Book 148 Wonderstruck by Brian Selznick

Wonderstruck
 852 books to go!

Summary:
This story is told in two parts that parallel one another. One part is told strictly using illustrations, the other part is told mainly in text until the very end. Rose Kincaid is a deaf girl obsessed with actress Lillian Mayhew, hers is the story told entirely through illustration. Ben is a young child who just lost his mother and is rendered temporarily deaf when he's struck by lightning. Ben's story is told mostly in text. By the end of the book both of these stories end up coming together in a very splendid happy way.

Opinion:
Brian Selznick has done it again! Right now the man has my respect he's only written two books but they are both very amazing. They are perfect for both children and adults, they are wonderful stories to encourage thinking in a young child, instead of just spoon feeding them the story through text. The illustrations are terrifically interpretable. When you get your hands on the book it looks intimidating because it's very thick, many pages but it's easy to get through because most of the pages are illustrations.

Why I chose to read this book:
I loved the invention of Hugo Cabret, the movie Hugo was amazing as well. I found out he published wonderstruck through a fellow co-worker of mine and placed it on reserve at work so that I could have a turn to read it.

 

Book 147 Old Homes of New England by Roderic H. Blackburn

Old Homes of New England: Historic Houses In Clapboard, Shingle, and Stone
853 books to go!

Summary:
A ton of great photographs as well as short summaries of notable old homes in New England.

Opinion:
If you like to look at historic houses this is a great read. All of the photographs are wonderful, the information is educational, it makes you want to see these homes in person if it's possible.

Why I chose to read this: 
This was a random pick up from work.

Book 146 The Accident by Linwood Barclay

The Accident: A Thriller
Kindle Edition

854 books to go!

Summary:
Glen Garber, in grief over the death of his wife Sheila starts to accidentally investigate the real cause of her death. While doing so he uncovers many secrets and is witness to more deaths and incidents that aren't what they seem.

Opinion:
I loved this book. It was great, very intelligent, extremely complex a thriller that definitely would not let up. The villains of the book were the characters I least suspected, and it was very interesting to find out what truly happened as facts were uncovered. The book also paralleled the reality of our times in this bad economy. My only gripe is what I felt to be an underlying message against knock off goods. I understand that fashion designers work hard to create their designs but sometimes average folk cannot afford the real thing and if they like the style and a knock off makes them happy then I see nothing wrong with that. I do however understand the dangers of other knock off goods such as pharmaceutical drugs and construction parts.

Why I chose to read this: 
I checked this out for my kindle and intended to read it on the cloud reader. I only had two weeks so I ended up returning it. I picked it up again because I was browsing an entertainment weekly that my godmother gave me and Stephen King had it as a recommended read so I wanted to check it out again. I'm glad I did the story had me engrossed, it was terrific.

Book 145 Definitely, Maybe by Heather Webber

 Definitely, Maybe (Lucy Valentine Short Story)

855 books to go!

Summary:
A short story where the main event is a girl's night/sleepover at Lucy's cottage with best friends Em and Marisol. Lucy tells them the story about her accident and how she received her unique psychic ability.

Opinion:
Good story a definite tease. I would like a read a fourth Lucy Valentine novel and hope Heather Webber writes one very soon.

Why I chose to read this: 
I was hoping to find a fourth Lucy Valentine story, I found this instead and purchased it for my kindle right away.

Book 144 Freezing by Clea Koff

Freezing (Jayne and Steelie Mysteries)

856 books to go!

Summary:
A debut introduction to a new mystery series called Jayne and Steelie Mysteries. Jayne and Steelie operate a charity titled 321 which helps family members find out what happened to their missing relatives. They start working for the FBI to help track down a serial killer when some body parts fall out of a van and are found by a freeway.

Opinion:
This was a pretty great thriller. It was very interesting and the serial killer was definitely a person I wouldn't have suspected. The ending was action packed and nail biting.

Why I chose to read this: 
I found this at work on the new book shelf cart that is placed by the desk on the main floor. I definitely want to continue on with this series.

Book 143 Why My Third Husband Will Be a Dog by Lisa Scottoline

Why My Third Husband Will Be A Dog: The Amazing Adventures of an Ordinary Woman
Kindle Edition

857 books to go!

Summary:
This is a non fiction humor writing by Lisa Scottoline. There's many short essays of her real life experiences as a mother, as a writer, as a daughter and as a pet owner.

Opinion:
This book wasn't bad. I hated one of her newer books and although this book only made me literally laugh out loud only once it was still pretty amusing.

Why I chose to read this:
I had this book on my kindle, my friend mentioned it awhile ago and I wanted to give it a chance. Actually two of my friends and I were supposed to have a book discussion about this book that never happened, maybe it will happen soon if they both read it.

Book 142 An Angel for Christmas by Heather Graham

An Angel for Christmas
An Angel for Christmas - Kindle Edition 
858 books to go!

Summary: 
The MacDougal family is all set to celebrate Christmas together in their mountain cabin. During their festivities two strangers show up both claim they are good and point fingers at each other. Each of them claims the other stranger is bad. The MacDougal family's peace and happiness of the season is threatened as they work to figure out which stranger is telling the truth.

Opinion: 
This is one of the worst books I've ever read. I was really excited to read something by Heather Graham, I thought she might write interesting thrillers. Now I'm not so sure I'll ever pick up another book by her again. She had to be smoking some Christmas crack when she wrote this novel. It wasn't a thriller at all, it was cheesy, campy and parts of it made no sense. The highlight of this book for me was the mention of a subaru forester. I wouldn't waste my time on this one if I were you.

Why I chose to read this book: 
I was looking for a new read to check out on overdrive to read on the kindle cloud reader. I picked this book because I thought it sounded exciting and I thought might as well get one last holiday story in before Christmas.

 

Book 141 Holidays on Ice by David Sedaris

Holidays on Ice
Kindle Edition
859 books to go!

Summary: This book contains a collection of short stories and essays based on Christmas.

Opinion: A great book with a very humorous take on the holidays. My favorite story which I was very excited to read when I checked out the book was diaries from Santa Land. Some stories I skipped because I already read them in previous books I picked up by this author.

Why I chose to read this: I heard about The Santa Land Diaries and wanted to read them. I found out they were in this book so I checked it out of work. I also wanted to squeeze in another holiday story before Christmas.

 

Book 140 Barrel Fever by David Sedaris

Barrel Fever: Stories and Essays
Kindle Edition
 860 books to go!
Summary: 
These are some snarky warped stories and essays by author David Sedaris.


Opinion:
I semi-enjoyed reading this book. I like David Sedaris' work, most of it's pretty funny. These stories were pretty unbelievable and featured the lowest members of society you could think of. He has an odd mind, not odd like Stephen King where he writes about gore and blood, but pretty damn odd.

Why I chose to read this: 
I had this book on my kindle under the humor collection I created (which I will shortly be getting rid of) and wanted to read it.

 

Book 139 Alice I have been by Melanie Benjamin

Alice I have been
Kindle Edition
861 books to go!

Summary:
A historical fiction novel about the life of Alice Liddell, the inspiration for Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll. The tale is told in three parts and take place in three eras of Liddell's life.

Opinion:
I enjoyed this story. It was interesting to have an account of the life of Alice Liddell in story form, it was also a learning experience for me as I didn't know about her before reading this novel.

Why I chose to read this:
 It was my next kindle read while at work.

 

Book 138 The Ice Princess by Camilla Lackberg

The Ice Princess
Kindle Edition
862 books to go!

Summary: 
Erica Falck discovers the body of her old friend Alex in a bathtub. It appears Alex has slit her wrist. This turns out to be untrue and Erica works to solve the mystery with Patrick Hedstrom.

Opinion:
I enjoyed this book. As the case with Swedish crime fiction (which has taken off big time with the Stieg Larson trilogy) sometimes the story read very slowly but to find out the compelling facts and answers to the mystery makes the read worth it.

Why I chose to read this: 
This book was recommended to me after someone at work saw me checking out the snowman by Jo Nesbo.

 

Book 137 Comfort and Joy by Kristin Hannah

Comfort & Joy
Kindle Edition
863 books to go!

Summary: Joy Candellaro boards a plane for a city called Hope a few months after she found her sister and her husband sleeping together. After the plane crashes she finds herself with a young boy named Bobby and his father Daniel. Joy wishes desperately that she doesn't have to go back home, that she can find a place and a life with Daniel and Bobby.

Opinion: This story had it's ups and downs. It had some magic, some romance and a touch of Christmas time. I hated the fact that her husband cheated on her with her sister though. It's terrible enough when a partner cheats on you but the betrayal is extremely brutal when it's with someone you know. I couldn't believe some scenes as I read them, I found myself asking did the author just write this? Did that just really happen? Many many times I was shocked. But the ending turned out to be pretty nice. So it was a weird read but worth it.

Why I chose to read this: I was looking for some Christmas stories and got on the e-book waiting list to check this book out from the library for my kindle. As soon as it was available I took it out.

Book 136 Squirrel Seeks Chipmunk by David Sedaris

Squirrel Seeks Chipmunk
Kindle Edition

864 books to go!

Summary: I took the meaning of this book to be a Sedaris' grown up version of Aesop's fables. I don't know if that's what he was going for but that's my interpretation. There are quite a few different tales featuring animals as the main characters.

Opinion: It was an interesting read. As much as I love animals, cats in particular I'm not a big fan of reading anything where animals are the main characters. Sedaris does a great job though, he's an awesome writer.

Why I chose to read this: It was a quick read for the kindle, finished it in about two days.

Book 135 Sh*t my Dad Says by Justin Halpern

S*it My Dad Says
Kindle Edition


865 books to go!

Summary: Justin Halpern moved back home to temporarily live with his parents.Amused by what his dad said he started posting his father's quotes on twitter. Suddenly he had many followers and a deal to write this book. In it are anecdotal stories about his father as well as quotes from his father.

Opinion: I loved this! There were many times I was on the bus or train and I laughed out loud for real or smirked to suppress my laughter. This guy's father is full of funny.

Why I chose to read this: Last year in the late Winter I added some collections to my kindle to organize my books. So I've been picking books to read based on which collection I'm trying to read through. Right now I'm going through the humor writers collection of my kindle.