Reading Rainbow #1
/Fellow Children of the 80's, unite...forget Mister Rogers and Sesame Street, it's Reading Rainbow time!
Here's what I've been reading recently:
Fall of Giants (Ken Follett) - Currently Reading -- I'm on page 762 of 985 pages. I love this type of book - historical fiction. My all time favorite book is Pillars of the Earth. Love it. And recently Follett release The World Without End. These mega-novels are awesome. I think Pillars of the Earth is partially why I decided to have a Medieval Renaissance history minor at SCU. A lot of people don't know that about me. I hold a secret love of history. It runs in the family. I mean I have an older sister that is a PhD in Early Modern British history for crying out loud. My mom's favorite 4th Grade subject to teach...history. My dad reads history textbooks for fun. We're a bit nuts. Anyhow, I love this book so far for several reasons. Firstly, it's teaching me. I'm learning all out World War I. I feel like WWI was one day in history class before we headed to WWII. It's making me go online and look up peopleand events. Awesome. Secondly, it's got romanic and drama and all the fiction stuff I love. Thirdly, you catch yourself not wanting to stop reading.I love a book that captures you from the start and keeps you going all the way through. 5 Stars!
Book of Air and Shadow (Michael Gruber) - This one took me a while to get going. I rarely give up on a book. For instance, The Dante Club took me f-o-r-e-v-e-r to get "into" but at about halfway through it picked up and I ended up enjoying the book. The first half was a drag though. I always have faith in my books. You could see this as good or bad. This one started to get close to the Dante Club experience, but it turned out it got better earlier than halfway through. It was a slow first few chapters though. However, once through those chapters, I was a reading machine. Again, this was on the historical side although I wouldn't classify it as historical fiction. It had a love piece in it for the romanic side of me, and the mystery, and the dramatic scenes. Overall, I enjoyed this book. I would recommend it, but it's not one that will pop straight to mind type of recommendation. 3.5 Stars!
The Art of Racing in the Rain (Garth Stein) - This is a classic feel good type of book. You might recall seeing it in Starbucks stores a few years ago. Also, you might remember that I mentioned it in my Bauhaus Coffee Tour post - the main character stops there. I actually cried while reading this one. Yea yea, over the years I've become a real sap. At least I'm not crying at Hallmark commercials - sorry mom. If you love goldens or just dogs in general, this is a must read. It's along the Marley lines. A man and his dog. Awww. 5 Stars! P.S. I want a dog...
The Strain (Guillermo Del Toro & Chuck Hogan) - Ready for a thriller type book? This is it. Pan's Labyrinth and The Orphanage are Guillermo Tel Toro's films. "Ahh," you say, "I know those" as goose bumps run up and down your back. I read this one since my Starbucks manager lent it to me after we talked about vampires. He said it was a vampire-like story. I agree, it has vampire vibes to it, but different than the historical, popular vampire view. I had to read this one only during the day - on the bus to work, at work, or days off (not at night!). I had a some crazy dreams and learned my lesson quickly when I tried reading at night. That or I'd read some of it, and then switch to my Total Money Makeover book. It's interesting, thrilling, and keeps you reading. If you're in the mood, like these types of books, you should read it. I'm deciding if I can handle the next in the series...4 Stars!
