Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jamie Ford - one of my top three favorites this year (along with Glass Castles and The Little French Girl). highly recommended.
The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins - typical page-turner-thriller, fairly predictable, but fun. my only beef: it's one of those serial books that doesn't really have a satisfying conclusion, just a to-be-continued feeling ... (and the series isn't finished)
Ida B by Katherine Hannigan - delightful in every way. poignant, witty, a well-developed "voice" that harkens back to Anne of Green Gables but feels more modern. simple but powerful story. highly recommended.
The Angel's Game by Carlos Ruiz Zafon - I liked Zafon's Shadow of the Wind. This was the continuation, and I hated it. One of those books where I kicked myself for reading to the end. A complete waste of my time. Felt like a sophomoric Faustian copy. ick. blech. phtooey.
I love this next author so much that I even read his cookbook cover to cover. He just has a beautiful way with words. Until this book, that is...
A title that is like a Direction of a Certain Infamous Street in a Rich Community in the South by P. Conroy. I can't even put into words how much I despised this book. I wish he'd never written it, because it has forever tainted Conroy in the corner of my heart reserved for my favorite Southern authors. Horribly contrived soap-opera-ish & distasteful storyline, grossly stereotyped characters (and in case I forgot each one's stereotype, Conroy hit me over the head with it over and over and over again), and a hugely implausible plot - so much so that I couldn't suspend my disbelief any more than I already had. So I'm not linking or listing the real name of the book, in some little way to protect Conroy, who, tho tainted, still has a tiny corner of my heart. But gosh, I really really wish he hadn't published this dawg.
So, of this batch of books, Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet and Ida B will be added to my Favorites list.
[and finishing with the view from my room. the fog was doing neat tricks this morning]
2 comments:
Thanks for the recommendations, Susan! I read *Ida B* last year and loved it, too... along with several of the others on your Favorites list. Oh, how I adored Anne of Green Gables [I can't believe I'd never read it before!], and The Willoughbys was absolutely delightful... along with several of the others found there (I haven't been disappointed yet, in fact :).
So I now have one or two more to add-- I'll surely read *Hotel...* and perhaps The Hunger Games, as well. Yikes, my book list is getting awfully long! I have no idea how I'll read them all... I guess I'll just have to start compiling my list for 2011!!
So keep those titles coming... and Merry Christmas!
Thank you! I was *just* wondering what books to read over break. And now I know : ) YAY for good books! And TRIPLE YAY for your reading view. Holy Cannoli! Gorgeous!
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