A Reliable Wife

Oh the irony in posting about this book tonight.  If I may direct your attention to the timestamp, it is currently 12:50 on a school night.  What I am still doing up on a school night?  Well, Tim is sick, and I'm trying to be much like the title of my post...

Anywho, I finished this book early last week and it was just meh.  Okay.  Nothing to really brag about.  A wealthy man who lives in a very small town decides to post an advertisement looking for "a reliable wife."  I should probably also mention that this takes place during horse and buggy times.  A woman responds and he ends up marrying her.  Well, as one would suspect, this doesn't go very well for him.  There's an estranged illegitimate son from his first marriage, lots of opium, a bit of arsenic, and even a maid and a butler.  On a scale of 1-5, I'd give it about a 3.  I kept hoping that the author would just take things a bit further... Oh well.

Looking for suggestions

Hi ladies!
Next week I will be introducing a novel of choice project to my juniors in World Lit.  I am trying to update the approved book list, and I was hoping that you ladies would have suggestions.  I am also looking for a variety of reading levels.  If you have any suggestions, I would really appreciate it if you commented to this post.  Thanks so much!

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

I could not put this book down or the sequel for that matter, The Girl who Played with Fire. They are both written by Swedish writer, Stieg Larrson. These books intertwine the lives of several characters in such a way that you never lose interest. At the beginning for the Dragon Tattoo, it is hard to see how all the characters relate but it becomes clear after the first couple of chapters. The characters are well developed and you can really understand their feelings and why they are making certain choices. They are well-written suspense novels set in Sweden, which gives the story an extra interesting edge. I must warn you that both contain some disturbing sexual violence. This does not overshadow the whole story but adds to it.

Love in the Time of Cholera

I had heard such wonderful things about this book but I was really disappointed. It was toted as a wonderful love story but was a story about a weird little man who thought he was in love with a self absorbed shallow woman. Did not care for either of the main characters.
I also did not care for the author's writing style. He would start to develop the story and go off on tangent and ramble on and on about nothing. One sentence would be an entire paragraph. The best part of the book was his description of coastal Columbia and the culture. The only reason I plowed through it was I wanted to see how it ended. On the positive side--if I was having trouble sleeping, I would read a few pages and be sound asleep.

Going Bovine

I've been a real reading slacker lately, but I did just finish Going Bovine by Libba Bray. It was the 2010 Printz Award winner (best book for young adults). It's about a 16-year-old boy, Cameron, who is basically a serious slacker. When he winds up with Mad Cow disease and a grim prognosis, he sets off on a crazy road trip to find a cure and save the world with a dwarf, a yard gnome, and a very unique angel.

Kabul Beauty School

I just finished reading Kabul Beauty School (Deborah Rodriguez) over the weekend and it was excellent.  For those of you not familiar with her story... Debbie is a hair stylist from Holland, Michigan who traveled to Afghanistan, where she decided to start a beauty school for Afghani women.  While the writing quality is definitely not superb, the stories that she shares are exceptional.  She is so forward and often naive about the culture over there that it is amazing she was never shot.  Definitely a must read!