Monday, August 14, 2006

On a streak...

I have finished three books in the last week and a half! Go me! I read Twelve Sharp by Janet Evanovich. I really enjoyed it. I like that she brought in a couple new characters with the gay funeral directors. I laughed picturing Grandma Mazur prancing around like Mick Jagger, and sort thought "Eww!" to Lula's outfits. But I was quite entertained by this one. Either my expectations for her books have been lowered or I feel like she has gotten out of her rut she was in for books 7-9. I also read Bubbles Unbound since Allison and Carol both recommended it. I was pleasantly entertained by these characters as well. And I plan on reading the rest of the series.

The third book I finished was The Memory Keeper's Daughter by Kim Edwards. I was really enthralled with this book. It starts in the mid-1960's and goes through to late 1980's. Dr. Henry and his wife have twins, a boy and a girl. The boy is perfect and "normal" and the girl is born with Down's syndrome. Due to events in his family history, the doctor feels that the girl would be better off at an institution. And that there would be less grief for him, his wife and son if they believed the baby had died at birth. The doctor lives with the secret that his daughter is alive and well and living with the nurse he asked to deposit the baby at the institution. The nurse could not fathom leaving the baby in such a place, and chose to raise her in a different part of the country. The book is written with every few chapters alternating between the doctor and his family and the nurse and the little girl. It flows well and I really liked how the chapters switched back and forth. I would recommend it as a good read. It's also a quick read.

I keep saying I'm going to read The Lost Painting and there it still sits on my bookshelf. I really do want to get to it, bu I think it reminds too much of my college reading since its about one of the artists in my thesis topic. So even though I find the book interesting, its hard for me to think of it as light reading. I may move on to the next Bubbles book next. ;-)

4 comments:

Kirsten said...

The Memory Keeper's Daughter has been on my "to read" list for several months. Thanks for your review!

amber said...

Holly~
I'm reading the Memory Keeper's Daughter right now. My sister really liked it. Glad to hear someone else liked it too.

By the way...LOVED Sippy Cups are NOT for Chardonnay: And Other Things I Had to Learn as a New Mom
as did my sister. Thanks for pointing us towards that book!

allisonmariecat said...

Wow, look at you go! I liked Twelve Sharp, too. I'm always disappointed if her books don't have enough Grandma Mazur :)

Glad you liked Bubbles!

Thank you for the recommendations. I'm still on a re-reading/nothing sad or serious book fixation (which I'm blaming on pregnancy hormones) but I have to add Memory Keeper's Daughter to my list. It sounds really good.

Holly said...

Amber,

I'm glad you left your comment! Please let us know what you thought about Memory Keeper's Daughter when you've finished.

I'm glad you and your sister both enjoyed Sippy Cups... It's really is an entertaining book!