Last week I finished:
The Four Winds, Kristin Hannah
Okay, if you're still on the fence about reading this one, I'm not sure I'll be a whole lot of help. I think it's safe to say that Kristin Hannah is not really my kind of writer. While I don't find her a bad writer, I do find her writing...problematic. This is the second book I've read, and after not loving The Great Alone (read my review here), I thought I'd give her one more try. In short, The Four Winds is the story of a family during the Great Depression, and what they do to survive during the Dust Bowl. I know I'm in the vast minority here, but I just don't see what all the fuss is over Hannah's books. I think her writing is fine overall, but she isn't very good at writing characters. And sometimes things just aren't logical, little things, things that a lot of folks won't notice, but after a bunch of these, I just don't trust the author anymore. She also seems to prefer shock value over story continuity. Her plot seemed to ratchet up the tension for 350 to 400 pages, everything explodes, and then it fizzled out. There wasn't enough resolution here for me. It took 450 pages to get to the end, but there should have been another 100 pages at least to give the reader resolution, to tie up the plot points left dangling chapters and chapters back. It was so unsatisfying. Still, I was so ready for this book to be over that by the time the plot started to go off the rails at the end, I didn't even care. I don't mind depressing books, but I demand fully-realized characters and a well-paced plot. This one had neither. By the time the Communist character appeared that the reader was clearly meant to love, I was so done with this one. Also, if you've read Timothy Egan's National Book Award Winner, The Worst Hard Time, you'll see just about every word, fact, and thought of it in this book. I think it was Hannah's only research on the topic of the Dust Bowl. I give the plot and satisfaction level two stars, but the writing a three, so I'll give it a 3 overall. Grudgingly.
Seriously...I'm Kidding, Ellen DeGeneres
This is a re-read (re-listen) for me, and I love it. My previous review of this seems a little cranky. It didn't annoy me at all this time, and I laughed in all the same parts. I still love her chapter early on about being a Cover Girl and what beauty means. This is a fun, fast listen by a funny, smart woman. My rating: 4 stars.
The Duggars: 20 and Counting!, Kim Bob & Michelle Duggar
This is another re-read. Since it was published, the Duggars have had two more children and miscarried another. Eight more of their 19 have married (the oldest was married at the time of the book's release), and they have 20 grandchildren. So this is a blast from the past. How does a family with 19 children live debt-free? How do they homeschool that many? How do they keep up with all the laundry? What is their house like? It's all here. Agree with their conservative choices and lifestyle or not, it's still quite a story. My rating: 4 stars.
This week I'm reading:
It just felt like the right time to begin this one, the memoir of James Herriot by his son.
In the evening, I'll be reading:
I think I'll be finishing this one, and that makes me sad.
And I cannot wait to begin this one. I love me some Dana Perino.
My current audiobook:
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