February Reads

Another month comes to an end. I didn't think I would get too much reading done in February, but it must be those long cold winter nights are conducive to reading in bed. Here's the list for February:
Books-February 2011
1. Beachcombers by Nancy Thayer
2. The mysterious circus by Jane Langton (gender study)
3. The hunger games by Suzanne Collins
4. Nightmare at the bookfair by Dan Gutman
5. Lucy the good by Marianne Musgrove
6. Glorious by Bernice McFadden
7. Chicken Friend by Nicola Morgan (gender study)
8. Cactus Soup by Eric A. Kimmel (gender study)
9. Our kind of traitor by John le Carre
10. Walking into Murder by Joan Dahr Lambert
11. The hidden people of North Korea by Ralph Hassig and Kongdan Oh
12. My reading Life by Pat Conroy (audio book)
13. Wading into murder by Joan Dahr Lambert

1.Nancy Thayer writes women’s fiction. Her characters are almost all women and she writes from a woman’s perspective. I generally like her books, but don’t LOVE them.
2.This was one of the gender books I read this month, a medium length chapter book where the main character is male. The author had a balance of males and females to a certain extent, but it’s those walk-on roles that seem to trip up many authors. The policemen, for example: all male. Passersby, in this novel, some are female, but more are male. End verdict: 32 males, 22 females.
3.The hottest children’s novel series right now. They are currently making this into a movie that may be pretty scary if it follows the book closely. Well-written and compelling reading. I will read the next books in this series soon.
4.I read this on the recommendation of my fifth grade buddies. It is a pretty silly book. But, if it gets them reading, then it’s got something!
5.One of the new books I received this month about children with “issues.” In this case, Lucy seems to have ADHD. By the end, Lucy thinks of herself as good rather than bad, even though she has a hard time controlling her impulses. But, the author fails to address the fact that there are two bullies in the book and they are never really confronted as bullies. Lucy is the only one who has to adjust her behavior.
6.February’s book club choice. Read it, think about issues of race; and whether you are black or white, try to imagine the life and choices open to a black woman in the 1930s.
7.This one had a female main character and the final tally was 20 females, 19 males; just barely winning the count. At least the parents in this book do not following gender stereotypes. Becca, the main character, has a strong voice and learns important lessons through her mistakes. Wish it was that easy for all of us!
8.A picture book that retells the story of Stone Soup set in Mexico during the revolution. Dominated by males, not surprisingly, it is still a clever rendition of a favorite story!
9.I read this because John le Carre wrote The Constant Gardener and while I did not read this book, I loved the movie. I read all of Our Kind of Traitor, but I didn’t enjoy it. The story was too non-linear, had too many characters and none were that likable. le Carre won’t be on my list after this.
10.The first in a series of mystery novels set in England with an American protagonist. I like that the series is about a woman of a certain age who speaks her mind and races into danger with little thought. This was a inexpensive buy from Amazon for the Kindle.
11.While I prefer fiction to nonfiction, this book was definitely worth the time and effort to read it. The poor people of North Korea, literally and figuratively. I hope this terrorist regime will soon come to an end.
12.My top pick for the month. This is a regular book, but I listened to it on my ipod mostly while I was waiting for buses in February. There are a myriad of great quotes in this book. Conroy spends chapter after chapter discussing some of his favorite books and the people who influenced his reading life. What a great concept and great fun to read (listen to).
13.The second in the series by Lambert, the same main character, just a different mystery and set of bad guys. However, Laura has not learned anything from the dangers she faced in the first book. And she continues to get captured, knocked on the head and propositioned. Don’t know if I’ll go for the third or just let it go at two.