The Day I Ate Whatever I Wanted

A quick post on this audiobook I listened to - The Day I Ate Whatever I Wanted by Elizabeth Berg. I can't say that I loved it, in fact I don't think it was my kind of thing. This collection of short stories wasn't exactly what I expected... Although I liked the title story (and its great title!) and could identify with the weight loss and health theme, I thought that it came back too often in other stories. The characters too were not people I could really understand - older than me for one thing, which doesn't usually bother me, but it did this time. They were all so disappointed with the way their lives turned out, so resigned to the way their lives turned out. I didn't quite understand why things had to be that way for them.

The writing was good and emotive, but the stories just weren't for me. I've yet to read a short story collection that I really enjoy, by the way, maybe the whole genre isn't really for me? Something to think about...

Challenges: A-Z Challenge, Audiobook Challenge

How I Live Now

I thought I should probably get around to writing down my thoughts about Meg Rosoff's How I Live Now before I forget them completely!

This is a book that got loads of attention in the blogoshpere at one point, one of those that everyone was reading and it consistently got good reviews. Perhaps my expectations were set a bit too high because of this and I didn't like it as much as I thought I would, nor as much as I wanted to.

The story is about American Daisy, who is sent over to England to stay with her cousins for a while and ends up having to live through war and occupation as England is invaded by an unnamed enemy. The cousins are separated as soldiers take over their house and are all sent off to work. Obviously the situations they have to live through are horrible and they need to all do a bit of growing to manage.

The storyline is interesting and after reading and absolutely loving Susan Beth Pfeffer's Life As We Knew It, I really, really thought I'd enjoy this. But. I did NOT like Daisy at all. I thought she was whiny and two-dimensional and I didn't really care what happened to her. Or to her cousins. And the relationship between her and cousing Edmond, with whom she falls in love, just creeped me out. It just seemed implausible and stretched and, well, creepy.

The ending was abrupt and didn't explain as much as I wanted to. I ended up feeling cheated!

Maybe I missed something, but I have to admit that I was very disappointed. Anyone else??

Challenges: A-Z, Dewey's Books, It's the End of the World

Pawing through the past

I didn't read the back of Pawing through the Past by Rita Mae Brown and Sneaky Pie Brown carefully enough or I would have noticed that Sneaky Pie Brown is a cat. And that cats are central to solving the mystery. Hmm, not usually my sort of thing, but since I was moving house (this is why I was missing in action for a week or so) I wanted something REALLY simple yet engaging to read in between packing and cleaning.

I must say that I was pleasantly surprised about how the whole cat angle was handled. The animals communicated with each other and understood what the humans were saying, but the humans didn't understand the animals. Interesting. It was actulally quite cute and cleverly managed and whereas I won't be rushing out to get more in the series, I'd be happy to read another one if I happen upon it somewhere.

A short review only as my time is still limited! I don't know how much reading I'll manage to get done till the end of the month, but I don't think it will be a lot! So many boxes to unpack!!!

Challenges: What an animal, Suspense and Thriller, Genre Challenge

Crime Scene at Cardwell Ranch

I think it was J. Kaye who alerted me to the fact that Harlequin was celebrating their 60th birthday and therefore had some e-books available for free download. They're still doing this, so have a look if you're interested. Now, I had never read a Harlequin novel before this one, but I thought that they would be nice and pleasant and easy and would go nicely with my coffee break at work. I was right about that.

Crime Scene at Cardwell Ranch by B.J. Daniels is from Harlequin's Intrigue series and exactly what I thought it would be. Basically a romance with a crime and mystery added in. I don't really have much to say other than it was pleasant, light reading.

I'll go through the other ones I donwloaded too. This one certainly relaxed my brain between serious work tasks! :-)

Challenges: A-Z Challenge, Every Month is a Holiday, Romance Reading Challenge, Suspense and Thriller Challenge

Karlson on the Roof

Astrid Lindgren is best known for the Pippi Longstocking character, but a friend of mine raved about Karlson so I wanted to check him out.

I wasn't blown away or anything, but then I'm not 7 and the main characters of this book are. Smidge is an ordinary boy with an ordinary life - except that he becomes friends with Karlson, a strange little man who lives on the roof of his building. Karlson can fly and he's the best at everything he tries, so makes for a very exciting playmate. I''m sure it's enchanting when you're in the right age group - or if you're re-reading it is an adult rather than reading it for the first time!

It was pleasant to read and exactly what I wanted for a couple of pages of light reading here and there in between more serious stuff.

Challenges: A-Z Challenge, 1st in a series, Lost in Translation, Themed Reading Challenge