Tuesday, September 15, 2015

August Books

I'm really late on this, but I use my "Books" tab to remember what I've read and help suggest titles to friends. Yay for ALL the reading in August! I am so impressed with myself!!! And then suddenly we're TWO WEEKS into September and I'm wondering how the HECK that happened?! Anyone know?

The Tower Treasure: Hardy Boys Mystery #1 by Franklin W. Dixon

I had already read this, of course, but I tried this with James. He liked it, but it was still a little too old for him so we will hold off for a few months before we try the second one. I think these will be great after he starts reading on his own, really. 

Go Set a Watchman by Harper Lee

Oh, the highly anticipated non-sequel, non-prequel, rough draft, possibly illegally obtained book. Is Atticus a racist? Will it live up to the original? Okay, so here's my take. You HAVE to go into this book with the idea that it is, first, a completely separate piece that she NEVER anticipated having published AND it is a rough draft. Once you have that out of the way, you also have to remember that the Atticus in Watchman was RE-WRITTEN to become the Atticus in Mockingbird. After you have that settled in your head you can begin. :) Lol! I have to say, I really, REALLY enjoyed the book. Did it sound a little different? Yes. It was {supposedly} her first novel AND it was a rough draft. Had she gone back and edited that instead of writing a completely different piece, she would have tidied up a lot of what people didn't enjoy {the first 100 pages or so...}. I loved thinking about how she had written these characters and then completely reworked them. I did think that it followed a similar "formula" as Mockingbird. I think that the discussion of whether Atticus is a racist or not is completely resolved so if that's your hang up, I'd say read it. The ONLY things I didn't like at all - someone IMPORTANT dies at a very young age {and this isn't really a spoiler as it happens in the first ten pages and has nothing to do with the rest of the book}, there is no Boo Radley {where did he go?! someone in book club suggested he's likely in an institution by his age because his caretakers would have died or be unable to care for him}, and the part with Calpurnia just BROKE MY HEART. I really enjoyed it. REALLY. And I didn't expect to. If you want to talk about whether or not she wrote it AND whether or not the publisher's have obtained it legally, I may not be as positive. :/ 

Let's All Be Brave by Annie F. Down

This was SUCH a great read. Annie Downs is a Christian writer from Georgia so I enjoyed knowing places she described just from a regional sense. The book is all about how that God wants us to be brave when He is calling us out, even if it is SO FAR from our own plans and comfort zones. It was a GREAT book and one that I need to do a separate write-up on because it was sent to me by BookLook Bloggers, but I will say that if you're looking for a gift for a high school graduate, this is IT. I'm similar in age to Annie but she is single and while I appreciate the ideas in the book, our places in life are not similar. GREAT for a single college girl, though! I will read more of her books for sure.

Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell

This is just one that is laughable. I started this in May 2014. 2014!!!!! I just put it down and never finished it. I would pick it up, read 2-3 pages, and then not look at it again for weeks. I finally got determined to finish it and I am so glad that I did! Boy, is it different from the movie! All those children Scarlett had! Gracious! I enjoyed this for sure. What a sad life, though. I'm assuming you all know the basic premise of GWTW so I'll spare you the details, but I did really like it. And now I need to re-watch the movie!

This puts me at 27 books for the year, which is WAY behind my goal, but I still think pretty good! I'll keep trucking and hopefully have a handful more finished in the next two weeks!

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