29

I was dating when I was 29 and I probably did go on 29 dates and if the Korean belief that bad things end in 9 is correct, but they need a could use a little more evidence, they can use my experiences!  29 Dates was a very sweet book.  I can recommend it very highly because of the way in which Melissa de la Cruz tackles the issues of cultural differences and just because she is such a good writer.  It was interesting to learn about the Korean matchmaking experience, too. 

It's not Minnesota but it's still

Brian Freeman and Brian Freeman is AWESOME!  And while I do LOVE Minnesota, and in fact, did not really love San Francisco and the Frost Easton books are set in San Francisco, as opposed to the Jonathan Stride books, by Mr. Freeman, I still LOVED the Frost Easton books! 

Twinkle, Twinkle, She's a Star

From Twinkle, with Love was super enjoyable!  While this doesn't take place in the summer, it is a great book to read if one is looking for a summer romance.  It's light, but not stupid.  Sandhya Menon also wrote When Dimple Met Rishi which I read last year when we were on vacation in Salt Lake City.  So almost a year ago!  Too bad there is a good chance I will have to wait another year for another book from Menon! 

More Birds

The Night Bird is the first in the  new Frost Easton series from oh that amazing Brian Freeman.  And even when he isn't writing about Minnesota, he can write, write, write a book that just sucks you in and in and in! 

When Harry Met Sally

was a movie and from the sound of it, I would have hated it.  I did love the book When Dimple Met Rishi, however.  I loved it very much.  It was just such a sweet, sweet story.

See!

I totally can give 5 stars to a book at least 1/2 written by a guy I don't like!   No one in You Know Me Well is fat. Okay, I don't know that for sure,  but I do know that it's a Levithan book and most of the characters are cool and so I doubt he would let any cool characters be "of size."
This one is written by Nina LaCour, who wrote The Disenchantments, which I loved.  And I love this book, too.  Just beautiful.  And I wonder if Levithan would like me now that my BMI is normal and I am not even overweight!  Great, great book, even if it is by a dude, for all of his insistence upon inclusion and acceptance, judges people by the pound.

Dead Dead Dead

this is just a great song.  School of the Dead was good.  And I could recommend it.  But it didn't WOW me like Seer of Shadows.  But that was a WOW book!  A REALLY WOW book!  It is hard to like the main character. Well, not hard to like him, but hard to really, really like him.  Hard to really like him.  Yeah, not even one "really."  But that doesn't mean I didn't want to find out what happens.  I was guessing until the end, just not really sure what was true and what was not true, so that was a good sign.  And personally, I felt great satisfaction with the way in which Uncle Charlie's character played out in the book.  I know some people might have a different opinion, but it made sense to me and it just seemed to make the whole book work together in a better way!

Are You Going

Are You Going to San Francisco has to be one of the best songs ever recorded.  I Survived the San Francisco Earthquake, 1906 was not one of the best I Survived books ever written, though.  But that's okay.  You can't hit a home run or even a double or a single every time up at bat, right?
Whoa!  Do you know what just happened that is interesting!
I googled  "Are You Going to San Francisco" to put in the link above and the add that played before the song was for gun vote. com, which I won't link to, or even put in link form because I am not a big gun fan!  So weird!  I wonder why that particular add is tied to that song?
This is the fifth book in the series.  The backstory just didn't do it for me, I guess I just wanted a little more.  I will keep reading them, though!

What was it...

I am just not sure what it was about this book that made me not like it very much.  Every time I don't like a book, I try to find a way to like it.  Chasing Secrets was just...rushed maybe?  Or maybe it was "this could be so good!" or "oh man it is so ALMOST there" that it is a bigger disappointment that it doesn't rise to that possibility and so I end up being harder on it than I would otherwise.

I mean, here is something totally new to me, anyway.  I had no idea about the plague being in San Francisco.  But I just couldn't get into as much as I should have.  The main character, Lizzie, is thirteen and the daughter of a doctor.  He is this super-peaceful dude who doesn't charge people who can't pay him.  Lizzie's mom is dead.  She has an other brother who is a bit of a rebel.  The family lives with her aunt and uncle who are part of high society, her uncle runs a newspaper, the rival of which is owned by Hearst.

There is a lot that is really good in this book.  For some reason, it just didn't move me all that much.  But I would still recommend it.  It probably was just me.  Maybe I just listened to it too quickly.

I mean there was a lot here, the whole idea of yellow journalism, the treatment of Chinese immigrants, classicism, women's rights, you name it, you know?  I just didn't it went deep enough on any one theme or issue.

Falling Behind....

I am very happy that I went with my gut and didn't change my goodreads goal before I achieved it!  If July is any indication, I don't know if I will be even making the goal I set back in January  What has happened!  I've been caring for my folks and crazy (good crazy) busy at work and by the time I get home from work, I've been too beat to keep my reading eyeballs open!  Very sad!
Fresh Off the Boat was a sweet, quick read though, that gave me insight into a different culture, which is always a good thing.  It reminded me a bit of the Year of... series, but it isn't a copycat or anything like that at all, it just talks about folks making their way in a new country and adjusting, like Lovetorn was. Vicenzia and her family are from the Philippines where they lived a life of pretty serious luxury.  Now they are struggling paycheck to paycheck in San Francisco.  V has romance troubles and friend troubles and family worries just like all kids, but she also has to deal with the culture of a new country.  Good read.

It's a Thin Line...

With Love and Haight I have read one more book this year (146) than I did in 2011 (145) though I have not yet reached my goodreads.com goal of 175.  Will I make it?  Who knows!  Good Reads is VERY encouraging!  It tells me that now I am 65 books, 37% ahead in my reading and it keeps telling me to increase my goal.  No way!  I want to complete one goal this year and so far that looks like it will be the only one that MIGHT happen!  So I will keep pushing along, trying to make 175.
In the meantime, I must say that Love and Haight was just what I needed.  I have read good books lately, but a few that were okay.  I needed one of those "suck you into the world of the book" books and this did it, even though it is historical fiction, set in 1971 in San Francisco.  1971 would have been the tail end of the hippie movement in Haight-Ashbury but the characters in Chloe's life are still living the hippie vibe.  Chloe has come from Arizona with her best friend, MJ, to have an abortion.  At the time, in California, abortions were legal with a doctor's permission.  LAH is the most thought-provoking and honest book I have read in a long time.  I admire Susan Carlton for her complex treatment of the subject.  I admire the way in which Chloe makes her decision, though it would not be my decision, and that part of that decision-making process is a return to her faith.  This is book real, honest and a great discussion-starter.