The October's

Dates Read: October 2011

Over the last two weeks of October I read a four-book series called The Octobers. I heard about this brand new series on a blog that I follow. The series sounded interesting and they were inexpensive so Bobby and I decided to buy them for our Kindle (I read on my Kindle app and he'll read it on the Kindle).

Let me just tell you, the series was great! I guess you could say it's a mix between the Harry Potter and Hunger Games series, but I'm not sure if that's the best description. Basically, there is a town where it is always October (hence the series title) and all of the sudden kids start vanishing. All four books take place over the same time, approximately a month, but from different perspectives. Each story introduces a new part of the mystery and gives clues to the parts of the mysteries introduced in previous books.

The series is written for tweens, but I am not embarrassed to say that I loved it and highly recommend it! It was a great, quick, fun read and once I got into Book 1 (which didn't take long), I was hooked and couldn't put them down!

Mansfield Park

Dates Read: October 2011

This is another Austen novel that I downloaded on my Kindle App. I had never read it but had heard good things so I was intrigued.

The basics of the plot are the same as the plot lines of the other Austen novels, but this one had a lot of twists and turns. There were several lulls in the plot, but behind each lull was a nice plot twist. I think this book was longer than the other Austen novels I have recently read and at times I wasn't sure it was ever going to end, but it was still a relatively fast read. And I definitely was not sure what Austen was going to do until I read the final chapter. Good read!

Sense and Sensibility

Dates Read: September 2011

I downloaded the Austen novels on my Kindle and I enjoy her novels (or at least I do so far), so I figure I might as well read all of them.

I vaguely remember seeing the movie for this book, but I forgot some key scenes so I read this book very quickly as I was anxious to see the results of the twists and turns.  This was a great read! I had trouble putting this book down (as evidenced by the fact that I would read during my lunch break).

Persuasion and Lady Susan

Dates Read: September 2011

Last summer during my long road trip from NJ to Texas, I listened to these two books on tape. This year, when I downloaded the Jane Austen book set onto the Kindle, these two books came with it. Although I had already "read" them, I decided to read them again. I must have been paying more attention when listening to Lady Susan because I remembered the plot as I was reading, but with Persuasion, I was reading as if I'd never read it before.

Persuasion was similar to the other Austen novels (romance novel with twists and turns) while Lady Susan was quite different as it was written in the form of a series of letters and the main character was somewhat of a villain (but it was still a romance with twist and turns).  Very interesting reads (if you like Austen novels).

A Lion Among Men

Dates Read: July to August

This is the third book in the Wicked series.   The Wicked books are interesting, but are tough reads (at least they are for me).  The author likes to make up words, likes to twist the words that you know and give them a different meaning or different usage, and he just likes to create a fantasy world that involves tricky names.

With that said, I enjoyed Wicked (the first book) - not as much as the play, but I did enjoy the book - and I somewhat enjoyed Son of a Witch (the second book).  This book follows the life of the Lion (from the Wizard of Oz) and I had high hopes for it, but I had a lot of trouble getting into it and a lot of trouble finishing it.  Perhaps the language was harder to understand or perhaps it was because I was trying to read it while traveling and moving. Either way, I did not thoroughly enjoy the book and might take a long break before trying to read another one of the author's books.

Northanger Abbey

Dates Read: August 8 to August 24

This was my first book to read on my subway commutes and it was my first book to read on the Kindle. I downloaded it because I got five Jane Austen books for $2 and Elaine mentioned this one so I thought I would read it first. 

I wasn't so sure about the book in the beginning, but it didn't take too long to get hooked! The plot follows Catherine Morland through friendships and romance in true Jane Austen form.  If you like Jane Austen's novels, I definitely recommend this book!

Julie's Book Journey

Now that I will be riding the subway to work everyday, I am hoping that I will have more time to read for fun.  I have a horrible time remembering the plots of books I've read, so I'm planning on using this blog as a place for me to list the books I read, when I read them, a basic outline of the plot, and whether or not I enjoyed reading the book.  I am also very interested in suggestions you have about what I should read so please feel free to share!