Category: Book Talk

The Big Bad Mother-Daughter Book Club Reading List

Lauren3 Comments

Okay, that title is kind of a mouthful but I felt like an epic list of must-read books needed an equally epic title.

During our BBQ last Saturday, my mom handed me this self-typed self-printed list of books that we’ll be reading for our mother-daughter book club, and maybe it had something to do with the pitcher of sangria I’d consumed, but at the very end of the night, I sat up in bed reading this list out loud to Joey and was SO GIDDY about it.  It takes a particular kind of nerd to get giddy over a list of books, and that would be the bookworm type of nerd.  GUILTY.

So without further adieu!

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I’m only halfway through Flowers for Algernon right now, but I’m already excited for so many of the following books.  Specifically, Catch-22, To Kill a Mockingbird, Anne of Green Gables (Mom, can we watch the movie afterwards??), The Handmaid’s Tale, The Little Prince (we’re reading it in French, right?) and For Whom the Bell Tolls.  You know, because Hemingway is the way to my heart.  I also have a feeling my mom and sister will quit our book club after our first meeting, when they realize I’m way to enthusiastic about all of this.

Have you read anything on this list?

A Book Review: Ordinary Grace

Lauren1 Comment

Happy Friday!  Last night Joey and I gave our white picket fence a fresh coat of paint, brewed beer, had pizza delivered and watched Big Brother.  The sun was out till 9 PM, there was so much extra daytime and summer is the best ever!

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In other news, this week I finished book club book #4, Ordinary Grace by William Kent Krueger.  It was one of those books that grows on you and by the end, you’re sad that it’s over, ya know?  The narrator is Frank Drum, who recounts growing up in a small Minnesota town during the summer of 1961.  Though he’s an adult at this point, he tells the story as he experienced it, as a 13-year old who’s still got a good sense of childhood naivety and innocence.

There are five deaths that summer, one of which being Frank’s (and younger brother Jake’s) older sister, Ariel.  That’s a lot of death for one small town and a lot for a kid to take in, so we get to see Frank coming to terms with the realities of life and how that plays into his belief system.  And as death is very much a part of real life and something we’ve all had to encounter, I think the plot had a relatable feel to it.

Kent Krueger did what I think is a somewhat difficult writing task and that’s creating an interesting (and believable) plot while still giving attention to his characters.  I find that most books lean towards one of the other, but this one had an attention grabbing plot and characters, whom by the end, you really felt like you knew.  I loved that!  Also, it had this Stand by Me type of feel, what with the whole young boys find a dead body thing.  As a fan of that movie, I’m A-OK with reading a book that reminds me of it 🙂

What are you reading this summer?