52 Books in a year - Week Fifteen - Second Chances

While I typically dont' find myself into ghost stories, this book truly grabbed my attention. As always, Picoult manages to twist several plots together to keep the reader involved and interested in what she has to say. I enjoyed the family stories thinking about how we must understand the love that is held by a family and also the importance of understanding the history behind the communities we live in

52 Books in a year - Week Fourteen - Change of Heart

Change of Heart - Jodi Piccoult

The story of a crime where we don't really know the answer and a family forever torn apart. While I don't recommend reading many of her books in a row, I had to read books in order of due dates. While this story took a long time to get into and was very predictable throughout, still an enjoyable and quick read.

52 Books in a year - Week Thirteen - Zero: The biography of a dangerous number

52 Books in a Year – Week Thirteen – Zero: The Biography of a Dangerous Number

This was actually my book club pick way back in January – which seems like so long ago. I am rereading parts of this book in order to help a student with a forensics speech, making this an appropriate time to rediscover the book one more time. While reading the history of a number does not seem especially intriguing, I must say, zero has a very interesting history. From the church not allowing the use of the number to the people who were simply afraid to incorporate it into their lives, this number has quite the history behind it – Not only did we learn about the number zero, other math and geeky related items are included. I never thought I would recommend a book about math, but I do encourage you to read this book, at least the first section, which I found to be the most interesting.

52 Books in a year - Week Twelve - When you are Engulfed in Flames

In classic David Sedaris style, this witty commentary is a memoir about the life of David Sedaris – which, if you are a fan, basically tells you exactly what the book is about. From a trip to quit smoking, the story of coming out to different people in, a, er, variety of different ways, we see the cynical side of Sedaris and his brilliant boyfriend Hugh. While not one of my favorite Sedaris books, it still had great dialogue and plenty of humor to keep me turning the pages as I sent along. While I would recommend Me Talk Pretty One Day or Naked before this one, still a must read for anyone who needs a break from their own reality. If you think your life is strange, you haven’t seen anything yet. August book club pick.

52 Books in a year - Week Eleven - Eclipse

In the spirit of trying to read books from all genres and time periods, classics, and books I have always wanted to read, my friend Janine and I decided to embark on Tolstoy’s masterpiece as a group effort had there not been a group effort, this book would never have been finished. Ever. I was willing to give it up every step of the way including the last fifty pages. While seen as one of the best stories of all time, I have yet to understand why. The best part took place in the last few pages of part seven – you will need to dedicate at least 100 of your life to find out what that is. All in all, the book dealt with cheating, unhappy marriages, farming, and lots of rich people complaining about how terrible the lives they have created for themselves are. In all honesty, I don’t get how this is a love story – at all. However, you better believe I will tell everybody I read this entire book and if I don’t like you, I may tell you to read it – especially if I don’t want to hear from you for the next three weeks.

52 Books in a year - Week Ten - Anna Karenina

In the spirit of trying to read books from all genres and time periods, classics, and books I have always wanted to read, my friend Janine and I decided to embark on Tolstoy’s masterpiece as a group effort had there not been a group effort, this book would never have been finished. Ever. I was willing to give it up every step of the way including the last fifty pages. While seen as one of the best stories of all time, I have yet to understand why. The best part took place in the last few pages of part seven – you will need to dedicate at least 100 of your life to find out what that is. All in all, the book dealt with cheating, unhappy marriages, farming, and lots of rich people complaining about how terrible the lives they have created for themselves are. In all honesty, I don’t get how this is a love story – at all. However, you better believe I will tell everybody I read this entire book and if I don’t like you, I may tell you to read it – especially if I don’t want to hear from you for the next three weeks.

52 Books in a year - Week Nine - The Weight of Silence

This book was our book club pick for the month of July – a simple read with quick chapters and story told from everybody’s point of view. The story surrounds the disappearance of two girls from their bedrooms early one morning. While the story was a decent read, not the page turner I was looking for. The story was very simplistic and lacked the depth needed for a thought-provoking read. The story become very predictable very early on, while the attempts at providing twists and turns did not give enough depth to be believable. I felt like the author didn’t go far enough into the research, leaving much of the story very unbelievable. A little research into the topics at hand would have went a long way for the author. Clearly a debut novel on her part.