Sunday 14 August 2011

The lazy blogger reads a lot

I'm feeling a little guilty about my lack of blogging over the past few months. I wish I had a good excuse like "I was in Europe" (I did go to Ottawa for a weekend and Tobermory overnight) or "I was training for a marathon" (I've played tennis twice) but the truth is I haven't really felt like blogging. 

I've still been reading a lot, catching up with friends and just enjoying the long lazy summer days.

I've read lots of mysteries, biographies and just a little fiction. Normally I love to read fiction but I am waiting for all of the hot new Fall titles to come out.

I hear Alice Hoffman has a new novel coming out and I loved to read her when I worked at Penguin. Her new book The Dovekeepers will be published by Simon and Shuster and I hear it is good.

Here are some of my July and August reads:

FICTION

This novel is about two sisters who leave Shanghai in the 1930s (the Paris of Asia at that time) for LA. I really enjoyed this novel, it was one of those sweeping sagas with a few tragic love stories, different cultures and family drama.
This novel picks up the stories of the sister's from Shanghai Girls in 1957. It is set  in LA then for reasons I won't mention goes back to a very changed Shanghai.  I really liked this novel and read the first half of the novel very quickly. I found the second part a little slower. 

Dreams of Joy by Lisa See
 MEMOIR

I really admire Jaycee Lee Dugard for writing this book and sharing her story.
It is a hard to book to read and sometimes surreal/difficult to believe/comprehend that it is a true story and that someone had to go through this.

Twenty years after she lived at a homeless shelter for teens, Janice Erlbaum went back to volunteer. She formed a relationship with a very troubled young woman and rallied for her during the best and worst of times. There were a lot of surprises in this true story which was at times quite heartbreaking. My mom recommended this one. 
  
The title says it all, no? I started reading this book a couple of days ago and it is hard to put down. 

MYSTERY/THRILLER

This is a really well written, smart thriller. It was one of my favourites in this category. While in Ottawa I stole a peek at my sister's friend Jennifer's Kindle and discovered that she has an amazing selection of mysteries. She told me about this one.

As the title suggests, this is a psychological thriller about the capture of a serial killer. It is pretty graphic so not for the faint of heart. I liked it and it was my first time reading this author and I will be downloading some of his other books now too.

You're Next by Greg Hurwitz




What have you been reading this summer?