Josh's Book Corner: March!!!

Part three of my monthly reading log. Read past entries here or here. Or follow me on Goodreads here. 


I know you have been dying to know what I read in March. I can hear your over-dinner conversations now. "Honey - I am DYING to know what Josh read in March! He only read two books last month! Is he going to make his 2011 goal of 40 books?"

Well, rest assured, I am back on track. 5 book in January, 2 books in February and 6 books (!!) in March.
Here we go.
Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese
5 out of 5 stars. Usually when I say a book is 5 stars, it means I loved it, I would read it again and that I would recommend it to everyone. I did love this book, but I don't know that I could recommend it to many people. It is the story of two brothers who were born in Ethiopia to a Nun and...to someone else. The mom dies in childbirth and the dad disappears. It is told from the point of view of Marion. It is one of those sweeping, epic tales that takes you all over the world and across time, through the civil wars in Ethiopia to a hospital in New York City. Fantastic.

After the Golden Age by Carrie Vaughn
4 out of 5 stars. What makes this book super awesome is that I won it on Goodreads and that I got an ARC. (That's what those of us in the industry call and "Advanced Reader Copy." This book is yet to be published!) It made me feel exclusive and sheeshy. And it made me feel like the publisher cared about my informed opinion of this book to start the buzz. I am sure that is not the case, but it is easy to buy my affection. It is the story a girl, Celia, who is the estranged adult daughter of the Metrocity's two greatest superheros, Captain Olympus and the Spark. She is part of the legal team that is persecuting their arch-nemesis, the Destructor, who is on trial for tax-evasion. It is an interesting modern take on a classic super hero story.

13 Treasures by Michelle Harrison
3.5 out of 5 stars. Just in case you were starting to think I was too manly, this is a book that is clearly targeted to 12 year old girls. Tanya, can see fairies (I know, I know.) She gets sent to her Grandma's secluded country-side manor because her family is tired of dealing with her fairy seeing nonsense. While there she gets wrapped up in a cold-case about a young girl who went missing 50 years before. And then there are fairies. It is sort of like a slightly darker, slightly edgier, more British version of the Fablehaven series.

The Great Hunt: Book Two of 'The Wheel of Time' by Robert Jordan
3.5 out of 5 stars. Here is the story of "The Wheel of Time" series. When I was in high school and my early 20s, I loved these books! There are a lot of them (I think there were 7 when I first started reading them.) and they were all LONG (600-1000 pages each) and the new ones would only come out every couple of years. I would read them and wait patiently and then the new one would come out but I would have to reread a few so that I knew what was going on (they got more complicated and more epic as they went on) eagerly awaiting the final book, which rumor had it would be around book 12 or 13. And then after book 11, Robert Jordan died. For real. So those of us who had been strung along by this series thought we would never get to see how it ended. But then Jordan's widow hired another author (Brandon Sanderson, who I happen to love and think is a great writer) to finish the series. And he is currently writing the 14th (and last) book. So I have decided to reread one final time so I can finally see how it ends. That being said, book 2 was always one of my least favorites. It lays the groundwork for some great stuff it later books, but in and of itself, it is a little boring.

A Friend of the Family by Lauren Grodstein
3.5 out of 5 stars. This was our March NWBC book, chosen by my lovely wife Amy. It is the story of a doctor who's grown son (he's 20) starts dating the messed up daughter (she's 30!) of a friend of the family. The doctor, who's name I forget, doesn't want them dating, but is sort of powerless to stop it. It was an easy enough read, with compelling (if somewhat unlikeable) characters. But nothing about the book made me anxious to see what would happen next. The interesting this was I was pretty ho-hum about the book overall and then we had our book club and after our discussion I bumped its rating up half-a-star. There were observations made at book club that I hadn't noticed on my own that made this book much more interesting. I would recommend it for your next book club.

How I Live Now by Meg Rosoff
5 out of 5 stars. This was a great read. It is sort of like The Road for the pre-teen set. The story of a girl who is sent to live with family in England because of her eating disorder and her new step-mom being kind of a skanky ho. Whilst there, there is an invasion and her and the other kids are cut off from civilization. It has a great voice and feels very real. I am definitely curious to see what else Ms. Rosoff has written. I recommend it to anyone.

See you next month!