cody. Again, just a delight to listen to and I'd highly recommend this for a long road trip. It would probably be fun to read-read, also. 4 Stars.

The Memory Keeper's Daughter (Book) by Kim Edwards. A very somber but ultimately uplifting tale about a doctor who delivers his own twins during a snow storm. His son is fine, his daughter has Down Syndrome. He decides to tell his wife the daughter died and gives the daughter to the nurse to take to a home. As it turns out, the nurse can't bear to part with the girl and raises her herself. As you can imagine, at some point, the cat is let out of the bag. Although this book was over 400 pages, I got through it quite quickly. 4 Stars.

So, there you finally have it. Including the ones I already blogged about, I read 35 books last year. And, here it is mid-February and I'm about ready to finish up number eight. I thought having joined a Book Discussion Group, I'd end up reading LESS. As it turn out, it appears I'll end up reading MORE.

Mrs. B