Anna Karenina

Title: Anna Karenina

Author: Leo Tolstoy

Pages: 968

Genre: Fiction, Classic, Russian Classic

Grade: A+

Synopsis: Anna is a modern Russian woman married to Karenin, but unsatisfied in her marriage.  She has an affair with Count Vronsky and things begin to unravel.

My Review: I found this book to be absolutely fantastic. I especially enjoyed reading the book alongside with a summary and analysis that allowed me to better understand the intentions and symbolism behind the story. It's hard to believe that this book was first published way back in the 1870's as many of Tolstoy's astute observations regarding religion and politics still rang true today.

Where the Red Fern Grows

Title: Where the Red Fern Grows

Author: Wilson Rawls

Pages: 272

Genre: Fiction

Grade: A-

Synopsis: Billy worked and saved for two years for enough money to buy Little Ann and Big Dan. They were the best hunting dogs and companions that a boy could wish for. Night after night Billy and his dogs would go out hunting for raccoons and adventure.

My Review: We listened to this book on a road trip from Pittsburgh, to Buffalo, to Toronto, to Detroit, to Cleveland and back to Pittsburgh.  Kate had read it with her class last year and was excited to listen to the book again.  We all looked forward to when we would be driving and listening.  A great family read/listen!

A Man Called Ove

Title: A Man Called Ove

Author: Fredrik Backman

Pages: 337

Genre: Fiction

Grade: A-

Synopsis: Ove, is a grumpy old man who simply wants to die in peace.  However, when a young family moves in next door and treat Ove as a grandfather figure and friend, his curmudgeonliness (maybe that's not a word...) begins to crumble and his story begins to come out.

My Review: Although I really enjoyed this book it took me a long time to read it.  It wasn't a "couldn't put it down" book, but more of an enjoyable story sort of book.

Beloved

Title: Beloved

Author: Toni Morrison

Pages: 324

Genre: Fiction, Classic

Grade: B

Synopsis: Sethe was a pregnant slave with 3 kids who escaped to Ohio. While on the run she gave birth to another baby and made it to her husband's mother's home in Cincinnati. The story talks about the demons of slavery, Sethe's demons that she is always fighting and her relationship with the ghost of her daughter who was killed soon after she arrived in Ohio.

My Review: I actually listened to the audiobook, which was read by the author herself. I really struggled through the first part of the book, I enjoyed the middle part and I started to quite like the book by the end. The writing style of the book makes it difficult to always know what is really happening and what is just flowery prose. Once I started reading the book alongside a detailed summary everything started to make more sense and I enjoyed the book more.

The Orphan Keeper

Title: The Orphan Keeper

Author: Camron Wright

Pages: 9 discs

Genre: Fiction (A novel based on a true story)

Grade: A-

Synopsis: Chellamuthu is around seven years old when he is abducted from his city in India.  He is sold to an orphanage a few hours away and is put up for adoption while his family desperately searches for any information or clues of his whereabouts. Eventually his is adopted by a couple in Mapleton, Utah, where he learns English, has his name changed to Taj, goes to church, graduates from High School and eventually starts a family.

My Review: I give the book an A+ for the story and a B+ for the writing. That the book is based on a true story makes things all the more incredible.  The coincidences and way that things eventually worked out for Taj/Chellamuthu was amazing and inspiring.

Dragonfly in Amber (Outlander #2)

Title: Dragonfly in Amber

Author: Diana Gabaldon

Pages: 33 discs

Genre: Fiction

Grade: B-

Synopsis: Claire Randall has been back in the twentieth century for about 20 years and now it is time for her to tell her story to her grown daughter and to visit the Scottish Highlands where she had spent a few years back in the 1700s. The book expounds on Claire and Jamie's time in Paris as well as on the battles between the British and Scottish fighters.

My Review: For a book that is around 750 pages (or 33 cds in my case), it seemed like there was not a lot of substance and that not a lot happened in this book.  For the parts of the book where things did happen, it simply wasn't as interesting as the first book.  It looks like there are a total of 13 books in the series, but I think I'm gonna pass on the rest.

Flora & Ulysses

Title: Flora & Ulysses

Author: Kate DiCamillo

Pages: 233

Genre: Fiction, Newbery Award

Grade: B+

Synopsis: While reading a comic book, Flora Belle Buckman sees her neeighbor vacuum up a squirrel.  Flora gives the squirrel CPR and the squirrel comes back to life with superhero like powers. Flora takes the squirrel home where they become the best buddies.

My Review: This was another book that we listened to on a road trip this last summer.  My kids just loved it, I thought it was a little kooky, but still enjoyable. Well worth a listen if you've got kids around to join in.

Dorothy Must Die: Stories

Title: Dorothy Must Die: Stories

Author: Danielle Paige

Pages: 392

Genre: Fiction

Grade: B-

Synopsis: This book is a collection of three prequel novellas to the popular Dorothy Must Die series.  The books take place after Dorothy Gale has returned from Oz.  This book contained the first 3 stories, 0.1, 0.2 & 0.3, and apparently there are also 0.4-0.9 as well as the three books of the Dorothy Must Die series.  The stories were No Place Like Oz, The Witch Must Burn and The Wizard Returns.

My Review: For me, The Wizard of Oz is just ok.  It's a story that has been overdone and these books fit into that same mold. The premise was interesting, but I just never caught the bug.

The Associate

Title: The Associate

Author: John Grisham

Pages: 373

Genre: Fiction, Thriller

Grade: B

Synopsis: In true John Grisham fashion, this book takes us into the life of a busy attorney working for a prestigious law firm. Kyle McAvoy was a star student at Yale Law School. His father wanted him to stay and work for his firm in Kyle's hometown, but Kyle had his sights set far higher. However, based on some incidents in his past, he is ripe to be blackmailed by some folks with deep pockets.

My Review: It's been a few months since I read this book.  I remember that I enjoyed it just as much as most Grisham books, but that it wasn't specifically memorable. Sometimes it's nice to read a thriller that sucks you in and doesn't let you go until you finish it.

Rant

Title: Rant

Author: Chuck Palahniuk

Pages: 320

Genre: Fiction

Grade: B

Synopsis: Buster "Rant" Casey is a serial killer who relies on totally unorthodox methods. He starts an urban demolition derby where drivers and teams roam the city looking to hit and mark other cars involved in the derby (mixed in with the general public).  This weekend event, known as "party crashing," becomes quite a dangerous pastime.

My Review: While I generally enjoyed the book, I spent large chunks of it having no idea of what was actually going on.  This may be one of those books where more and more of it would make sense if you read it a few times but I don't plan on doing that...

Everything is Illuminated

Title: Everything is Illuminated

Author: Jonathan Safran Foer

Pages: 12 discs

Genre: Fiction

Grade: B

Synopsis: Jonathan Safran Foer (the author) arrives in the Ukraine with a photograph of the woman who saved his grandfather from the Nazis back during WWII.  He has hired a tour guide and driver to help him get around, but his guide is a terrible translator who mangles the English language and the author is forced to ride in the back of the van with an undersexed dog named after Sammy Davis Jr.

My Review: The book was definitely clever and funny, but a little hard to follow at times.  It is a mix between letters and the narrative of a book being written and response letters, and it was often hard to identify where everything fit in the narrative. 

Disclaimer: There is a good amount of language, so be aware.

The Unpossessed

Title: The Unpossessed

Author: Tess Slesinger

Pages: 306

Genre: Fiction

Grade: F

Synopsis: This book, published in 1934, is about a group of left-wing communist supporters in New York City in the 30's.  They want a revolution, but their best idea for getting one going was to start a magazine.

My Review:  I made it 2/3 of the way through this book before I finally decided that life is too short to spend so much time reading a book that I was simply not interested in and not enjoying. The prose was hard to follow and the characters all blended together and I had a difficult time telling them apart.

The History of Love

Title: The History of Love

Author: Nicole Krauss

Pages: 255

Genre: Fiction

Grade: B

Synopsis: The History of Love is a book written by a Polish-Chilean immigrant, but it makes a far reaching impact on a couple of seemingly unconnected people in New York City.  Alma Singer is a young girl in New York City who only knows that she is named after the main character in a Spanish book titled The History of Love.  Leo Gursky is a lonely old man with only one friend, also in New York City, but who will often make a scene when he is out just to have human interaction. Zvi Litvinoff is the Jewish author of the book who fled from Poland to Chile at the beginning of WWII.

My Review: I found this book rather hard to follow as it jumped between three apparently unconnected story lines.  Each of the stories were independently interesting, but my brain had a hard time figuring out just what story was what, until the last chunk of the book.  I did find the ending of the book quite satisfying as it seemed to tie up the loose ends and stories very well.

Mansfield Park

Title: Mansfield Park

Author: Jane Austen

Pages: 381

Genre: Classic, Fiction

Grade: B

Synopsis: Fanny Price is invited to live with her rich aunt, uncle and Bertram cousins at Mansfield Park when she is 10.  Her own mother married a drunk below her level and has been living in poverty with loads of children ever since.  Fanny was invited to Mansfield Park to help out and to help convince Mr. and Mrs. Bertram that they are good people who do good things. While Mr. Bertram is away with business dealings in Antigua, Mary and Henry Crawford arrive in the area and bring with them a culture of flirting and sometimes questionable actions.

My Review: I'll be honest, this was one tedious book to complete.  I began reading more than 2 months ago and although the book was only 381 pages, it felt more like 700.  This was my first Jane Austen book and went pretty much like I expected.  Big estates, rich people who sit around gossiping, paragraphs that span 2 pages, dinners, balls, carriage rides and everybody judging each other.  Let's just say that I am so glad that we are more easily able to forgive mistakes in this modern day, and that we are not judged on the actions of our siblings, although most of mine are O.K...

From the Book: "(pg.359, the first paragraph of the last chapter) Let other pens dwell on guilt and misery. I quit such odious subjects as soon as I can, impatient to restore everybody, not greatly in fault themselves, to tolerable comfort, and to have done with all the rest."

Peace Like a River

Title: Peace Like a River

Author: Leif Enger

Pages: 312

Genre: Fiction

Grade: A-

Synopsis: Reuban Land is an asthmatic 11-year-old living in Minnesota.  Reuban's father is a janitor at their school, his younger sister Swede,  loves writing about Western outlaws and his older brother Davy is their protector and kills two men who broke into their house and are threatening the family. As Davy runs from the law, Reuban and his family load up in a trailer and travel across the Dakotas looking for his outlaw brother.

My Review:  This is a book that I actually liked more and more as the story progressed.  The characters are all different and their individual characteristics make them all very likable and relatable. The book puts the reader in a quandary.  Do you cheer for the likable outlaw and hope that he makes his escape or are you pulling for justice and the law?

Inferno

Title: Inferno

Author: Dan Brown

Pages: 461

Genre: Fiction, Thriller

Grade: B+

Synopsis: Our favorite art history and symbology professor is back to save the world yet again.  I'm not sure what we would do without Robert Langdon.  This time Langdon wakes up in a hospital in Florence, Italy with no memory of how he got there.  He has a bullet wound in his head and finds out that somebody is trying to kill him.  Lucky for him, there is a hot young doctor who was treating him and is conveniently interested and able to join him in the clue hunt to backtrack his steps and to find out what is going on and how he can stop a worldwide plague.

My Review: First things first.  I am a total sucker for Dan Brown's novels.  Sometimes the story is a little silly and a stretch to believe, but I just love the geographical, architectural and art descriptions that fill the books.  I often find myself with google open next to me to look up maps of cities, street views of locations, photos of the artwork and wikipedia articles on the locations that make their way into these books.  The world will be in a world of hurt when Robert Langdon retires.

Before I Fall

Title: Before I Fall

Author: Lauren Oliver

Pages: 10 discs

Genre: Fiction, Young Adult

Grade: B-

Synopsis: Samantha Kingston is a High School Senior and today is "Cupid Day", where students send each other roses and love notes.  Sam is super popular and has the hottest boyfriend in the school.  After a big party that night she is killed in an automobile accident on her way home..., that is until she wakes up the next morning and finds out that it is Cupid Day yet again.

My Review: Part Groundhog Day and part super annoying teeny bopper book, I didn't love this book.  Too much obsessing about kissing, boys, sex, alcohol and kissing boys and way too many characters were just too annoying.

The Defector

Title: The Defector

Author: Daniel Silva

Pages: 480

Genre: Fiction

Grade: B

Synopsis: Gabriel is working in the Italian hills to restore a Renaissance painting for the Vatican when a Russian defector, who had saved his life in Moscow, was abducted and disappeared from London.  The British just assume that he was working as a double agent, but Gabriel doesn't believe it for a second and gathers his team to try and save his friend.

My Review: I don't usually care for spy novels, but this one was alright.  Apparently it is the 9th book in a series, but it stands on its own fairly well.  Maybe now I'll have to start reading some of the other books in the series.

Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell

Title: Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell

Author: Susanna Clarke

Pages: 1006

Genre: Fiction/Fantasy

Grade: B

Synopsis: The book is set in the early 1800s.  Magic has all but disappeared from England, with the exception of one magician in Yorkshire.  He has amassed a huge collection of old manuscripts on magic and has been studying them for years before he is discovered doing magic after raising a woman from the dead in London.  All is peachy until word begins to spread that there is another magician making a name for himself.  The second magician, Jonathan Strange is the polar opposite of Mr Norrell, but they are still attracted to each other and Mr Norrell agrees to take on Jonathan Strange as a pupil.

My Review: This book was just ok for me.  It's quite a long book.  I'm not a die hard fantasy fan and this book just never grabbed me.

The Tiger's Wife

Title: The Tiger's Wife

Author: Tea Obreht

Pages: 338

Genre: Fiction

Grade: B-

Synopsis: Natalia is a young doctor working in a Balkan country. She travels to small, remote villages to inoculate the residents.  While away working she receives word that her grandfather, with whom she is very close, has passed away.  He had told his wife that he was going to visit Natalia, but instead, he died in a remote village that none of the family had ever even heard of.  This story is intertwined with the fables and stories told by Natalia's grandfather to her on their weekly visits to the zoo when she was a child as she tries to solve the mysteries that her grandfather left behind.

My Review: This book didn't really resonate with me and I found myself only reading the book as a means to finish the book and not because I was particularly interested in the story.  The prose is good, but there was nothing to hook me.