Always, Alli

I got behind on posting my book reports for keeping up with my New Year’s Resolution of reading one book a month. But! I am happy to say I have been keeping the resolution, having read one book in March and two books in April.

My book for March was Home to Holly Springs by Jan Karon. My mom sent me this book. I have read most of the Mitford Series, which feature Father Tim and his supporting cast of parish crazies. Home to Holly Springs is about Father Tim and his journey back to his boyhood town and discovering/ remembering the way it really was when he was growing up. He meets old friends and learns some shocking family secrets which make him a stronger and better man.

I enjoyed the book and look forward to more by Jan Karon. I might go back and pick up the Mitford Series again. They are quick reads, so they might do well in for lakeside reading.

In April I managed to read two books. The first is Tao of Fertility, which I already reviewed and was well received. The second book was Certain Girls by Jennifer Weiner.

Jennifer Weiner’s first book was Good in Bed. I read it and fell in love with her writing. I have read all of her other books, including The Guy Not Taken, a book of short stories.

I was excited to learn Certain Girls was the follow up to Good in Bed, picking up the story of Cannie Shapiro thirteen years later. Her daughter, Joy, is struggling with adolescence and is a second voice in the telling of their story.

The plot is a lot of teen angst, with some parallels from the first book. I found the dual voices to move the story along at a good pace. The ending was a real tear jerker, so if you decide to pick it up (and I think you might like it, even if you didn’t read Good in Bed) don’t say I didn’t warn you.

I have a book I am working on for May, so I might be able to get that review up sometime in June. But, I am up for suggestions on what else I should read in the future. My mom, sisters, and I usually read the same book during the summer and are currently looking for something. A Place Called Canterbury by Dudley Clendinen was at the front of the list when I last checked.

Anyone else have any suggestions?

Technorati Tags: book review, Jan Karon, Jennifer Weiner, Dudley Clendinen, summer reading

This entry was posted on Thursday, May 29th, 2008 at 6:36 pm and is filed under Entertaining Alli, Thinking Alli . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.