Gregor, the Overlander (Mom)

So I have been devouring books lately.  I just read the Gregor the Overlander series by Suzanne Collins, the same author who wrote the Hunger Games series.  There are five books in the series. It was written for the younger reader, but some of the thoughts and actions are not that of  Gregor, an eleven year old boy.  I certainly pictured him older as a 17 or 18 year old.  Maybe I don't think that an eleven year old would be able to cope with such an adventure with giant rats, bats and spiders, be able to wield sword and daggers and fight like a grown person.  There was a lot of fighting and violence in this book, but nothing extremely graphic.  I liked the series, I liked the characters, I just thought the main character, Gregor, should be older is all.  The moral of the the story is that parents should listen to their children, no matter what they say.  You never know what you may encounter!

Vacation in Mitford (Mom)

So I've been away for a while.  Well, it seems like it because I just  read the next three books in the Mitford series.  Even though I should be some fall cleaning or canning, I choose to read.  What uplifting and great books they are.  Written by Jan Karon, they are based around the life of an Episcopalian priest.  If anyone recalls, I read the first book in the series a few months ago and really wanted to get my hands on the rest of the series.  No swearing, no sex, not one thing to make you uncomfortable or weird.  The characters in it are delightful and recognizable.  There are some very sad parts when some old friends pass away, but such is life right?  I highly recommend this series and I am anxious to finish it and read some more by this author.
      I also read all of the Hunger Games.  Great books! Easy reads and can't wait for the movie to come out in March of next year.

Mel's Book Review- Gap Creek

I think this may be the one and only book review I've done on here. Maybe not, I don't remember. SO I stayed up until 3 this morning reading a book called Gap Creek written by Robert Morgan. mind I didn't stay up late because I love the book so much that I had to finish it. I actually really didn't like it. It's on Oprah's reading list and once you start reading it, you can see why. It has that down south bad grammar. I know, I know, I'm an awful person. Anyways, it's about this young girl named Julie who has worked every day of her life on her family's farm and is the main person do take care of her family. She witnesses her baby brother's death in the middle of a winter night then not a few months later her father dies. All the work on the farm fell to her to responsible for. She meets Hank and they get married after a month or week or something of courtship. (You know, in the south, it's all the same thing.) They moved to this place called Gap Creek and the book after that is all really random. They move in with an older man because the rent they pay is Julie cooking and cleaning the house, which it turns out she's not really good at because she's always been working outside with her father. So she's a new bride, she lives in this nasty old house, with this nasty old man that she is supposed to make meals for. Then things start to just be sad and weird. While Hanks mother is visiting, Julie lights the kitchen on fire with pork lard and the old man they live with dies from burns when kerosene blows up in his face. They save the house but only just. Julie finds out she is pregnant. So yes, there is sex in it and it's AWKWARD. Just saying. While Hank is out working, a man swindles Julie into giving him all the money they have to stay in the house. He gets upset, gets all moody and things start to go down hill for Julie. All she begins to care about is the fact that she's pregnant and she needs to build a life for her and the baby. Hank is fired and they end up having to live in someone else's house they don't know how to reach the heirs of the old man's estate so when a couple comes saying they are his children ant they just want to take a few things and collect some money for rent, they believe them, just to find out they had been swindled again. Julie and Hank learn to live off meager meals and starvation. They join a church and become god fearing people. They find their purpose and make it through a frightening flood and a harsh winter. Julie has the baby in the spring early and almost dies from infection. PS the baby dies because she couldn't eat to nourish her. Anyways the REAL heirs find out the owner of the house is dead and want to collect back rent or they would be arrested. Because Hank had not been working and there was no on e who would hire him because not only did he get fired from his last job but he got fired because he's hot tempered and he hit his boss, so yeah they have no money so they end leaving the house before anyone can show up to collect anything and go back to their home town in North Carolina.On the last page you find out that Julie is pregnant again. So it's like a new fresh start for them. Meh.  Hank to me just is moody and childish, and Julie should be able to say what she wants but it is supposed to be set in the time after the Civil war, and that would be the status quo for then. Anyways, I just thought that I should review it. I read so I should share. Right? Read it if you want, if not, you're not missing out on anything. But that's what I did at 3 this morning. It was a free book. Can't complain, right?