Book post

Since we never really developed a schedule during our time in the U.S., one thing it afforded me plenty of time to do was keep reading.  I really enjoyed being able to get lost in Barnes and Noble and Lifeway and pick out any book I wanted…in English  Our crate has about 5 more boxes of new books waiting to be read and I can’t wait to get them!  Here are some of the ones I’ve read recently…

One of my dear friends suggested this teen series to me.  I trust her advice since she once said that if she could start over and pick any career, she would have been a reviewer/critic of teen literature.  I LOVED this series.  It falls in line with the Hunger Game series which I also loved.  Maybe I am stuck in my teeny-bopper years, but I have not yet tired of the books where the heroine must stick it to society and gets to choose between two great guys  There are three books in this series…Matched, Crossed and Reached.  I devoured them all while in Texas.

I still enjoy a good Agatha Christie murder mystery.  They are just easy to read.  This one was a little more challenging to me because when I read it it was actually titled, “café negro”.  Yes, I read it in Portuguese.  The fact that I could read and follow along and understand it all in Portuguese should tell you what an easy read it is (it should not tell you that I am fabulous at Portuguese)

If you’ll remember I read the book “7″ shortly after arriving back in Texas.  I had heard LOTS about Jen Hatmaker and had wanted to see for myself what all the hype was about.  I quickly fell in love with her just like the rest of seemingly all American women, but what’s not to love about a woman who is just SO funny and genuine?!  This book came before “7″ and is one of the reasons she conducted her “7 experiment”.  I really enjoyed this book.  In it she reveals all the ways God “interrupted” their comfortable life and pushed them to go beyond where they felt comfortable.  It provides SO much wonderful food for thought for those of you who just aren’t content in your current “Christian walk”.  Highly recommend.

We joked that apparently my husband and mother-in-law were on a WWII kick while we were in the states.  They both stocked up on books revolving around this theme.  I borrowed and read this one.  I’m just going to say that it was hard to read.  Hard in the fact that it was written from the perspective of a German woman and what she “had to do” to survive the war herself.  I had never thought of the war from this angle.  It was really well written…I am glad I read it, it was just hard.

This is a book that Jen Hatmaker quoted in her book “Interrupted”.  She said this book, “messed her up”, so naturally, I wanted to see if it would mess me up as well.  I enjoyed it and it caused me to think on lots of things, but I found it didn’t quite “mess me up” like I had hoped.  Maybe I need to read it again…maybe it should mess me up more.

Whew.  I am not going to lie.  This was the hardest book EVER for me to get into.  I have been wanting to read it because I know so many people love the Broadway show and that given the chance someday, I would also like to see the show.  So, when I saw this book with lime green pages (why are colored pages so irresistible to me?!), I thought it would be the perfect chance to get acquainted with the story before seeing the show.  The story was just disturbing for the longest time.  Graphic.  Weird.  Michael kept telling me to just stop reading it (he could tell I wasn’t enjoying it), but this is proof that once I commit to a book, I have to see it through.  I kept reading.  By the end of the book I was really empathetic with poor Elphaba (the wicked witch) and hated the fate given her, so I guess you could say I finally got into it, but man was it hard.

This is another of the WWII novels that I borrowed from my mother-in-law.  This one was set on the streets of Japan and followed two brothers on their journey as they grew up during the war and the effects it played in Japan long after the war ended.  I really loved these sweet brothers and was heart broken for them time and time again.  But they are conquerors…

I go back and forth on Nicholas Sparks.  Some of his books are great and some are just cheesy.  Mg and I saw a preview for this upcoming movie and thought it looked intriguing.  I needed a book to hold my attention for our long flight back to Portugal so I chose this one in a moment of weakness.  It did hold my attention…and was easy enough to read (I finished it on our plane ride)…but it was kind of strange.  Definitely not my favorite of his.  Undecided as to whether or not I will still see the film.

This was one of those “kindle freebies” I downloaded a while back.  I read it just last week since I am still waiting on my crate full of books to arrive  The granddaughter compiled this book from journal entries and letters written by her grandmother during her years as a school teacher in Arizona.  I actually enjoyed it a lot.  It is crazy to think how primitive Arizona was just a hundred years ago.  It was fun to try to step into her shoes and picture living as she did (although, I don’t think I’m woman enough to do it).  I just wish I had some journals like this from my own grandmothers…it would be a treasure for sure.