Anyway, so that we are all on the same page, I am an avid reader. Usually I work my way through four books a month, sometimes less depending on traveling, holidays, i.e. life. There will be a blog post about literature and favorite genres, it's in the works, but I'd like to share with you what I've read this month and give you a little review.
Full disclosure, I am a bit of a book whore. It is really, really hard for me to give a book a bad review. Yes, there are books maybe I didn't enjoy as much or gush over to other fellow book lovers, but you will rarely hear me say 'I hated it.' Maybe because I know that author worked so hard to write it, edit it, get the balls to give it to a publisher, work with an editor, edit again and again and finally get it out for the people to read; I also strongly believe there are books for every reader and a reader for every book.
I just happen to be every reader, I guess. Now, I will be honest about the books, but you won't find me bashing too often. What can I say, there are always the rare cases.
Picking my books for the month is a process. I hate choosing books; there are too many to choose from, how could I possibly make a rational decision! So, I leave it to the fates. I have lists, everywhere. Online, at the library, written on blips of paper and am about halfway through a dozen different series. I approach my lists and use a number generator to select my titles.
Yep. That's me.
I also have a few stashes of books around the house that sometimes I randomly select from. I use my library for everything (why pass up free books!) and they always seem to come through for me; they have a dozen locations they pool from and deliver my selected title to the location right by my house. Can it get any better than that?
This month was different than all the rest. I did not have enough time to use my random selection technique. I was halfway through the month and didn't have time to wait for holds to come through, so I did what I had to do. I took my kid, walked into the library, went to the first aisle and thumbed around for about five minutes and walked away with two books that seemed promising.
Honestly I can't even remember the last time I selected books that way. So, without further ado, I will share with you my books from March.
Water For Elephants by Sara Gruen
Ok, this was a book club selection (yes, I'm in a book club) and I have to give props to my friend for this month's selection because I rather enjoyed it.
The book follows Jacob Jankowski through two different stages in his life, as a young man and as a senior citizen in a retirement home. It's a wonderfully colorful story about running away and joining the circus. But its not all glitz and glam, we're talking about the circus as it was in the beginning. When there were train caravans involved and no rights for workers and animals alike, often times they were treated the same.
But the circus was considered this glorious and glamorous thing. But I guess that is one of the points of the story. Appearances are everything. It follows young Jacob through the trials of working in the circus for a short time, falling in love and having an elephant and senior Jacob as he contemplates his life now that he has no one to share it with in his old age.
Though I will say the book could get a little boring at times, going through day to day things, it always picked right back up with a new scandal or happening. The different characters were always a thrill and when I came to find that some of Gruen's writings were tales from long ago circus performers an workers, it made the piece that much more exciting.
This was a random selection from the library and I must say I was not disappointed. Casey writes, the first of this series, of a female Texas Ranger, Sarah Armstrong, who finds herself involved in a scandalous double murder. Though local detectives want to easily point the finger of blame to the surviving widow, Armstrong is positive it is a serial killer.
She teams up with FBI Agent David Garrity on what, at times, seems like a wild goose chase to seek out not only the missing victims of the alleged killer, but to find him altogether. Armstrong struggles to balance her career and the pressing manner of the case with her home life, which has seen it's fair share of tragedy all it's own. She often dons the 'slacking Mom hat', in which I can fully sympathize.
Sometimes life can be tough and no one knows that better than Sarah Armstrong. This book kept me intrigued to the very end, was beautifully written and I plan on reading more in the series.
Ok, don't let the super long title freak you out or discourage you; this book was awesome. I love books about witches, magic, fairytales; remakes and traditional, I love it all. And this book delivered.
Miss Evelyn Harbinger is a one hundred and forty-nine year old witch. Who uses her magic, or "oomph" as they call it, to turn herself young and pretty to have one night stands. I know what your thinking, gross, but she is devious, colorful and spectacular. You will fall in love with her instantly. And soon into the book she is reunited with the soul of a former lover; one whom she would have shared her soul until the end of his days (seeing as witch's live much, much longer lives than mere humans).
This tale jumps between the worlds of when she knew her lover, Jonah, in his prime during the war against Nazi Germany and the present; where she struggles with the new love of a young man named Justin.
The voice of this story feels old and traditional, like that of a fairytale, but flops between past and present which gives it a nice little modern 'tip of the hat'. This book is filled with tricks, tradition, juju, coven spats, spells and a sharp tongued woman to pull it all together. I implore you to give this book a read.
That's it lovelies! I hope you enjoyed the reviews, please like, repin and repost. Catch you with the next bit soon.
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