I love book club and I love reading. I am currently in two book clubs and it is so good for me to have the social interaction away from kids with a purpose. I am not so good at the mingling thing so this fits me perfectly. Some of these books are from book club and some are ones I just choose myself. I can't help but pick up a couple books every week from the library. Even though I sometimes just have to return them unread. I don't have all day to read, you know. I also have a growing list of books to read not to mention all of the classics that I have never read. If you are looking for a new book to read here are the books I read in 2010. I wish that I could talk about these books in detail. There is so much to say. I think there is a good mix between fiction (16) and non-fiction (22). I really feel like I learned so much this year from reading all these books. So here are little book reviews / personal feelings and thoughts about the books. Hope you find something to read and maybe even join or start a book club. It is the best. I also tried to link up all the books to the goodreads page if you are interested.

A Tree Grows in Brooklyn

by Betty Smith

3 Stars: This was a good book that I would recommend. I loved the main character wanting to read all the books at her library from A to Z. It seemed to drag a little for me partly because of when I read it.

Girl with a Pearl Earring

by Tracy Chevalier

3 Stars: I really liked this book but there is immoral tension and fornication. I loved the background information because I have ancestors from Denmark. I also loved the artist talk. Who knew there were so many colors in painting something white? I looked up all the paintings by Vermeer mentioned in the book. Plus, there is a little science connection with Antoni van Leeuwenhoek and the camera obscura.

Book of a Thousand Days

by Shannon Hale

3 Stars: I liked this book too. Nice little fairy tale like story.

Infidel

by Ayaan Hirsi Ali

5 Stars: Wow, I thought that this book was so interesting. This Muslim girl from Somalia becoming part of Parliament in Denmark. It does talk about female mutilation (circumcision) and some abuse. But it isn't too graphic. I would love for somebody to read this so we could talk.

The Actor and the Housewife

by Shannon Hale

3 Stars: (A little spoiler in this review.) This book got me all worked up. I missed book club for this one but I heard that not everybody agreed with me about it. I felt like it was an inappropriate relationship that the housewife had with the actor. She would get all giddy about him calling or being with him. It made me feel all tense inside. At one point I felt like I just couldn't even finish it. Now don't get me wrong there is no fooling around. J and I thankfully feel about the same on this issue. Anyway, then the husband dies of cancer. Hale is so good at making you feel all this emotion about it. I mean I cried. I never do that. It was heart-wrenching. Really made me think about loosing my other half. How do you go on? OK this might sound morbid but we sometimes even joke about J dying and whether it would be a tragic death because his life insurance will double. Isn't all death tragic? I always hear women, women my age, say that they wouldn't get married again and I think that they are crazy. I would really want to get married again. I wouldn't want to go on with life for fifty years alone and I am capable of loving again and having more children. Anyway, it isn't that I want to marry somebody else or that I am not in-love with J, it is simply that life does move on. Things would work out in the eternities. So I won't completely spoil the book but I have to say that I am happy about the way that it ended. I would recommend this book but just don't get so worked up about it. I tend to get very engaged in books and movies, the character's lives, and I just care too much sometimes.

The Millionaire Next Door

by Thomas J. Stanley, William D. Danko

3 Stars: This book makes you shift your thinking about who is wealthy and who is pretending to be wealthy. I definitely want to make smart choices about my money. And of course teaching my children about money is important. I worked since I was young but I never really learned tricks to use my money wisely or to saving and investing. I have made mistakes but hopefully I am learning. I think everybody should read this because of the true principles it teaches. Not the most fun read though.

Glenn Beck's Common Sense: The Case against an Out-of-Control Government, Inspired by Thomas Paine

by Glenn Beck

3 Stars: I learned a lot in this book. At first I was a little overwhelmed with all the info being thrown at me and it seemed like just rhetoric. I mean get to the point. But there were some very good points. Government is too big and we need to take more personal responsibility. If you are into politics one way or the other, I would recommend this. And you aren't into politics but want to be an informed citizen, I would recommend it. And of course, Thomas Paine's Common Sense is an important work in our history so I would recommend it.

Mistaken Identity: Two Families, One Survivor, Unwavering Hope

by Don Van Ryn, Susie Van Ryn, Newell Cerak, Colleen Cerak, Whitney Cerak, Mark Tabb

2 Stars: It had some interesting parts. The people are true Christians who have faith and overtly express it all the time, which can be a little over the top, but also makes you think about your own faith and how you live it. I wasn't a fan of the writing style or organization of the book.

Celebration!: Ten Principles of More Joyous Living

by Jaroldeen Edwards

4 Stars: I really could do a whole post on this book. I took notes throughout the book. Although some parts come off too self-helpish for me, I really felt that she had very valid points. I have vowed to have more joy, love, and beauty in my life. Maybe I will do a post on this one later.

Blink

by Malcolm Gladwell

4 Stars: Snap judgments. So interesting. I think that I will be more careful in my thinking.

The Last Lecture

by Randy Pausch

4 Stars: I might have rated too high. But, I really liked it. I simply loved some of his lessons. What would I say in my last lecture? So cool too that he was a teacher. I love teachers stories that inspire. Yeah.

In the President's Secret Service: Behind the Scenes with Agents in the Line of Fire and the Presidents They Protect

by Ronald Kessler

2 Stars: Some interesting inside stories but too much whining about improper management. Although, it is valid insights into the running of the secret service I just wasn't that interested in that part of the book.

Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close

by Jonathan Safran Foer

3 Stars: I would have rated this higher except for all the sexual stuff. I loved loved the main character. He is so quirky, probably autistic or something. There are so many metaphors and beautifully images that I loved but it is a little oddly written. So different that it can make your head hurt unless you are open to it, go with it, and just enjoy the uniqueness. Lots of lessons: celebrate past but live in present or you are missing out on life, life is short, love- express it and live it, people grieve differently. I actually really liked this book. If you are open to different writing and are not too sensitive to the sexual stuff, I would recommend it even just for th love of the little boy whose name is escaping me.

Vanishing Acts

by Jodi Picoult

2 Stars: This book made me feel yucky in the end, so I maybe rated it too high. I thought that it was fast paced and I was connected to the characters who I cared about and wanted to keep reading to see what happened. But I didn't like all the stuff that happens in the prison and some of the overall themes even though these are real things people deal with in life I don't like it in my face. Thankfully, I have not experienced those things and don't need to have them in my brain. It did make me think about and consider our prison systems. It also gives you more sympathy for people who get caught up in gangs because it sure seems like that is their only option. But I don't like to believe that people don't have a choice so I don't know.

Love Letters of Great Men

by Ursula Doyle

2.5 Stars: I liked this book. It was a fun, fast read. I felt like it was fun to poke into these great men's love lives. Some of the letters made me laugh. Some were so sweet. I also learned a little history with the short biographies.

The Hiding Place

by Corrie ten Boom, John Sherrill, Elizabeth Sherrill

5 Stars: I loved this book. I have read many holocaust books but this is a favorite. I think that it is so positive and full of testimony. Miracles do happen. Be thankful for the fleas. Forgive. Do what is right even in the face of evil. I wish I could be like Corrie and her sister, but I don't want to go through that either. Can you have one without the other? I think, yes.

The Templars: History and Myth: From Solomon's Temple to the Freemasons

by Michael Haag

1 Star: Too long and boring for me. I can't believe that I even made myself finish. There were like five pages in 400 that were truly interesting. I did learn some things but it was just too much detail for me to enjoy.

The Last Samurai

by Helen DeWitt

4 Stars: Again a very different book. Kind of stream of conscience. Makes you think. Has nothing to do with Tom Cruise, bytheway.

The One Minute Manager

by Kenneth H. Blanchard

3.5 Stars. I am going to be a better manager of my home and family. I am going to use more positive reinforcement. Very short easy read. I feel like I should say "Duh" to all the lessons I revisited in this book. So plain but you have to be proactive.

Mandela's Way

by Richard Stengel, Nelson Mandela

3 Stars: Does it seem like I am reading a lot of self-help books? This one I really did pick up because I wanted to know more about Mandela and I thought that it would be a simple read. I didn't really want his biography. I turned out to be pretty good.

The Help

by Kathryn Stockett

5 Stars: I really loved this book. I would recommend it. Lovable characters. And even though you wanted to see great big changes in their lives at the end, all injustices remedied, I think that it isn't realistic to have more than what happened. The characters did change but not too much so that it felt fake. There was some tragic, some fun, some revenge, some humor, some unrealistic, and some historical fact. I didn't want it to end. I could say this about every book probably but it sure makes you want to be a better mother. Also, we are all influenced by our situation in life and I wonder if we were brought up in that time if we would have seen the error of life like we do here and now. Would we have been like the writer or like the other white women going along with things that we feel are so inappropriate. I also tend to think that people should get over their victimish ways blaming racism for everything, for goodness sakes there is a black man as president. Aren't we past all of that archaic racism? But reading this made me more sympathetic and also made me realize that it wasn't all that long ago. People alive today were there for lynchings and the like. That is just crazy.

Alas Babylon

by Pat Frank

4 Stars: Thought provoking. Even the though the cold war is "over" is makes you think about war. I love the question, "well, who won the war?" It also makes you think about your own preparedness, resourcefulness, and what kind of person you would be in a crisis. It makes you a little nervous about how things will play out in the end for real, I mean the real end of the world as we know it. It makes you think about what kinds of "normal" things you take for granted and consider the things you would hold on to and believe in: government, faith, people.

Brave New World

by Aldous Huxley

3 Stars: I liked it because of all the thinking it made me do. It was a great bookclub book. It was slightly disturbing. It made me appreciate all the human experiences that give life purpose. How could being a mother be immoral? What kind of conditioning have I experienced or an doing for my children. Hopefully, we I sing, "I always have a happy feeling when I go to church" conditions them. It made me appreciate even the lows of life because otherwise how would you know happiness. It made me think quite a bit about gospel principles. Very interesting, especially that it was written back in 1932. The most annoying thing is that it doesn't resolve. I think that sometimes these kinds of books can't but it is so unhappy to have everything fix itself and be made right in the end.

Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers

by Mary Roach

3 Stars: Seriously I want to write a book. How hard could it be to do some research and then write. I am really feeling inspired. The book was interesting, somewhat humorous. I think that she had some cheap not so humorous side remarks about genitals just because I think that she was trying to be funny. I think that I would totally donate my body to science but I would not want it worked on to discover better ways to do gender reassignment surgery. I think that would really be my only demand "No, don't do that to my body." I wonder if I could specifically donate it to BYU where I had my cadaver class. That would be cool.

Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet

by Jamie Ford

4 Stars: I really liked this book. It was very novelish. I think that it used writing techniques almost to a cliche but it was a nice story. I liked and believed the characters for the most part. And the background history was very interesting. I had to look up all about internment camps during WWII and the hotel and jazz and some specific people. I can't believe some of our history is real. What is an American? How can we resolve our immigration issues today? I would recommend it.

Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything

by Steven D. Levitt, Stephen J. Dubner

3 Stars: Interesting different perspective. Fascinating research and data. Some of the arguments I am not sure I like but again I have no way to refute what is said. Doesn't parenting make a big difference? Doesn't it seem just wrong that increasing abortion will decrease crime rates?

Life of Pi

by Yann Martel

3.5 Stars: (Spoiler alert) I am not sure spoiler is the right word, I mean you do see how it says "novel" right on the front cover. Well, Martel uses some pretty convincing literary devices to make you believe that at least it is based on truth. When in reality the entire thing except maybe a few zoo / survival facts are true. I thought that I was the only one gullible to fall for it but when I went to book club I found that I wasn't the only one. In fact, some of the girls had tried to look up the ship name online or other equally possible things. I actually felt a tinge of anger that I got swept up in the story believing it. Until they got to the magical island. That was just going a little too far for me but then in the end I just wanted it to be true so much that I was willing to let the island be a bizarre dream. It was frustrating debating with myself whether it could be true or not. Duh it says novel on the front. I looked up the author and book online just to find out that it was indeed fiction. Ha Ha. Laugh if you will. Anyway, it was well written. I loved pi, especially when he becomes a christian, a Buddhist, and Muslim. I love him acting like alpha tiger. I thought that it had some interesting philosophical elements. Maybe I am just not smart enough to understand what is really being said but I am not sure what exactly is the point. There were some dry parts but mostly I really liked reading this book and would recommend it.

The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind: Creating Currents of Electricity and Hope

by William Kamkwamba, Bryan Mealer

4 Stars: I love stories of success and triumph and happy endings. In this true story of a boy in Africa that is what you get, plus. I like that kind of book because it makes me feel good. It made me want to do more. It is based on the true story of William Kamkwamba and how he made a windmill. I loved the little bits and pieces of African culture that were introduced to me. And I learned how devastating the all too recent suffering of the people with famine. And I loved William. I loved how innovative he was and how unbreakable his spirit in the face of overwhelming challenge. I loved that he finally was able to reach his dream. And I wish I could be one of those investors/people that helped him meet his dream. This kid changed the world and he will continue to do more I am sure.

Chocolat

by Joanne Harris

3 Stars: I liked it. Temptation. Hypocrisy. Pleasure. Religion v. Magic. Death and choice. Prejudice. And chocolate.

Mockingjay (The Hunger Games #3)

by Suzanne Collins

3 Stars: I loved the first book but I think it went slightly downhill from there. I still really like this trilogy and would recommend it. I think that it is hard to live up to the first book. I am happy about the last page. Overall I spent most of the book worrying that it would just end horribly. I think that it is hard to come to a happy medium in books like this where the society is so doomed to resolve the book without over doing it. I am sure I am missing something in this book too. It just seems like the author is trying to say something. You know some kind of allegory about life, government, etc. But it isn't completely clear. Maybe it is simply government can get to big and powerful and people need a hero and other people just go about their business like nothing is wrong. Interesting.

Still Alice

by Lisa Genova

5 Stars: Heart wrenching. I almost didn't want to start it once I realized it was about Alzheimer's disease, but it was for book club so I started. Then I simply couldn't put it down. It was fast and I loved the characters. I ached for each of them. My grandma had Alzheimer's and I fear it. This book made me cry. It was written so well and you could just feel and know and understand everything. I really thought that this book could not possibly end well but it did. I feel like the family pulls together and there is more love. You all must read this book.

Three Feet from Gold

by Sharon Lechter, Greg Reid

1 Star: There was some good stuff in the book but the writing was annoying to me. I think that it would have been better to leave out all the crusade story and just say it. Maybe that wouldn't work well for a book but it all seemed too, too cheezy or something. The whole idea is to go with your passion and then you will be some ultra-superstar successful billionaire. I just can't believe that everybody's passion is equal to billionaire success.`Maybe that is pessimistic but really... Don't bother with this book you could learn so many of the same lessons better in a different book.

Ester and Ruzya: How My Grandmothers Survived Hitler's War and Stalin's Peace

by Masha Gessen

3 Stars: I wasn't a big fan of the writing in this book. I picked it up wanting to know more about Stalin's reign and background info through a story that moved along well. Not sure this was the best pick. Anyway, the two grandma's are lovable and had interesting lives and I love the little history lessons you get in the meantime.

Born to Run: A Hidden Tribe, Superathletes, and the Greatest Race the World Has Never Seen

by Christopher McDougall

4 Stars: Makes you want to run. I didn't even know that ultra-marathons existed. I thought that a marathon was an extraordinary accomplishment so to think that a human could run 100 miles in 14 hours is simply an unbelievable feat. Some of the athletes are god-like in their ability (not to be blasphemous) and I think that it is all true. Talk about inspiration. I mean I have the thought, "Hey, if they can do it then why not me." a lot. If the contestants on biggest loser can run a marathon then why not me, right. Not that it is anywhere in my near future but someday. And I certainly didn't believe that running barefoot was good, but I will admit now I am pretty convinced that super souped up shoes are not all they are cracked up to be. Some chapters I think were a drag but overall a very interesting, inspiring read. Oh, and there is way way way way too much swearing for my taste. Just unnecessary swearing to quote somebody. Maybe that should make it a three instead of a four. I wish somebody would read this book so we could talk.

The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat and Other Clinical Tales

by Oliver Sacks

2.5 Stars: Wow, the brain can do some crazy things. It is amazing how often our brains work the way they are suppose to work. I think that Sacks is very technical, and yet surprisingly compassionate. I liked this book but I just can't rank it on par with some of the other books. Very interesting though.

Longitude: The True Story of a Lone Genius Who Solved the Greatest Scientific Problem of his Time

by Dava Sobel

3 Stars: I really liked this book. Reminds you of all the discoveries that you just take for granted that were truly mysteries so some of the great minds. Also, I loved that an engineer solved the problem rather than the astronomers. I would recommend if you are into that science history stuff.

A Christmas Carol

by Charles Dickens

4 Stars: Finally, I read it after seeing about ten versions in movie form. It was very well written and short unlike all other Dickens novels. No wonder such a classic and really historically changed Christmas to how we see it today.

What Shamu Taught Me About Life, Love, and Marriage: Lessons for People from Animals and Their Trainers

by Amy Sutherland

3 Stars: My first impression of this book was, "How to manipulate your husband into doing the things you want him to do without nagging" basically I thought that it was degrading but at the same time could be useful. My SIL picked this book for our sister book club but I am not sure why. Maybe it was just because she loves Shamu or maybe she thought the rest of us could do a better job training our husbands. Ha. So are we humans so different than animals? Nope. Now, the author doesn't have children so she didn't use them in all of her examples but really I would love to be able to implement more animal training techniques into my parenting. One of the hardest things for me to wrap my mind around is ignoring bad behavior working better than punishing. What behavior can you ignore without children just running a muck. Tantrums, I say yes. Writing all over the walls, I don't think so. Using more positive reinforcement seems so obvious but catching your kids doing something good and not just moving on with life is work. One of the things that I think could be useful is to make a behavior plan. Meaning, pick one behavior to train into your kids and work the positive reinforcement like crazy until you can back off a little only doing it sporadically. Also it is important to realize that everything, everything teaches. So if you give tons of attention for tantrums or you give in after a few minutes you basically are training them to throw tantrums. Duh. I think just the consistency needed to do this perfectly is so so so hard. Overall, I ended up liking the book and I realized that it wasn't about the husband or the children so much as yourself. You have to have control of yourself in order to train properly. And we are told in the scriptures that we should "train" up our children. Parenting is so fun. Thrilling. Demanding. Worrisome. Wonderful. Joyful. If we can do it better, why not right. Plus, I find the whole work of animal training fascinating and scary. I wouldn't want to be a lion tamer I would take the children and husband any day.