A House is not a Home without a Dog

Old Dogs are the Best Dogs by Gene Weingarten is photographic book with short entries describing the old dogs pictured. The dogs are at least 10 years old and the book celebrates their age while sometimes reminiscing about their younger years.

Personal favorites: Lexie, Chester, Hank, Chelsie, Buffy, Blue, Lucy, Magic, and Jake.

If you are a dog lover and have ever watched a dog grow old, this is a lovely book to pick up.

Another Dose of Optimism

I did this backwards but after reading his second autobiography I decided to go back and read Michael J Fox's first. Lucky Man describes Michael's life up until diagnosis and immediately after. It was interesting to get a closer look at a man who usually keeps his life so private. I so appreciate Mr Fox being willing to share such intimate moments in his life. I continue to find him to be a remarkable man and hope only the best for him and his health.

A British Booky

I can't quite explain what it is I like about Russell Brand but I guess it's mostly I just find him to be a genuine person. Perhaps it's all an act but he seems to be a good man. He seems to have learned from his mistakes and doesn't try to lie his way out of anything. He shares openly his life lessons and the tough roads he took to get there. When I saw that he had a book out I had to read it. Booky Wook: A Memoir of Sex Drugs and Comedy was a wonderful read as I suspected it would be.

Brand shares childhood memories, career adventures, and addiction missteps. He keeps the reader entertained throughout it all. It's also quite a coincidence that I find out about this book and while reading it realize that a second part is due out the next week. Look for an entry in the next few days hopefully as I plan to read book 2 very soon.Save Now

New York New York

The Perfect Manhattan by Leanne Shear and Tracey Toomey was a great light summer read. The novel shares the story of a young woman just out of college and trying to find her way. She winds up becoming a bartender (believing it will help her pay off her student loans) and then winds up spending most of her summer tending bar out in the Hamptons among the elite rich crowd.

There are lots of funny twists and turns and also of course a summer romance thrown in with a happy ending. Lessons learned, growing up and into the adult world, and direction found. Not the greatest book I've ever read of course, but it was a fun flirty summer read.

Hiding Pregnancy

Here's a secret about my listening to books on tape, sometimes I can't wait to get to the next disc and know it's taking too much time so I'll try to see if the library has a copy of the book I'm listening to. At my current library this means walking through the teen section sometimes to get to the fiction area. This is where/how I stumbled into After by Amy Efaw.

The titled caught my attention as it begs the question, after what? After a teenage girl leaves her baby in a trashcan moments after giving birth. The story starts with the main character, Devon, being arrested though she continues to maintain she didn't have a baby even though all evidence points to the fact that she did. It's interesting to see the book through Devon's perspective after the pregnancy is over. The reader gets to decide along the way if Devon is a cold hearted teen or in such deep denial she never acknowledged her pregnancy.

It was very interesting to read this short novel and my only wish was that it had been a little longer to add some more detail. It felt like some piece of it was missing and I still can't decide if it was missing the pregnancy part which was sort of the whole point, or if it really was missing something the reader actually needed.

Oops

I'm a bit embarrassed to admit this but, my desk hasn't been cleaned since August (*hides head in shame*). My poor desk also always seems to get so much clutter added to it. I tend to just pile junk on it so the floor stays clean. So today (to avoid writing a paper) my apartment got cleaned up as did my desk. In doing so I found the post it with the reading list from August and realized I had missed 3 books to blog about. Whoops! So this entry and the next couple are way out of sync but I guess that serves as a lesson to clean a bit more often, just don't tell my mom I said that, she won't let me live it down ;)

The Weight of Silence by Heahter Gudenkauf was added to my list after the cover caught my attention at work someday. It sounded slightly scary (for a wimp like me) but also intrigued me. I really enjoyed the book and found it unique enough to keep my interest. I have a bad habit of continuing to try to guess how books are going to end, particularly suspense books such as this one, but I honestly was wrong every time I made a new guess.

There are definitely some scary and sad parts of the book but the conclusion more than makes up for it and overall I was quite happy that even though I shouldn't, I had judged this book by it's cover.

Last McPartlin for awhile

Alexandra Gone by Anna McPartlin is the last book I read by McPartlin. Since I think at this point I'm through all the books released in the U.S. this will be the last entry on McPartlin, at least for awhile. I really enjoyed this last read of hers. I loved the beginning. The ending I wish had been a bit happier or for some reason a bit undecided, left up to the reader if you will.

In any case the story is about the search for one of the characters wife's who disappeared. As always McPartlin gives many characters a voice and the reader sees the effects of this tragedy through many characters eyes.

I highly recommend McPartlin's books to anyone looking for a new author!