What I Read in April

One thing I am really good at finishing is books. If they can keep me interested past chapter one, I am their's for the duration. I got the idea to do a monthly review of what I have read from a blog that I follow Seasoned Joy. She does a review of each book she read for the month, but she also has a list of what she had hoped to read. I am not going to list my "to read" list, that will take way too long. I get asked a lot about good books that I have read recently, frankly my memory is not what it use to be, so even if I thought it was a really good book many times I can't remember the title or the author. So hopefully writing them down in this format will help you and help me :)

So here is what I read in April with a short review of each:

Minding Frankie: LOVED this book. I have not read a Maeve Binchy book in quite a few years, but as soon as I started reading it, I remembered why I love her books. Even though this book is set in Ireland, it doesn't make it feel like a foreign country. I instantly fell in love with the characters, she does a great job of making you fall in love with each and every one of them.

Every Last One:  LIKED this book quite a bit. I have not read anything by Anna Quindlen before, even though I familiar with lots of her books, at least by the covers:) Even though I had an idea of what the punch was going to be in this book, I still didn't expect it when it happened, I love it when that expected/unexpected gets me. It sort of reminds me of some of my favorite Jodi Picoult books, she has that same affect.

Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter:  LOVED it. Set in the south, it is sort of a mystery suspense novel. I loved the characters in this book as well, they are really well developed.

When the Emperor was Divine: Liked it. This was our book club selection for the month. The writing is fabulous, great literary style. It is set in the 1940's and it is about the Japanese internment camps. I can't say I learned anything new about that period, since I had already read Hotel at the Corner of Bitter and Sweet and that covered a lot of what that time period was like.

ROOM: Disturbingly good. I wasn't sure about this one when I started it. It is about a 5 year old boy and his ma that are held captive in a "room" garden shed in this guy's backyard. The mom has been there for 7 years against her will. The little boy has no idea that the outside world exists. I did peek ahead a bit to make sure they made it out of the "room" before I committed to reading it. I didn't think I could read a whole book about them being in this "room" the whole time.





That completes my reading for April. I always feel that there are way too many books and not enough time to read, so I don't waste my time reading things I don't like.