Book 202 The Dirty Girls Social Club by Alisa Valdes Rodriguez

The Dirty Girls Social Club: A Novel
The Dirty Girls Social Club: A Novel - Kindle Edition

798 books to go!

This could very well be the last book I read before I'm 30, it's definitely going to be the last book I blog about before I'm 30. I'm working on a couple of books now but I don't think I'm going to finish any of them before my 30th birthday tomorrow.

Summary:
This book summarizes the life of some college friends. Every six months this group of Spanish women, they call themselves the sucias meet to socialize, get together and update each other on their lives. This book goes through a small period in each of the sucia's lives.

Opinion:
Pretty good chick book to read. It was very real, it sort of reminded me of sex and the city Spanish style with some differences of course. I just found out there's a second book in the series, another book which seems to be in e-book format only so far and an extra x rated chapter of the e-book only version.

Why I chose to read this:
I read a book awhile ago, titled 1,001 books for every mood, this was one of the books that seemed interesting that made my list of books to read.

Book 201 Evil at Heart by Chelsea Cain

Evil at Heart
Evil at Heart (Archie Sheridan & Gretchen Lowell) - Kindle

799 books to go!

Summary:
This is the third book in the Gretchen Lowell series. Archie Sheridan is in a mental hospital after his last encounter with Gretchen. He checks himself out of the hospital to hunt down Gretchen Lowell copy cats killers.

Opinion:
So far I think I like the first book in this series the best, but I keep reading this books because they are enjoyable and because I really Susan Ward's character. She's funky and a writer, everything I want to be!Well not everything but two things.

Why I chose to read this:
This is just another series that I've gotten hooked on.

Book 200 Peter Pan by J.M. Barrie

Peter Pan

800 books to go!

I did it, reached 200 books before I hit 30! Okay that wasn't my ultimate goal, I still have 800 more books to go, but being that my 30th birthday is 9 days away, I'm definitely happy that I hit the 200 mark before hand...although the 500 mark would be better, that's not happening anytime soon, maybe in 2013 if I'm lucky and read fast!

Summary:
This is the classic tale of Peter Pan the boy who never grew up.

Opinion:
I liked it, I always appreciate reading a classic once in awhile. I definitely don't want to forget great literature that has become timeless, in favor of stupid best sellers, in short I don't want to be anything like the community I work for and trust me these people will never pick up a classic! The story made me think of a phantom phan I know because her and her husband are also big on the story of Peter Pan.

Why I chose to read this:
I have a list of books to read, I narrowed down this list big time because I had way too many books on it, this is one of the books that remained, I found available for the kindle and read it on the cloud reader at work.

Book 199 Joe: The Coffee Book by Jonathan Rubinstein

Joe: The Coffee Book

801 books to go!

Summary: 
This book covered the topic of coffee, featuring Joe, a chain of coffee shops in Manhattan.

Opinion:
I loved this book! The photographs were amazing, it featured a great mix of text about coffee and the Joe coffee shops. I actually think I'm going to buy this, or if I don't buy it I'm going to find it on the shelf again and photocopy the addresses of the coffee shops in the back of the book and make a mission to visit every single one.

Why I chose to read this:
Joanne from work alerted me about this book when the library got it. She asked if I wanted to put a hold on it so I could read it and I told her yes in a heartbeat, the last time I answered yes that fast was when Shawn asked me if I'd marry him.

Book 198 Photography: The 50 most influential photographers of all time by Chris Dickie

  Photography: The 50 Most Influential Photographers of All Time (Icons of Culture)

802 books to go!

Summary: 
This 128 page book features two tiny pages of biographical information of each photographer that the author felt has been influential in our time thus far. The short bios also feature information about each artist's work and there are little interludes in between giving information about photography in general.

Opinion:
This is a great lightweight resource for anyone to read who might have an interest in photography. For a small book there's a lot of great information inside of it, it makes a quick handy reference.

Why I chose to read this:
Cindy Sherman had the very last section of the book, so I chose to read it because of her.

 

Book 197 Sweetheart by Chelsea Cain

Sweetheart
Sweetheart - Kindle Edition

803 books to go!

Summary:
This is the second book in the Gretchen Lowell series, the author has written 4 books so far, a fifth book is coming out in August. In this book Archie is trying to live with his ex-wife Debbie, all hell breaks loose when he learns his liver is failing and Lowell escaped the prison she was being held in.

Opinion:
I enjoyed this book as much as I enjoyed heartsick, which is the first book of the series. My favorite character is Susan Ward the reporter.  I ended up purchasing books 2 to 4 because I intended to pass them onto someone I ended up losing touch with. When I finished this book I tried to find a new person to pass it onto but I ended up just leaving it on the book sale rack of the library I work for. Someone will end up taking it or actually paying the library $1 for it.

Why I chose to read this:
Like a few other series I started I wanted to continue reading this one too.

Book 196 Defending Jacob by William Landay

 Defending Jacob: A Novel
Defending Jacob: A Novel

804 books to go!

Summary:
When Jacob Barber is named a suspect and goes to trial for the murder of his classmate Ben Rifkin, his parents risk losing everything to defend him while questioning his guilt.

Opinion:
I haven't read a shocker like this in a long time. This was one of those books I absolutely love that give you a surprise ending with an unexpected twist, this happened in the last 30 pages of the book, after I was sure the story wrapped up and was pretty much over with. I had to pay a ten cent fine because I didn't get to finish the book before the due date, but it was worth every penny.

Why I chose to read this:
Lots of people are requesting this at the library right now, I also figured it seemed like an interesting mystery/thriller to read.

 

Book 195 World's Most Haunted Places by Jeff Belanger

World's Most Haunted Places

805 books to go!

Summary:
This book contains short descriptions, some photographs and stories about 29 of the World's Most Haunted Places.

Opinion:
The book was okay. It wasn't what I expected, I actually expected to be scared and I wasn't really phased by it. I am tempted to take a trip to each of these haunted places, before I pass this book onto my friend I should make a list of the places to go.

Why I chose to read this:
My friend and I were in barnes and noble, she actually picked this book out. They were running a special where if you purchased any two items in the store you got a tote bag that retailed $25 for $10. We were trying to make the whole purchase equal to or less then $25 to make the bag purchase worth it. So we scoured the bargain book rack, I took this book home with the intention of reading it and passing it off to her when I was done.

BONUS: 
I'm going to include a bonus section of this blog just to add any extra information or trivia to share about the book I read. This particular author has a website devoted to ghosts if you wish to check it out.
http://ghostvillage.com/

 

Book 194 Little Bird of Heaven by Joyce Carol Oates

Little Bird Of Heaven: A Novel
Little Bird of Heaven - Kindle Edition
806 books to go!

Summary:
This novel follows the aftermath of  the brutal murder of Zoe Kruller. Her former husband Del Ray Kruller and last known lover Edwward Diehl are suspects in her murder, the novel spans a time period of roughly 25 years and is told through the viewpoints of Edward Diehl's daughter Krista and Zoe's son Aaron.

Opinion:
I appreciated this book for the artistic writing, I haven't read Joyce Carol Oates' work before but I wasn't really a fan of the ultimate ending of the book. The timeline bounced around and at times she made it work at other times I felt it was unsuccessful.

Why I chose to read this:
I actually found a hard copy of this book sitting in the courtroom when I was on grand jury. I read about half of it in court but left it behind when my service was over for someone else to find and hopefully read. I read the rest of the novel when I checked it out on the kindle cloud reader through the library.

Book 193 Cindy Sherman

Cindy Sherman
807 books to go!

Summary: 
This book was published in 1984, it contains an introduction and afterward commenting on Sherman's work as well as many plates of her photographs from 1977 to 1984.

Opinion:
Definitely my kind of art book. I always feel art is very subjective and when I pick up a book about the artist I'd rather see many plates and be able to browse through them and think about my own opinions or conclusions about the work. This was more plates, less text which I dig when looking at art. Text is informative though and great to learn from so a little bit of text is good.

Why I chose to read this:
This is one of the few books the library I work for actually has on Sherman. I'm planning on requesting more of her books but I can't do that until July because our art book budget recently ran out for the fiscal year.