Little Bee by Chris Cleave

This book was much more interesting than "Canada" but still wasn't my favourite type of book. I don't know if the scenario is possible. It is about a British couple vacationing in Nigeria who leave the safety of the compound to walk on the beach with disasterous consequences. 

A young Nigerian girl who briefly met them found the man's driver's license. When she found she must escape the country she heads for England to find this couple. 

I don't know if her description of her life in Nigeria was true to life but it certainly sounded as if it was. It was a simple life in her village but it changed in a minute to a dangerous life. Her experience waiting in confinement in England was beyond belief in this day and age. 

She did enter the life of the wealthy when she found the wife of the couple and stayed with her for a short while. She also learned that there were "pockets" of London where she would feel more comfortable, with people of her own kind. 

It was interesting from the point of view of the differences in culture but I was actually glad to get it finished. 

Canada by Robert Ford

I'm sure I've missed commenting on a lot of books but thought I'd catch up at least a bit. I re-joined my bookclub. I guess I mostly did it for the social interaction, I'm finding I didn't do it for the books.

I think "Canada" wins an award for the most boring book I've ever tried to read. It wasn't even in our library so I had to buy it. It was a waste of $15!!

The book is written from the point of view of a 15 year old boy who has a twin sister. The mother got pregnant and that's why she married the father of the children. The boy says many times that the marriage was probably a mistake. They were really not alike at all. The mother was very quiet,  unsociable, worked as a teacher. She was from Seattle and was Jewish, which meant when she married a gentile she was shunned by her family. The father was in the airforce. He was a southerner, from Alabama or such. He had wanted to be a pilot but wasn't able to pass the tests and so ended up being a bombadier instead. The family was constantly moving from city to city following his father's posts. In his most recent post he had gotten in with the illegal sale of beef. When he was caught by the military and that avenue closed he turned to the railroad. One of the shipments was tainted and the fellow at the railroad refused to pay. This left the father in a quandry with the local indians who had given him the beef and who he owed $2500.

When he was a child he told his son that he had discussed robbing a bank with a friend. So he decided that to get rid of his $2500 debt he was going to have to rob a bank. He talked his wife into it and they did rob a bank. They did a pretty botched up job of it and only stole exactly what they needed, $2500. They were caught and sent to jail. The daughter was sent to live with her grandparents in Seattle and the boy was sent to live with a relative in Manitoba.

That's as far as I got in the book. I just couldn't force myself to read more when there were so many other things I wanted to read.

According to another book club member the discussion they had was very interesting but most of the members felt the same way I did about the actual book.

Wall to Wall Dead by Jennie Bentley

I found this next book was way more exciting than her last one. I kind of suspected whodunit half way through but then discounted it. In the end I was right. There was not only one murder, which was questionable as to whether it was indeed murder, but two murders, and again the second murder was questionable for awhile.

Very enjoyable to get lost in.

Flipped Out by Jennie Bentley

I didn't enjoy this one as much as I have her other books. Somehow there just wasn't as much excitement in this one. Of course I read it 2 months ago (January) and had a lot going on in my personal life so that might explain why it didn't engross me as much as the others. 

The Lost Gardens by Anthony Eglin

I just finished reading this book. I had trouble putting it down. The suspense held on to the very end. A retired Doctor is hired by a young American girl who has inherited the Wickersham Estate in England from a stranger. She wants to restore the 10 acre gardens to reflect what they were in their heyday. 

It's learned that the land the estate stands on was once a priory, destroyed during the Reformation. But there was a secret maze of underground rooms that holds a secret and a healing fountain in an above ground chapel that holds the bones of an unknown male.

I can't wait to read his other books! 

Crunch Time by Diane Mott Davidson

I read only about a quarter of this book before I gave up. Now part of it could have been because of my head injury, I had trouble keeping things straight. I felt there was too much going on right at the beginning of the book. I'm sure it all came together eventually because Davidson is a writer whose books I really enjoy.

I will probably pick it up again at a later date and retry it.

Edited on May 17, 2013. I never did get back to this book but from the comments I've read on Amazon it's just as well. It appears no one really liked it, it wasn't up to her normal standard. Hopefully her book that is coming out in September of 2013 will be much better.

I want Goldie back.

Donna Andrews

My goodness, I've been reading so much and yet gotten so far behind. I've got to keep this up so that I can look back to remember if I've read something or not.

First off I discovered Donna Andrews books when I was given one by a friend. I haven't read them in order, although I've been trying. Because I spend so much on books I've been trying to rely on our local library when I can.

Because I had a brain injury and need to rest the speed of my reading has increased. Donna Andrews books are well written and have a great amount of humor. Meg Lanslow has a huge extended family and their escapades (especially her father) elicit lots of giggles.

So far I've read the following books. I'd have to say my favorite is which ever one I am currently reading.

 


I've just gotten two more. I started to read one of her other books that weren't in this series but didn't really enjoy it.

Update October 1, 2012: Been reading lots. Still as funny as ever