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Been doing a lot of reading lately – I think it's my post-trek freedom that has given me a little of a reading bug.  Some have been better than others…here's the list:

1.  Hunger Games and Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins:  I very much enjoyed these action-packed books and can't wait for the 3rd in August.  Gale or Peeta?  What happened to their District?  The premise sounds strange when you hear about it – but it is captivating when you read about it.  These are even better than Twilight, in my opinion.

2.  The Goose Girl and Princess Academy by Shannon Hale:  I have so enjoyed these book by this author.  Quick, clean, but interesting reads.  Great characters.  Happy endings.  I'll read anything she writes I've decided.

3.  Sarah's Key by Tatiana de Rosnay:  I read this book for the first meeting of an invitation-only neighborhood book club.  Somehow I got invited as an add-on, but I have to say this is a lovely group of women who I really enjoy.  BTW, the invitation-only part is just to keep numbers down, not necessarily to be exclusive.  I have a fascination with WWII/Holocaust stories – I can't get enough of them.  The terrible mixed with the humanity and goodness gets to me.  The historic part of this story is moving and heart-wrenching and captivating.  The modern part of this story, for me, was a little ridiculous, self-indulgent and self-serving.  But worth the read to learn about the French participation in the Hitler era.

4.  Return to Red Castle by Dorothy Keddington:  This author/book was introduced to me by a friend when I was pregnant and bed-ridden with Samuel.  Knowing that I was on the search for good books, she let me borrow this author's collection.  Romantic suspense novels.  They are 80s-style – clean, cheesy and wonderful!  I think she is one of my favorite authors.  I've ordered 3 more by her just so I can bathe in her cheesy-ness. 🙂

5.  Little Bee by Chris Cleave:  Last month's neighborhood book club selection was similar to a lot of modern novels for me – depressing!  But despite the disturbing nature of the plot and strange selfishness of most of the characters, I found that this author is a beautiful writer.  Some of the passages were worth reading again and again – poignant and illustrative.  For that reason, it was worth it – but just barely.

6.  The Zookeeper's Wife by Diane Ackerman: I bought this on a whim at Costco because the WWII perspective caught my eye.  I thought it was historical fiction – turned out to be historical non-fiction.  Fascinating story about a zookeeper and his wife who have a renowned zoo in Warsaw Poland.  The animals were shot or released by Nazi soldiers, but the zoo was then used to house Jews seeking escape/hiding.  It's a tedious story but a nice one.

7.  The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown:  I have to hand it to old Dan Brown – he sure knows how to write page turners.  And where he gets all of this scientific/mystical/historical knowledge I will never know.  My feeble/basic brain cannot always keep up.  And even when it does, it surely doesn't retain more than half of it.  This book definitely kept my interest, but I found the antagonist to be a little too disturbing/evil for me.  He gave me nightmares.  And the use of Deity's name (in vain) got really old for me.  The twist at the end, I did NOT see coming.

Well, there you have it – my latest reviews.  I have plenty more on my list of books to conquer this summer including (but not limited to)…Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell, The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand, Girl of the Limberlost by Gene Stratton Porter, and the list goes on and on and on…