What I've Been Reading Lately

I think I'm behind on my reviews.  Do you care?

Anyhow. Our first selection hails from my sad addiction to Vampire Academy. It's Twilight meets Gossip Girl meets Hunger Games. Basically Twilight with a bit more glamour and violence.  A lot more butt kicking. And embarrassing to admit that I keep reading them. :) This is the newest one, which is actually a spinoff about a few of the characters!

 This one I spotted at a book fair at the library, was intrigued by the cover and synopsis, walked across the library and checked it out for free! Score! It was a ghost story set in New Orleans. Enjoyed it and it was an easy read, definitely geared toward YA.

Last month's book club was Jane Austen's Mansfield Park. I tried. I really truly did. I checked out two different movie versions to try to make it through but I just could never get into the characters!! I thought they were just boring. And I had issues with rooting for the heroine to marry her first cousin! I don't care that it was normal back then.  It just felt creepy.

This month was Cry the Beloved Country and I really enjoyed it! It was a quicker read but still a bit slow to start. But I enjoyed the characters and I really enjoyed learning more about pre-apartheid South Africa. My brother spend a semester there, so halfway through the book, I called him up for a history and demographics lesson on South Africa. This was a good read.

 I enjoyed another good book by Lisa See.  She is a talented author. I love learning about history and foreign countries (see above) through fiction.  This one made me realize I knew nothing about communism really. I have spent some time on wikipedia trying to understand Red China since then.  Her stories always seem to end in tragedy but they I keep reading them!

 This month's book club is one I've read, Eat Cake by Jeanne Ray. A good fun read! So I'm hoping to catch up on a few I've had on my shelf at home and start working on Christmas gifts!!