Author: Heather Balog

On paper this sounded like a good book. I won’t disagree that the story was interesting but before long in the book I had identified a couple of different options for a twist so the ending wasn’t much of a surprise. I read the book on my Kindle and it was almost too much to read past all the poor editing; I wonder if the hard copy was better.

Goodreads Rating * * (because I just don’t like spelling and structure errors in the books I read)

Author: Debbie Macomber

There is nothing complicated about this book but I enjoyed its simplicity after plugging my way through my last book. There are no surprises either as the outcome was never in doubt for any of the characters. Several of the Blossom Street books share a knitting pattern; even though several characters were knitting or involved with the yarn shop there wasn’t a new pattern for me to follow.

Goodreads Rating * * * (but only because it isn’t a very serious book)

Author: Susan Orlean

Last year I saw on Facebook that Reece Witherspoon was promoting a book club. Several of her recommended books were ones I either had on my To Read list or were ones I’d already read. I decided this year I would read her recommended books.

We aren’t off to a very good start I’m afraid. This book was promoted as an investigation into a major fire at the Los Angeles Public Library in 1986. The majority of the book though focuses on the history of the library, the various librarians in charge since 1873, and very little about the crime itself. And there is some doubt, never proven, as to whether or not it really was an arson fire.

Goodreads Rating * *

Author: James Jones

When I bought this book from a Library Book Sale I was sure it was a classic. I like to read classics around Christmas and this is the one I picked for this year. I had the classic movie scene in my head of the couple on the beach with the waves crashing over them.

I’m a little at a loss with the book though as I really didn’t like it – the men in the Army before Pearl Harbour weren’t much more than womanizing, drunken idiots. And they didn’t get much better after Pearl Harbour (but then the book ends very soon after the incident). It’s a big book – about 850 pages – and you can imagine my horror when the hero (or at least who I thought was going to be the hero) ended up being shot by his own servicemen.

Perhaps I’d have been better off watching the movie. When I checked IMDb to be sure I was thinking of the right movie it was interesting to see the actors who played the roles of the characters in the book.

I’ll put the book on my Classic shelf but it won’t be one I read again. It was published in 1951 – does that make it valuable?

Goodreads Rating * *