A new year - a restart

 Okay, so this blog has been in fits and starts. How about a re-start? I'll be updating soon with some fun topics. I have not been reading nearly as much as I'd like to so far this year. But I plan to go back and retro-review reads from the year (or years!) past. 

See you soon!

The Complete Book of Oscar Fashion: Variety's 75 Years of Glamour on the Red Carpet by Reeve Chace

** 2 stars

I enjoyed what there was of this book but it hardly seemed "complete" and I'm not just talking about years beyond the 75 noted.  It felt slapped together and rather careless,  Too much repetition of some items, like Cher's outlandish costumes. Would have liked a slightly more thoughtful and comprehensive look at Oscar fashions.

Still Alice by Lisa Genova

***** 5 stars

A book club choice.  Incredible book. Really hard to read at times but incredibly powerful. Will generate a lot of great discussion at book club, I'm sure.  I plan to watch the movie soon; will be interesting to see how they capture the character and her situation.

H is for Hawk by Helen MacDonald

* 1 star

This book held such promise, so I was disappointed to find it so dense with over-wrought language.  I appreciate the general sentiment and would have liked learning more about these birds, but I couldn't slog through the writing.

Modern Girls by Jennifer S. Brown

***** 5 stars

Picked this up totally on a whim at the bookstore as a treat for a particularly long and difficult week.  Had never really heard of it; turns out it was only just published that week.  Just loved this book; it was heartbreaking but joyful. I just loved everything about this book, the setting, the era, the characters. Wonderful read and I hope there are follow-up books so we can learn more about Dottie and her family.

The Reckoning Stones by Laura DiSilverio

*** 3 stars

This was a pretty decent mystery that took me far too long to read!  It was good enough but I wasn't necessarily compelled to keep reading it. That said, I would probably read more by this author.

The Girl in the Red Coat by Kate Hamer

* 1 star

I did not finish this book even though I got pretty far into it. I started to see where it was going and it wasn't that interesting to me. Not at all what I expected; not a crime book or thriller.  It started out really strong but grew to be "meh" for me.