Late Book Reviews...

So I have been reading a lot but have not reviewed books in a while so I thought I would review a few of them for you now. These will be a little shorter than usual but bear with me, I am so far behind. Today you will get to read about Thuderstruck by Eric Larson and Rebecca by Daphne DuMaurier. Both were book club choices for this month and I enjoyed both. Plus both counted towards my book total for this year. I am currently at 3 books and 10 points (which will increase when I pick a category for Rebecca).


I really enjoyed this book. I am not one to fall into romance novels often but Rebecca is more than just a romance novel (it is actually called romantic suspense). The story was quick and very engrossing. I enjoyed the world DuMaurier creates for Mrs. de Winter and how the love between Mrs. de Winter and Maxim does not just die. I found Mrs. Danvers very unnerving but I now understand the reference and the whole story was fun and suspenseful. However, I did not enjoy the ending. It was to fair to end it that way. I wish to know more but the only way is to read the 'sequel' written at least three decades later by someone else. I hope to watch the Alfred Hitchcock version of the film this weekend with J and see what he thinks of all of it.

Thunderstruck was a slow starting book but one I feel into quickly. I enjoyed the crossing stories, which I know most people don't like, and I loved the science involved. I also really enjoyed the merging of the two stories at the end, with the pursuit of Crippen. I am still amazed how some inventions came about, for example this book chronicles the creation of wireless communication. Marconi was no scientist but his belief that it should work and his constant trial and error worked in his favor. He was like an engineer, who are always dear to my heart since I have so many in the family. The Crippen murder took longer to get going but once it got interesting the Marconi story got long winded, which made it good having the two stories overlap as they did. Overall I really enjoyed this book.

So to sum up I give Rebecca five bookmarks out of five because it is a great read and a classic that has lead both novels and film and Thunderstruck four out of five bookmarks because it did drag at points but is very good for mainstream non-fiction. Pick them up when you get a chance. You will not be disappointed.

Under the Banner of Heaven

This month's book club choice was Under the Banner of Heaven by Jon Krakauer.

This is a book about the Fundamentalist Latter Day Saints (FLDS) and a little background on the mainstream Latter Day Saints (LDS or Mormons). The book provides a very well written account of the creation of the church that has the fourth or fifth largest following of all religions in the world. Being the only truly modern religion we know a great day about how it formed and it's background. The main portion of the book is devoted to a splinter group from the religion the FLDS who still practices polygamy. It also chronicles the murder and trial of the murderers the Lafferty brothers.

I only made it to page 84 and then I skimmed through most of the second part but never got to the last half of the book. It is an interesting story and I love the amount of research that must have gone into this. The book didn't hold my attention for long though. I am not a big non-fiction reader and really not true crime so take my review or leave it. I think Krakauer uses too many complex words to explain simple things and since I like to read right before bed this didn't work to my advantage. He made me think, which is generally good, but he made me think too much for the amount of effort I was willing to give this book. The only major problem I had was that I really do not agree with many of the practices of the FLDS and so I had a hard time accepting or even liking most of the people. I guess it is just a personal thing but some of their beliefs are very much against my own beliefs.

I give it two bookmarks out of five. It is just not my kind of book. I think it is worthwhile if you are willing to give it a full effort but it just didn't work for me.

A Wedding in December and my new book club

This was the first book for my new Nest book club. It is a great group of women and we had lots of yummy food and drinks. Not to mention all of the great conversations and fun meeting so many nice women. However, no one seemed to like the book. Maybe we didn't pick a good one this time but maybe next time will be a good one.

This book is by a popular author but this one is not her best work. The book is written from three different points of view and has two sub stories (one that is actually related) and a main story that mostly consists of character development with a little lite plot. The premise is that an unlikely group of high school friends comes back together to celebrate the wedding of two of their friends who have finally reunited after all of these years. Ok sounds good. Now throw in some back story about a high school tragedy and compare it to a modern day one. Not to mention tons of marriages falling apart, more affairs and infidelity than I can shake a stick at, and mixed with lots of back story on each character since they were in high school. Oh and did I mention the side story that has NOTHING to do with the main story, but it more interesting than it? I think now you get my drift. This was a poorly written book with a few good parts but not enough to recommend it. Read some of her other books if you want to give Anita Shreve a try but this is a bust.

Because of the weak plot and over abundance of superfluous details I give this book one book mark out of five. It is interesting to see some of her other work if you are a fan but please avoid this if you are not out for forcing yourself to finish books. Now on to try and finish another book club book for tomorrow night, wish me luck!