Marsha's Pick

This was our title for March.  Marsha chose it because she loves words and found it fascinating how this society could function with losing letters and thus words from their communication.  I enjoyed it, but found it terrifying how a handful of people could abuse, steal from, and even kill others over something so trivial.  It actually reminded me a lot of the Chinese Cultural Revolution- scary.  Our governments should never have this sort of power over their people.  Hello, North Korea- I'm talking to you!  And unfortunately, so many other corrupt dictatorships.

My Picks

It was my turn to choose the title for Book Club.  I did something different this time.  I actually presented four books- Heaven Is Here, Wonder, A True Princess, and The Blood Detective.  I then had the ladies vote on which to read this month.  Heaven Is Here won the vote and it is a truly inspiring story.  NieNie, I want to be just like you when I grow up!

I checked this one out from the library and absolutely loved it!  So much so, that I bought it and its sequel for my daughter.

This was one of my gifts from our December book exchange.  It is actually two stories in one- Marriage Wanted and Laughter In The Rain.  Cute love stories.

My last gift from our book exchange was a four-in-one from Reader's Digest.  I enjoyed all four stories.  Letter from Home is the solving of a murder mystery from an elderly woman's girlhood.

PS, I Love You was totally different from the movie, but just as heart-wrenching.

The Promise Of A Lie was another murder mystery with lots of fun twists.

The Curious Incident Of The Dog In The Night-time was what I expected in the fact that it was a story wonderfully told by an autistic narrator, but the plot was nothing what I expected.  I still want more resolution for this story, nevertheless I enjoyed it.

Rebecca's Pick

Rebecca chose this for January's title.  How far would you go to survive?

After reading all of the Little House series, I had to read this one too.

My library doesn't have this title, so I requested the DVDs of the TV show instead.

This was one of the books I received from our Christmas book exchange.  It's a Nicholas Sparks love story that's been made into a movie, what can I say.  I still find it ironic that the main characters commit fornication Saturday night, then go to church together Sunday morning, and this is normal.

Rhonda's Pick

Rhonda chose this for us to read in December.  A magical Christmas tale!

I read a slew of more Christmas stories. 

After my recent reads of Cornelia's books, this one redeemed itself.  I see that it's a movie now too and would like to see it.

My friend, Marsha gave me this and it's another great Christmas redemption story.

 

I read A Christmas Carol years ago (2003 I think), and watch the movie every year.

 

I read The Cricket on the Hearth back in 2011.  I have Charles Dickens' 5 Christmas stories in one volume, so this year I was determined to read the remaining 3.

A father's love for his daughter.

 

A girl's love for her sister.

This was my favorite of the 3.  Do we follow our demons or angels, do we spread evil or love?  

This is not a Christmas title, but I  had been on the waiting list at the library for it for a long time.  Once it was in, I rushed over to get it.  It's a great story of kindness though, and kindness and Christmas go hand in hand.

Katie's Pick

In November, Katie chose this for us to read.  Very interesting tale set in Greece through World Wars I and II and modern day.  A love story with a twist (murder and adultery that I was actually cheering for, and I abhor those things!).

A similar feel of a story between England and Spain.  This time love didn't win, but the love wasn't so great to begin with, so I guess that's good?

I want to read her other title, but alas our library doesn't have it.

Jennifer's Pick- again!

It was my turn again to recommend the title for October, so I chose Beholding Bee.  I liked this book so much I emailed the author to thank her for writing it.  She wrote back and was thrilled that I had written to her.  She even sent me discussion questions to go with it.  Reminded me again that famous (or not so famous, but published author- still) people are regular people too.

After Kaleb and Noe had read these several times each, I finally read them.  They were very fun!  Being pregnant and very sick, this is about the only entertainment I can endure, ha.

Annick's Pick

Annick chose this for our Book Club to read in September.  It was a wonderful, horrible story!  It's set in Lithuania during World War II.  My daughter read it as well and really enjoyed it, but I had to explain what prostitutes were while she read it, ugh.

I'll slowly but surely finish this 14 book series.  I finally finished book 7.

I had wanted to read these in the summer of 2012, but just finally got around to them.  I absolutely loved them and now want to watch the TV series all over again!

August's Picks

I got this one the same time I got The Blood Detective.  I didn't enjoy it as much.  There were some tough issues in here, but ultimately love wins out which made me happy.

Noe got this one on the same library outing and after she read it, she made me.  I'm so glad she did!  It was a darling retelling of The Princess and the Pea.

 

I enjoyed the Inkheart trilogy and The Thief Lord by Cornelia Funke, so I thought I would try this one.  It was written for a younger audience and I didn't enjoy it much.

 

I got this one to read to Kaleb and Noe.  I enjoyed reading to them each evening, but the story was again too young for me.

While I was getting the Funke books from the library, I came across the Fusco books and really enjoyed them!

This was my favorite of the 3.

This was my least favorite of the 3, but it is still an enjoyable read!