2011 Books 1-5

My goal this year is to read 50 books.  Now that might seem like a lot, but I read A LOT!  I read during commercials while watching TV, I read during the nap time at work, I read before bed, and I read while eating breakfast.  I love books.  I also love to read all different kinds of books.  

Briano (the hubby) and I actually use our dining room as a mini-library.  And, since we have so many books, he's responsible for picking the books I read.  My only requirement is that I alternate fiction and non-fiction. 

My plan is to do a blog post with reviews after every 5 books.  So here are books 1-5.

1. The World That Made New Orleans - Ned Sublette

 

4.5/5  I loved this book!  I first started reading it last November after we visited New Orleans on our honeymoon.  I was actually reading in on the airplane...where I left it along with the sweet bookmark my mom had made for me :( .  It was a really fascinating read and the author made history interesting which is hard to do sometimes.  It goes over the history of the city from it's discovery up until it came into the possession of the United States.  I loved reading about how the city changed hands between the French, Spanish, French again, and then American.  I would highly recommend it. 

2.  Sunshine - Robin McKinley

4/5  Vampire books seem to be all over the place these days and I'm embarrassed to admit it, but I love all of those sparkly vampire too.  However, being a girl who grew up on Buffy, I still love the not so tame vampire as well.  Sunshine is the story of a regular girl who just happens to be part witch.  She gets kidnapped by vamps, survives, and team up with her fellow prisoner (a vamp) to take out her captors.  It was always interesting with very well written characters.  I loved that the vampire wasn't perfect and that he didn't look human.  I loved that there was a strong female character who didn't rely on others.  I would recommend this book.

3. Founding Myths - Ray Rapheal

2.5/5  Meh.  This book was neither good nor bad.  It was just meh.  It's filled with short chapters about the true stories behind some of the things we learned in elementary school about the Revolutionary War.  Examples include Paul Revere (he wasn't the only one on a ride) and Sam Adam (wasn't quite the revolutionary we were told).  To be honest, I probably won't remember most of it and I'm thankful I got this book on discount.  I probably wouldn't recommend it.

4. You Suck - Christopher Moore

5/5  I loved this book!  Yes, it's another vampire book.  Should it matter? Absolutely not!  This book is fabulous.  This is THE funniest author I have ever read.  I laugh out loud when I read his books.  This is the second book of his that I have read and one of my favorite parts of the books is that he weaves in characters from his other books, but it isn't like you have to read his books in order to get it.  It's more like he created a universe and each book can stand alone in the universe.  it's the story of a new vampire, her newly turned vampire, and their quest to live their life in San Francisco.  Throw in a vampire hunting college kid, a semi-goth lackey, and a blue prostitute and you have a fantastic book.  I HIGHLY recommend it.


5.  Haight Ashbury - Charles Perry

2/5  My biggest pet peeve when reading is finding grammar and spelling mistakes.  It makes it hard for me to even enjoy the book.  I love to edit and can't stand when someone sends a book to the printer with errors.  Other than that, at some points the book wanders and you have to wonder if the author dropped too much acid himself.  There are certainly some interesting parts and I liked learning new things; however, it was very lame that the summer of love section was just shortchanged as a series of dates instead of chapters like the rest of the history.  I was really disappointed with this book, but I was thankful that I did learn at least a little bit.  I wouldn't recommend this book.