Cover Snapshot of Read Books

Sara's bookshelf: read

Crazy Little Thing
A Kiss at Midnight
The Disenchanted Widow
Hollywood Wives - The New Generation
There Goes the Bride
Table for Five
Do Not Disturb
The Husband's Secret
The Ugly Duchess
Help for the Haunted
The Power Trip
Flawless
The Haunting of Maddy Clare
Fame
Summer At Willow Lake
Barefoot
Every Crooked Nanny
The Mystery Woman
The Woodcutter
How to Be an American Housewife


Sara's favorite books »

Wednesday, January 1, 2014

To Read – Add These to Your List!

 A Few Books I Enjoyed in 2013...

The year of 2013 was somewhat disappointing to me as a reader. I did not love or even like many of the books that I read - despite Kindle Samples and Goodreads Recommendations, I found very few books that I would rate as above average. The few I enjoyed are listed in brief below:

How to Be An American Housewife
My favorite book club pick of 2013 was How to Be An American Housewife by Margaret Dilloway. The story seems almost as if it is an authentic memoir as it recaps the life of a young Japanese woman in WWII who chose to marry an American GI in order to give herself a better life. Shoko has her secrets as she leaves her family and home to move to America with her new husband. Her one insight into the ways of American Culture are attained only in a little book called How to Be An American Housewife. The story is told through both mother (past and present) and also through her estranged Japanese American daughter.

Other books outside of book club that I enjoyed include:

Code Name Verity
This is also a WWII book which follows the lives of two young British female spies in Germany – this would be a great read for book club. Don’t let the YA genre mislead you, this is a captivating book.

From the Kitchen of Half Truth
I wish I had chosen this book for my book club pick; I enjoyed this special and quirky novel. Meg is OCD, the complete opposite of her eccentric mother who loves cooking and fairy tales. Meg loved her childhood until she realized that all of her mother’s stories were make-believe.

The Gravity of Birds
Another book I wish I had discovered prior to book club. Famous ArtistThomas Bayber suddenly reveals in old age that he has a few other paintings, paintings which may be priceless if they exist. Long ago Bayber summered in a cottage near the Kessler family. Bayber painted the young Kessler girls and dramatically impacted their young lives and the past and present drama unfolds from there.

Oh Really wish I had chosen this for book club…
Laura Lamont’s Life in Pictures
Who isn’t fascinated by Old Hollywood Glamour? At a young age, Laura Lamont leaves the Midwest for a hopeful movie career in Hollywood. Of course it doesn’t all go as planned and yet her California life is interesting as she works in the Hollywood Golden Age.  I didn’t choose this book initially because reviewers were disappointed that this wasn’t a memoir. It does read as one, and in my imagination it could be any great Dame from the black and white AMC Golden Age, alas it is fiction.
  
 READ READ READ and Enjoy!