Book Club

I was at Book club last week and it occurred to me that I hadn't written about the books we've been reading for some time now.  They've been all quite different from each other.  Here are the last 4 we've done:

These is my Words by Sarah Agnes:

Inspired by the author's original family memoirs, this absorbing story introduces us to the questing, indomitable Sarah Prine, one of the most memorable women ever to survive and prevail in the Arizona Territory of the late 1800s. 

It took me a little while to be completely invested in the book, but I ended up absolutely loving it.  Sarah Prine is such a loveable character and I loved Captain Jack Elliot even more.  It was a beautiful, heartbreaking story about the struggles in the Wild West.  PS- I bawled like a baby at the end of this book.

I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith

The story of 17-year-old Cassandra and her family, who live in not-so-genteel poverty in a ramshackle old English castle. Here she strives, over six turbulent months, to hone her writing skills. She fills three notebooks with sharply funny yet poignant entries. Her journals candidly chronicle the great changes that take place within the castle's walls, and her own first descent into love. By the time she pens her final entry, she has "captured the castle" — and the heart of the reader — in one of literature's most enchanting entertainments.  

I had heard such wonderful things about this book, but I was really disappointed.  It was painful reading about each of the characters making poor choices throughout the entire book.  I kept waiting for something to turn around, but there wasn't any real resolution and none of the characters ended up happy.  It was a really unsatisfying book.  Meh.

First They Killed My Father: A Daughter of Cambodia by Loung Ung

One of seven children of a high-ranking government official, Loung Ung lived a privileged life in the Cambodian capital of Phnom Penh until the age of five. Then, in April 1975, Pol Pot's Khmer Rouge army stormed into the city, forcing Ung's family to flee and, eventually, to disperse. Loung was trained as a child soldier in a work camp for orphans, her siblings were sent to labor camps, and those who survived the horrors would not be reunited until the Khmer Rouge was destroyed. Harrowing yet hopeful, Loung's powerful story is an unforgettable account of a family shaken and shattered, yet miraculously sustained by courage and love in the face of unspeakable brutality.

It sounds wrong to say I enjoyed this book or liked it.  Do you know what I mean?  It is pretty vivid in its detail and horror.  It's even more heart wrenching that I know it's a true story.  I find it so sad that people can so quickly turn inhumane and commit such atrocities.  I thought it was particularly poignant being told from the eyes of a child.   I read the sequel and didn't like it anywhere near as much.  Another really good book that I read that also takes place in Cambodia is The Rent Collector by Camron Wright.  It's fiction, but based on real people.  I highly recommend it.

Blackmoore by Julianne Donaldson

At eighteen, Kate Worthington knows she should be getting serious about marriage, but her restless heart won't let her settle down. To escape her mother's meddlesome influence, she dreams of traveling with her spinster aunt to exotic India. But when the opportunity arises, Kate finds herself making a bargain with her mother: she will be allowed to go only if she spends a season at the family's wealthy estate, Blackmoore, where she must secure and reject three marriage proposals. Enlisting the help of her dearest childhood friend, Henry Delafield, Kate sets out to collect her proposals so she can be on her way. But Henry's decision to help threatens to destroy both of their dreams in ways they could never imagine. Set in Northern England in 1820, Blackmoore is a regency romance that tells the story of a young woman struggling to learn how to listen to her heart.

I absolutely loved Donaldson's first book (Edenbrooke), so I was a bit nervous that I would have too high of expectations for her second book.  I don't know how it's possible, but I thought this book was even better than her first.  I loved it!  Donaldson has a beautiful ability to really make relationships come alive and let us see into the hearts of these characters with their natural insecurities without it feeling one dimensional or forced.  I should clarify that if you're looking for the deeper meanings of life, this may not be the book for you, but it's a great (clean) regency romance.

Ok, now I'm all caught up.  Have you read anything really good lately?