Book reviews - part two

I also read "Julie & Julia, 365 Days, 524 Recipes, 1 tiny apartment kitchen". For those of you living under a rock and not familiar with this book/movie, it is about an almost 30 year old woman in New York City who is dissatisfied with her life and decides to cook all of the recipes in Julia Child's The Joy of French Cooking in 365 days. While she likes to cook, she isn't an accomplished cook by any stretch of the imagination so this was quite the undertaking. In addition, she blogged about her progress.



As you probably know, this book has been made into a movie and is quite popular. It is not my typical choice for a read. When I read non-fiction, I tend to read true crime books or biographies. Also, I really don't enjoy cooking. However, I kept seeing people everywhere reading this book and decided to see what all the fuss was about. Surprising to me, I enjoyed this book. The focus really wasn't on the cooking as much as it was about Julie and her life. She was a secretary at a government agency and was wondering if "this was it" for her life. Her life in the Big Apple was interesting to this country gal and her friends and family made for an interesting cast of characters. The bloggy component was interesting as well. I was surprised to see where Julia Child was made aware of what she was doing and wasn't impressed at all. I am planning on going to see the movie and would recommend this book.



Since I had enjoyed a "non-typical" choice in a book, my next book was one recommended by a fellow blogger. Kim recommended "Golden Country" by Jennifer Gilmore and when I checked it out, it looked very interesting. I don't usually read historical fiction but decided to take a chance - and I am glad I did. This story featured several families of Jewish immigrants and their successes and failures over the years. It was based in the early 1900s- Depression and World War II times. The family members ranged from mobsters to inventors to society wives. It also had several familiar people show up in Cameos - Irvin Berlin, Mae West, etc. While most of the book is based in New York City, part of it was based in Maine and that was a very pleasant surprise! What made me even happier was that the author got the geography of Maine correct - the towns were in the right order, etc. I hate when they screw that up and the last book I read based in Maine had errors all over the place. Anyway, while this story didn't have a plot with a thrilling climax, it was a very interesting "slice of life" type story and I would recommend it! Thanks, Kim.

The next book I read was back to my typical "mystery adventure". I read "Chosen to Die" by Lisa Jackson. This book was about a serial killer who caused accidents, rescued the victims and then, after nursing them back to life, ties them to trees to die. The characters all had flaws and it was a very interesting book. It was obvious to me that the author wrote the book in such a manner that there will be a follow-up book coming. If you like this style of book, this book is on my recommended list.

Finally, I am currently reading "Good in Bed" by Jennifer Weiner which was recommended by several bloggers. I haven't read more than 25% of if so I won't attempt to review it. I will say, however, that so far, I am really enjoying this author. This is a real hoot!

Thanks for reading my reviews.

Here's to reading!