Lissa's Book Reviews: Getting Started

So, about once a month I tell myself that I am going to "create a blog" about the books that I am reading but I never get around to it...because I just honestly don't think anyone will read it:) I'm not quite good with the Internet, Facebook is a little confusing to me, I am not used to all the @ signs used in twitter and I really do not understand hashtags. In the end, I always return to books. Books are a huge part of my life and have been since I read my first chapter book in the second grade, The Celery Stalks at Midnight, which I don't remember a thing about except that it was about a vampire bunny. I read constantly and usually two or three at a time.

So obviously I am off to a slow start, such is the life of a stay at home mom of small children, but I hope to get better. I have been reading, though, and contributing reviews to Goodreads and LibraryThing.

Currently Reading:

One Summer by Bill Bryson
Last Night at the Blue Angel by Rebecca Robert (Goodreads Giveaway)
My Life in Middlemarch by Rebecca Mead
The Johnstown Girls by Kathleen George (received through NetGalley)
We are Called to Rise by Laura McBride (received through NetGalley)

On Deck:

Partials: Book One in the Partial Sequence by Dan Wells

Great Expectations by Charles Dickens
Colonel Roosevelt by Edmund Morris

Recent Reviews:

Tune In: The Beatles: All These Years by Mark Lewiston
5 Stars

This is possibly one of the most enjoyable non-fiction books that I have ever read and I am trying to decide if it would only be so to huge Beatles fans, such as myself. I don't think so. Lewisohn has written a huge and highly detailed account of the Beatles rise to fame from their ancestors to the months before recording their first LP. There are first-hand accounts from their fans and friends as well as a lot of research into articles, interviews and performances. I was not bored once while reading this and it is a tremendous document of musical history, not just of the Beatles but of a changing tide in music and the industry. The only negative is that I have to wait so long for the next edition of the three part series.

Panic by Lauren Oliver
4 Stars

I am a fan of Lauren Oliver’s Young Adult fiction and have read Before I Fall and the Delirium series and enjoyed both immensely. In this book, graduating seniors from the small, back-roads town of Carp can choose to compete in a dangerous and high stakes games called Panic. In order to advance in the game, competitors have to complete increasingly risky stunts. The alternating narrative follows Heather and Dodge, two teenagers from the definite wrong side of the tracks with major family issues. The action from the game merged nicely with the emotional side of the narrative and there were nicely written romances. I tended to enjoy Heather’s chapters more and I think it would have been nice to have Heather’s best friend Bishop write the other narrative, but that may have been a bit cliché. I also would have like a little more meat to the ending.
Overall, this was very enjoyable and well written and I remain a fan of Lauren Oliver’s books. I was lucky enough to win this book in a Goodreads Firstreads Giveaway (one of my favorite wins so far:)