What the Dead Know...Review

In 4 words...DON'T READ THIS BOOK! 'Nuff said.

American Wife-Whitney's Review

I DID IT! I made it ALL the way through the 555 pages of this book JUST in time for Book Club! There was a period of time when this task seemed pretty daunting! I've learned my lesson about choosing a book without seeing it in person. It was long, but I'm glad I've read it.

I'm going to state up front that I'm weird about the books I read...I tend to judge books by their covers...and I prefer books to be broken up into chapters. American Wife was NOT broken up into chapters. It was broken up into 4 parts. There were "natural breaks" within these parts, but I look forward to the close of a chapter and the start of another. That threw me off a bit at first.

Okay, enough about my weirdness...on to American Wife. This book covered a longer time span than I thought it was going to. It starts when Alice is a child and ends when she's in her fifty's. We learn a lot about Alice and who she is in the first part of the book. There's also a tragedy that takes place in the first part. This tragedy becomes a huge part of who Alice is...things happen because of this event that wouldn't have happened otherwise. In the second part of the book Alice meets Charlie...her husband who becomes Governor then President of the United States. For me the second and third parts of this book were the peaks of the book...the fourth part is pretty anti-climatic. But, that was because of my expectations. I expected this book to start with Alice and Charlie already together then focus on his campaign trail and move right into him becoming President and Alice becoming the First Lady. I just thought Sittenfield would spend most of the book with Alice and Charlie in the White House...I was disappointed to find that the highlights of the book took place in the second and third parts.

Even though I expected something different I am glad I read the book. I like a lot of conversation in my books and this one did not have much conversation, rather A LOT of description. There were parts that I skimmed to get to the next event.

What I did love about this book is that Curtis Sittenfield described Alice and who she was and that character never wavered. Alice stayed true to herself and I found myself respecting her.

This book won't make it to my "Would Read Again" list, but I'm happy to have it on my "have read list".

The Reader-Whitney's Review

This book was QUITE different from last month's pic! Last month's book was light-hearted, funny and a quick read. The Reader was an easy, quick read, however, the content was quite different.
I can honestly say that I've NEVER read a book like this one. At first I thought it would be hard to read this book since it was originally written in German, but it was translated very well. What really got me was the explicit descriptions of the couple's intimate moments...and the fact that the boy was 15 and the lady was 36!! I guess I'm just sheltered. I read Part 1 of this book pretty quickly, but then I had to take a break in reading it for a couple weeks. When I did pick it back up I finished it in 2 days.
I don't mind comedic romance novels...but serious romance novels are just not my thing. Am I glad I read this book? Yes, I like exposing myself to different types of books. Will I read this book again? No...I already know the story and I won't read it again. Will I see the movie? I'm still thinking about it. I'll really have to be in the mood I think.

Until there's a new book to discuss...
Whitney

Remember Me? -Whitney's Review

This was my first Kinsella book to read. I DEVOURED it in just a few days. I then had to quickly run out and get the rest of her books. At the time I was in Little Rock AR with my Dad and there just happened to be a re-sale book shop across the street. I had SO much fun finding all her books...but back to Remember Me?

I will admit that I haven't read many non-Christian authors so her use of cuss words threw me off for a bit. But it wasn't long before I was laughing out loud at several different things!

I thought this book was a great light-hearted, easy to read book. Which was just what I needed. I enjoyed being able to escape into this comical life of a girl trying to recover 3 lost years of her life.

Would I read this book again?? Most likely not. It was a great book, but I'm just not a big re-reader. Aside from the Twilight Series, the Harry Potter Series or Redeeming Love) I typically don't read books more than once. I'm like that with most movies...once I've seen it and know what happens I don't want to spend time on it again. The book/movie has to be EXTRAORDINARY for me to read/watch it again.

But I obviously LOVE Kinsella's writing style. I read the rest of her 7 books last month! I'm going to take a break and read something a little "heavier" but I'm looking forward to trying her books written under the name Madeleine Wickham!