It's Monday, What Are You Reading?

It's Monday, What Are You Reading is a weekly blog meme hosted by Sheila at Book Journey where you list the books you read last week and the ones you hope to read this week. 

Read last week:

Inside Out and Back Again by Thanhha Lai: This book is a Newbery Award winner.  I picked it up from work, and I loved it! Such a beautiful telling of something that was so ugly.

Let the Dead Sleep by Heather Graham:  I got this book from NetGalley. So far it is pretty entertaining!

Reading this week:

Ever After by Kim Harrison: I am going to an author signing of this book on Tuesday!! It is the day the book is released as well, I am so excited to meet Kim Harrison!!  

Horns by Joe Hill:  This is our book club book this month - I have read it before but I want to reread it again before we meet. Joe Hill is also Stephen King's son. :)

   

Blog Catch-Up!

I have been away from this blog too long! I had the flu last week wicked bad, and I could not keep my eyes open for the first three days.  By last Saturday I was able to stay awake and sit up a little longer, but I still was feeling awful. I had a nice little pick me up Saturday though, when books I had won were delivered to my house.  I won the Dorothy Parker book from Librarything, and I won Crazy Enough from The Relentless Reader. I also won Brain on Fire from her as well, but my mom was over taking care of me, as she had done all week, so I told her to pick one of the books to borrow.  She read it over the rest of the weekend and she said it was amazing! I haven't gotten it back from her yet, but I am looking forward to reading it. Thanks Jennifer from Relentless Reader, it was a nice surprise while I was sick to get these!

I also was contacted by Jen from the Introverted Reader this week - I was one of the lucky winners of her Southern Literature Challenge!  She let me pick a book from the Book Depository, and I am looking forward to getting it and diving in. I picked a book by a new to me southern author. Thanks Jen from Introverted Reader!

I am planning on getting back on track this week with regular postings, and I also am thinking about participating in the Literary Giveaway Blog Hop hosted by Leeswamme. I have never participated in a blog hop so I am a little nervous to commit!

The House on Tradd Street- Review

Title: The House on Tradd Street
Author: Karen White
Source: Library

Goodreads Summary:

Practical Melanie Middleton hates to admit she can see ghosts. But she?s going to have to accept it. An old man she recently met has died, leaving her his historic Tradd Street home, complete with housekeeper, dog?and a family of ghosts anxious to tell her their secrets.

Enter Jack Trenholm, a gorgeous writer obsessed with unsolved mysteries. He has reason to believe that diamonds from the Confederate Treasury are hidden in the house. So he turns the charm on with Melanie, only to discover he's the smitten one...

It turns out Jack's search has caught the attention of a malevolent ghost. Now, Jack and Melanie must unravel a mystery of passion, heartbreak, and even murder.

My thoughts:

Where to begin?  I will start with what I liked.  The Charleston setting, the mystery, the ghosts, Jack, and the rest of the supporting characters. What I didn't like? Melanie.  That feels so harsh to state it like that, but I comfort myself with the fact that Melanie wouldn't sugar coat her feelings, so why would I? 

Melanie inherits a big old house in the historic district of Charleston, from an elderly man who was virtually a stranger.  She met him one time, when she wanted to leave her card in the event he went to a nursing home and moved out, she wanted to be the one to sell his house.She is impatient with his storytelling at first, yet by the end of the visit she kind of likes the old guy. The reader learns a lot about Melanie from this visit- she hates old houses, they are dirty and gross and filled with ghosts. Oh yeah, she can see ghosts, but chooses to ignore them.  She cares a great deal about her job as a Realtor (capitalized the entire books), new construction, white walls, and chrome and glass furniture.  He dies right after their meeting basically, and she inherits this awesome old house and the funds to fix it up, but she doesn't appreciate it. Nope. She wants to just sell it, but the will stipulates she must live in it for a year before she can.

Melanie is uptight, inflexible, a neat freak, and hasn't gone on a date in years. She doesn't own a pair of jeans, is supposedly beautiful, and can eat like a longshoreman on leave without gaining a single ounce.  (no woman wants to read that! Lol) When she meets Jack, she dislikes him instantly because he didn't take her out to dinner at a fancy pants restaurant, drinks beer, and she doesn't like his casual clothing. Too plebian for her. 

Jack is a writer, and tells Melanie he wants to investigate the mystery behind her inherited house for his new book.  Apparently the mother (Louisa) of the man Nevin, who died and left the house to Melanie, ran off with a criminal type (Joseph) when Nevin was a kid.   Nevin never believed this and said as much to Melanie, because she loved him and the house very much.  Louisa and Joseph were never seen or heard from again.  Jack also knows there is more to the mystery, but doesn't tell Melanie. 

There is the expected romantic triangle as well, which for me felt flat, only because Melanie seemed clueless and she was also never nice to Jack.

This is where the story is actually interesting and I won't spoil it! If you can get past Melanie, the mystery is intriguing, and while I figured some of it out, I didn't figure it all out. 

Southern Literature Challenge

 

 Southern Literature Challenge - The Introverted Reader

This is my favorite challenge every year! I gravitate towards books set in the south, so it is easy for me to meet my goal as well. 

I have already read one book set in the south this year, I will be reviewing it soon!

It's Monday, What Are You Reading?

It's Monday, What Are You Reading is a weekly blog meme hosted by Sheila at Book Journey where you list the books you read last week and the ones you hope to read this week. 

First, I have to ask, are any of you excited about the return of Downton Abbey? I am! So happy I get to see this face again.

                         

Tom Branson! Hot Irish former chauffeur.

Anyway, back to reading. Lol.  

Read last week:

              

Cold Days by Jim Butcher:  I was scared to read this since I don't like change, but I really enjoyed it! (review coming)  

Blankets by Craig Thompson: Beautiful, fragile, wonderful. 

The House on Tradd Street by Karen White: This one I have mixed feelings about. Review coming soon.

Reading this week:

     

Paper Towns by John Green: I read Looking for Alaska and I am now obsessed. I must read more Green!! I am working my way up to The Fault in Our Stars.

The Dirty Life by Kristin Kimball:  I love books like this. 

Saturday Snapshot- January 5

Saturday Snapshot

is hosted by Alyce of At Home With Books

It's easy to participate- just post a picture that was taken by

you, a friend, or a family member, and add your link

on Alyce's site. (no pictures from the internet!)

I was looking through all of my photos from this summer, and this was one of my favorite days. My friend, who has been my friend for 20 years, and I went to Greenfield Village with her children.  It was such a wonderful day, perfect weather too.  I love snow but I love days like the one above as well. 

Blankets - Review

Title: Blankets
Author/Artist: Craig Thompson
Source: Library (but buying!)

Goodreads Summary:

Wrapped in the landscape of a blustery Wisconsin winter, Blankets explores the sibling rivalry of two brothers growing up in the isolated country, and the budding romance of two coming-of-age lovers. A tale of security and discovery, of playfulness and tragedy, of a fall from grace and the origins of faith.

My thoughts:

When I saw this book on The Relentless Reader I knew I wanted to read it when there was snow on the ground, all snuggled under my own blankets.  When I picked this up from the library, I was struck by how absolutely heavy it was; it was not an easy book to read in bed, I actually had to prop onto a pillow on my lap in order to read it.  That being said, it was a quick read, and took me about an hour, although I do want to go back and look at the illustrations more closely.

The story was more than I expected; I imagined this book would just be boy meets girl, happy happy, etc.  But this book is more - feeling trapped and helpless, guilt over failing someone who loves you but you needed protecting too; feeling outcast and separate, different from the rest. First love with someone who gets you and seems to need you too, and then hanging on them like a life raft (or a security blanket).  I thought this book was beautiful and broke my heart many times, right from the beginning.  

This book and the illustrations were so familiar to me - familiar not like I have seen them before, but familiar as I could relate to them. I grew up in the time of grunge in the midwest too.  I am from Michigan, and a portion of this book takes place in Marquette, a city I have visited and felt like I was so far north I was on top of the world.  I couldn't relate to the religious aspects of this book, how Craig the younger in the book grew up in rural Wisconsin raised by conservative Christian parents. I didn't grow up that way, but I still understood what it was like to not fit in. I felt like I knew these characters, because in many ways I did.  

And the drawings- they were gorgeous.  I can't draw at all, my attempts are embarrassing to everyone involved, but I wish I could. And Thompson's illustrations were fragile and charming and poignant, and at times I wanted to rip the pages from the book and hang them on the wall. (I didn't though) 

I think you should read this book. Don't be afraid of it being a graphic novel.  Just read it. Under a blanket.