May Book Reviews

Wow! Can you believe it's June already?!?

  That means it's time for me to review the books I read during May.  

I look forward to getting a lot of summer reading done this month since I'm off work. 

My goal was to read 40 books with 10 of those being nonfiction and 5 being classics.

So far I've read 30 books. I’ve read 6 nonfiction and 0 classics. ( I know I've GOT to read some classics!)

  

I'm going to increase my goal to 50 total books.

 

The Dinner by Herman Koch

Book Description:

It's a summer's evening in Amsterdam, and two couples meet at a fashionable restaurant for dinner. Between mouthfuls of food and over the polite scrapings of cutlery, the conversation remains a gentle hum of polite discourse -- the banality of work, the triviality of the holidays. But behind the empty words, terrible things need to be said, and with every forced smile and every new course, the knives are being sharpened. Each couple has a fifteen-year-old son. The two boys are united by their accountability for a single horrific act; an act that has triggered a police investigation and shattered the comfortable, insulated worlds of their families. As the dinner reaches its culinary climax, the conversation finally touches on their children. As civility and friendship disintegrate, each couple show just how far they are prepared to go to protect those they love. Tautly written, incredibly gripping, and told by an unforgettable narrator, The Dinner promises to be the topic of countless dinner party debates. Skewering everything from parenting values to pretentious menus to political convictions, this novel reveals the dark side of genteel society and asks what each of us would do in the face of unimaginable tragedy.

Book description and image via Goodreads.

My Review:
I'm not sure what to think of this book. I read it in a day because it was one of those books that was hard to put down. I wanted to know what was going to happen next. It was also different from anything I've ever read before. The whole book takes place during one dinner. Of course, there are lots of flashbacks that give us history about the characters. We also get a lot of details about the narrator's thoughts- maybe too many details. I liked how the story was told as if the narrator was just talking to me. I wasn't crazy about the ending of the story, but overall I thought I liked the book. Then, I started reading other people's reviews and thoughts and started thinking that maybe I misunderstood the book. Also, the more I thought about it the less I liked it. I can't say too much without giving anything away, but I'm just not sure what to think. 

I give it 2.5 out of 5 stars. 

Until I Say Good-Bye by Susan Spencer-Wendel

Book Description:
Susan Spencer-Wendel’s Until I Say Good-Bye: My Year of Living with Joy is a moving and inspirational memoir by a woman who makes the most of her final days after discovering she has amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). After Spencer-Wendel, a celebrated journalist at the Palm Beach Post, learns of her diagnosis of ALS, more commonly known as Lou Gehrig’s disease, she embarks on several adventures, traveling toseveral countries and sharing special experiences with loved ones. One trip takes Spencer-Wendel and her fourteen-year-old daughter, Marina, to New York City’s Kleinfeld’s Bridal to shop for Marina’s future wedding dress—an occasion that Susan knows she will never see. Co-written with Bret Witter, Until I Say Good-Bye is Spencer-Wendel’s account of living a full life with humor, courage, and love, but also accepting death with grace and dignity. It’s a celebration of life, a look into the face of death, and the effort we must make to show the people that we love and care about how very much they mean to us.

Book description and image via Amazon.

My Review:
I first heard of this book by reading an article in People magazine. I knew I wanted to read this touching story. It lead me to ask myself (and my husband) the question- what would be worse for a family-to have someone die unexpectedly or to know they're going to die and they have to die slowly? Both are tragic and I can't imagine what this family is going through. I admire the author's courage to live life joyfully in the face of death. I loved her stories of truly living out her bucket list. This book was an encouragement  to me to make each day count. However, there were some philosophies and beliefs held by the author that I don't agree with, but that didn't stop me from enjoying the story. 

I give this book 3 out of 5 stars. 

The Shadow Children series by Margaret Peterson Haddix

Series Description:

The Shadow Children series is a series of seven books by Margaret Peterson Haddix about a dystopian country which suffers food shortages due to a drought and the effects of the government's totalitarian attempts to control resources as a way to solidify its power.The Population Police enforce the government's Population Law, killing or imprisoning "shadow children," any third, fourth, fifth, etc. child.

Series description via Wikipedia. Image via Amazon.

My Review:
I read the first book in this series, Among the Hidden, to my 4^th grade class. Then I was curious to see what happened in the next 6 books in the series; so, I read them myself. I definitely enjoy dystopian novels and this one was no exception. It is a book for tweens and teens and I think it would be a good one for parents to read with their older kids for a lot of great discussion. It has a lot of important themes including the value of all human life. I personally didn’t think it needed to be 7 books. I think some of the books could have been combined. It kind of dragged at times, but I don’t think kids will mind as much as I did.

I give the series 3 out of 5 stars.

What have you read this month? Have you read any of these books?