April Book List

Captivating: Unveiling The Mystery of a Woman's Soul by John and Stasi Eldredge (re-read)
It's been a few years since I first read this book, but I get even more out of it now. Apparently a lot of women hate it and think it's demeaning and overemotional, but I totally disagree. I connect to it deeply and find it empowering! I plan to post some quotes and thoughts soon.

Writing Down The Bones: Freeing the Writer Within by Natalie Goldberg
I started reading this, oh, last fall sometime. I wanted to make sure I was really absorbing it, so I made myself read slowly, and eventually forgot about it. :P Well, I'm glad I picked it back up because it is BRILLIANT. Also laugh-out-loud funny in parts (her epiphany about a buttoned-up writing class: "I know what the problem is! None of you have ever taken LSD!"). Although the author and I come from very different perspectives, I totally got her points and think they'll be helpful and valuable in my writing. This is definitely a future re-read!

Flying Solo by Denise Hildreth Jones
DHJ is a Christian fiction author, and these are excerpts from her journal during the year after her divorce. If you're divorced, have a loved one who is, or just want to understand what it's like, READ IT. Whole chunks of it were things I've said or thought almost verbatim. I wrote a long review for this book, which I planned to submit to Blissfully Domestic, so I'll hold off on posting it until I learn how to write a query and see if they might want it. :\ Anyway, I think it was incredibly brave of Denise to publish this.

Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins
This YA novel about an American in Paris lived up to the massive hype. I finished it in one night! Anna and her friends are realistic and likable, and Etienne St. Clair is totally swoon-worthy. It's a fun, romantic, intelligent story not involving vampires or werewolves, or glorifying Ke$ha-like behavior. And the jabs at Anna's dad, who's an obvious stand-in for Nicholas Sparks, were hilarious. I loved it!

This World We Live In by Susan Beth Pfeffer
In this final book in the Moon trilogy, the teenage protagonists of the first two books meet. I was chomping at the bit to read this, but ended up disappointed and don't know why. Maybe the bleakness of the post-moon world finally got to me. Maybe I've lost all ability to buy into a love story between strangers. It wasn't bad, but it didn't thrill me. The first book is still miles ahead of its sequels.

Shelf Discovery: The Teen Classics We Never Stopped Reading, edited by Lizzie Skurnick
A collection of essays about classic children's and teen books. I enjoyed the chapters about books that I loved as a kid, and was made aware of many others that I missed!

Books for April: 6
2011 year to date: 28