Waiting on "Uglies"

I finished this book the other night, but I saw that Meghan was going to find it to read, so I won't write a review yet. Although I will say that I enjoyed it and I was eager to continue in the second book! It will be fun to see all our thoughts on this series.

The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane

As you can all tell, I am really bad a reviewing the books I read/listen to. I am always reading something but am not so good at posting about it. I am trying to redeem myself with this post.

This was the book we read this month for our ward book review group and I thought it was worth at least saying a few words about. It is a children's story but is good for all ages and is a quick read (I finished it in about an hour or so). I thought it might be a good one for you to read out loud together with your older girls, Shannan. I will warn you that there is a pretty sad part. Basically, it is a story about a china rabbit named Edward Tulane who is owned and completely adored by a little girl named Abilene. One day, he becomes lost (you will have to read to find out how) and this is where his journey begins. He finds himself found in a fisherman's net, a garbage pile, traveling the country with a hobo, a source of comfort for a very sick little girl and even broken into little pieces. Along the way, he learns one of life's greatest lessons - how to love, lose love, and then love again. If you are looking for a quick read that touches your heart, read this book.

On a side note - how in the world did any of you who read the Host ever put it down? I am totally intrigued by it.

The Uglies Together?

Now that I see that Adrienne and Erin are reading the same book, do you think Meghan and I should pick up the first book, "The Uglies", and then we can all be reading the series together, like a book club? Just a thought. What do you think? I have just started a book, but could read it another time. How many books are in that series? Would you be interested in that, Meg?

Okay, so I just put both Uglies and Pretties on hold at my library, so I am going to read them with you no matter what you say, ha!

Adrienne's Review of "Plain Truth"

After reading the "Heritage of Lancaster" series I was really interested in reading a book that would give me a better glimpse into the Amish world. I wanted a book that would really make me get interested in the characters, which I didn't really feel like I got with Beverly Lewis' books. I have read a couple of books by Jodi Picoult before and have always really gotten into her books so when I saw she had written a book set in an Amish community I thought that would be a good place to look.

I really enjoyed this book and got very caught up in the characters and the story. I really like the way Picoult writes, even though you do have to watch out for some language. The language in this book wasn't as bad as some of her other books I've read, probably due to the fact of where the setting of the book was. (At least I think it wasn't. It's been a few weeks since I read it. I'm a little behind on book reviews!) :)

The book begins with a young Amish teen giving birth alone to a baby who is later found dead. She had hid her pregnancy and keeps denying that she ever was pregnant, even though all the evidence says otherwise. The lawyer that ends up defending her finds herself immersed in the Amish world and trying to find out what really happened.

I do have to say that I didn't love the way that the book ended, which seems to be common when I read a book by Picoult. I would give this book 4 stars.

Adrienne's Review of "The Heritage of Lancaster County" Serries

This is a series of three books written by Beverly Lewis. (The Shunning, The Confession, and The Reckoning) The main character in the book, Katie, is an Amish girl who finds out that she was adopted. Her birth mom is looking for her and this leads her to become torn between her Amish world and her desire to live in a modern world and get to know her birth mother.

I thought that these books were okay, but they were very predictable and I didn't really like the way that adoption was portrayed in these books. I guess I'm a little prejudice about the language, terminology, and viewpoints that are expressed when it comes to adoption. The one thing I really enjoyed was getting a glimpse into the Amish culture. I'm always very fascinated by religious groups that also have a very strong cultural element to them.

I enjoyed the first book enough to read the rest of the series, but I don't know that I'd really recommend it. I would give it 2.5 or 3 stars.

(I've decided to give my books a rating based on 5 stars because I think it helps to classify what books we really like. What do you guys think? I don't think we need to list them on the side bar, just when we write a review.)

Tess of the d'Urbervilles

I kind of wrote about this on my blog, but didn't really write my review about the book. It took me a while to get into this book, mostly because of the language and all the descriptive words that my mind tends to glaze over if it is not interesting me. It took me about 1/3 of the book before I was into it, and by about halfway, I really wanted to know the ending.

It is a sad story, and sad to think how unfair Tess is treated because of something that is done to her and is no fault of her own. Yet everyone treats her as though it were her fault. She has to deal with a lot of hard things and I guess the end didn't surprise me too much. It really isn't a happy story, if you are looking for that. And I would suggest seeing the BBC television version. It got me excited about finishing the book and would give you an idea if you would want to invest in reading it.