What I've Been Reading - August 2012

Hello, hello!

 

I finally sat down to do some reading this past month.

I find it hard to get through books in the summer - too much going on outside!

 

Four good books to share with you this month.

 

 

 

 

The Litwits (my evening book club) is reading The Book Thief by Markus Zusak this month. 

 

I chose this book because I've heard so many great things about it and it's been on my shelf FOR.EV.ER. 

I'm so glad I finally picked it up.  I loved the writing style, loved Death as the Narrator, loved Liesl the main character. 

While heartbreaking at times, it was a great read.  Looking forward to hosting our discussion next week!

 

One sentence synopsis from goodreads.com - "It’s just a small story really, about among other things: a girl, some words, an accordionist, some fanatical Germans, a Jewish fist-fighter, and quite a lot of thievery."

 

Loved It

 

 

 

"As the Page Turns" (my daytime book club) chose The Whistling Season by Ivan Doig for our August read. 

 

I enjoyed Ivan Doig's style and the story of Montana in 1909.  This is a simple story about a family whose lives become intertwined with a new housekeeper and her brother, and about growing up learning in a one-room school house.  Quite a bit of mystery unfolds as well.

 

One sentence synopsis from goodreads.com - So begins the unforgettable season that deposits the noncooking, nonbiting, ever-whistling Rose Llewellyn and her font-of-knowledge brother, Morris Morgan, in Marias Coulee along with a stampede of homesteaders drawn by the promise of the Big Ditch-a gargantuan irrigation project intended to make the Montana prairie bloom.

 

Liked It OK

 

 

Oh, this was a tough one to read.  Still Alice by Lisa Genova is the story of a Harvard Professor who has early on-set Alzheimer's, told from her perspective.  Our September "As the Page Turns" selection, and while it's fiction, it could easily be telling the story of so many who are affected by Alzheimer's and dementia.  A beautiful, but heartbreaking story.  A fast read and one I'm sure we'll have lots to discuss about next month.  Have a Kleenex handy.

 

One sentence synopsis from goodreads.com - Alice Howland - Harvard professor, gifted researcher and lecturer, wife, and mother of three grown children - sets out for a run and soon realizes she has no idea how to find her way home.

 

Liked It

 



A couple of blogs I follow mentioned this new book, The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg and the excellent way he weaves cutting edge research and true case studies. 

 

I hoped I would come away with good information about changing habits, and I did.  But I think the power of the book for me was in the real life examples the author studied and shared - The Indianapolis Colts, Michael Phelps, Alcoa, Starbucks, and Target - just to name a few. 

 

Detailed and too in-depth at times, but at other times I couldn't put it down.  A good non-fiction read.

 

One sentence synopsis from goodreads.com -  Award-winning New York Times business reporter Charles Duhigg takes us to the thrilling edge of scientific discoveries that explain why habits exist and how they can be changed.

 

Liked It

 

 

And that's what I've been reading!