Book Reviews

It's been a long time since I've highlighted what I've been reading. So this covers the last couple of months. I also read Harry Potter 5 & 6 again in prep for 7 but don't need to review them!!


All But My Life by Gerda Weisman Klein. I read this several years ago for I book club I belonged to and then forgot about it. My friend Lizzy reminded me what a great book it is. So I reread it and I can't believe I ever forgot it. It is SO excellent. Last summer I read Night by Elie Weisel and thought it was ok. The difference between Night and All but My Life is the way the authors handled their experiences with the holocaust. Klein never loses hope through her horrific ordeal and insists that is what carried her through her experiences. Weisel talks all about how he lost hope and faith in God. Anyway, since I read so much I very rarely buy books but this is one I added to my permanent collection. Everyone should read this.

The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri. This was another awesome book. I read her book Interpreter of Maladies in my CT book club and loved it. Her writing is great and it was nice to have an entire plot, instead of just snippets of short stories. This book made me think a lot about my relationship with my parents and why they did some of things they did raising me.

The White Masai by Corinne Hoffman. I was really excited to read this book but I hated it. It is the memoir of a woman who vacations in Africa and falls in love with an African tribal leader. From the get go the book just spells disaster. The entire time I read it, I just couldn't stop thinking, "Why in the world would ANYONE ever do what she did?" So unrealistic. I didn't enjoy it at all.

The Boleyn Inheritance by Philippa Gregory. She is one of my favorite authors and I have really loved her series on the wives and daughters of Henry VIII. Her books tend to be about 100 pages too long for me though. I think she has covered the whole family now and I am anxious for her to get on with a new topic. I like that this book combined the lives of the two last wives.

Mary Martha and Me by Camille Fronk Olsen. Let me start out by saying that I love Sister Fronk. I took 2 classes from her at BYU and she is truly a brilliant teacher and scriptorian. I single handedly credit her for my serving a mission. So I was seriously SO excited to read this book. I think I was expecting it to Sheri Dew-esque and it wasn't. Sheri Dew is such an amazing storyteller. She weaves her small town farm tales into brilliant gospel parallels. Mary, Martha and Me was really, really doctrinal and less relateable on a personal level. It was good though and definitely worth the read. I do own this one if anyone wants to read it.

Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini. Everyone I know loved this book. So it is with some trepidation that I write that I think it was ok. The writing was great but the story was SO depressing. I kept waiting for it to get better but it never really did. You saw a faint glimmer of hope at the very end but it was just so sad. Not all books have to be a tidy little happy ending package for me but the tragedy in this book was really emotionally draining for me.

Right now I'm about half way through Saving Fish from Drowning by Amy Tan and it is really, really great. I really loved the Joy Luck Club but haven't like any of her other books as much until now. The perspective that the story is told from is SO great. I won't give any more away but if you like Amy Tan, you will love this book.

Earlier this month I started Outlander by Diana Gabaldon based on the rave reviews some friends gave it. Yikes. Totally not for me. The story of the book was actually really fascinating but I cannot stand when ANY story is full of gratuitous sex. It is so unnecessary. Do not read this book. Seriously such a disappointment.