At Home in Mitford by Jan Karon

It's good, simple, clean, easy. Just the kind of read that can be hugely refreshing.

Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke

The copy of this that I read was 1006 pages long. It is a very long book! I have mixed feelings about this one, it was entertaining enough, but by the time I was done, I was really, really done. She does an excellent job of making you hate the bad guy, but the way they get rid of him is a bit anti-climactic. It is also filled with 'footnotes' to reference what she is talking about, these take up about 1/3 of the book. Their purpose is to explain the history of English magic. Without them it would have been a hugely confusing book, but at the same time, they were a bit boring.
I can't say that I would recommend this to anyone, but if you're brave enough, have at it!

Princess Academy, by Shannon Hale

I really like this book. I've decided I'm a fan of Shannon Hale. Just enough adventure and romance, with a keen descriptive of life as a young woman.

I'm hosting a book club on this book and will leave a better review after I get everyone else's input.

Lily's Crossing, by Patricia Reilly Giff

Cute book.

The story takes place during WWII. Lily is 9 (?) and lives with her grandmother and father (an engineer), they vacation at Rockaway Beach during the summer. Lily meets a new friend who is a refugee from Hungary, his family has been left or lost in Europe. Lily learns about honesty and friendship.

I probably wouldn't read it again, not for lack of enjoying it, but just because once was enough.

The Story of Edgar Sawtelle, by David Wroblewski

This is the book for Oprah's book club this week. She says she loved this book. I thought it was good. Not at all an upper.

Edgar Sawtelle is a mute. His family runs a dog breeding business. Edgar's estranged uncle returns home after several years away. After his father dies of unknown causes and his uncle seduces his mother Edgar runs away from home. He learns about adulthood while on the run, and decides to return home.

Parts of the book were a little abstract for my liking. An entertaining story. It has over 500 pages and I read it in a little less than a week.

All in all, one and a half thumbs up, the missing half thumb is because I didn't appreciate the ending.

Angle of Repose, by Wallace Stegner

I had zero expectations coming in to this book. It was good. I had no idea what it was about, it was recommended to me by someone (I don't remember who). But everyone that I know who has read said it was a good book. Even when I was flying up to my dad's for a girls weekend, the pilot walked past me as I was boarding the plane and said, 'Good book.'

It is about Lyman Ward, the grandson of Susan Ward. He is writing his grandmother's autobiography. So the story is partly about her too. Susan grew up in the Hudson River Valley and marries Oliver Ward who is an engineer for coal mines in the west (circa 1870-1880). It talkes about her marital struggles and their life together. We also learn the story of Lyman and his own personal struggles.

It was not a happy book. But entertaining.

Breaking Dawn, by Stephenie Meyer

So, I may get rotten fruit and vegetables thrown at me for this review.

In all honesty, the best I can say for this one is: it was fine.

I'm a huge fan of the series, but this one felt slow, and the ending wasn't as climactic as I would have liked to to have been. And there were times when I thought things were really just beaten into the ground. Yes, I get it, you are so amazingly attracted to Edward that it's hard to function sometimes. Yes, I get it, things don't look good. Yes, I get it, Jacob is so in love with Bella and it's just so unfair that she doesn't feel the same....

I could go on. Maybe it's just because I'm more of a Jacob fan than and Edward fan, this just didn't turn out the way I wanted it to.

I almost gave up half way through, but I wanted to see if it would shape up any better in the end.

So for me, this wasn't the best in the series.

* Please keep the booing and hissing to a minimum.