Where The Red Fern Grows by Wilson Rawls

What is the book about? It’s about a boy and his two dogs, the things they go through together, hunting coons, making miracles happen, saving each others’ lives.

What did you like most about it? The fact that it’s about the love between two dogs and their human.

What did you like least about it? The fact that it made me cry. Well, ok, I don’t really hate it. I loved it too much to hate it.

Who would you recommend it to? Anyone who has a dog or who has ever had a dog. Anyone who loved “The Incredible Journey” and the movie “Homeward Bound”.

Any additional comments? I had the book for ages but never thought of reading it until I saw that the movie was going to play on TV next week. I thought I’d read the book first before watching the movie. I wonder if I’d like the movie as much.

The Last To Know by Melissa Hill

What is the book about? Oh, this one is so complicated I don’t even know how to explain it! Some people write a book and send it to Brooke, who is an editor, to let her know the truth about her background.

What did you like most about it? A very interesting story and exciting enough for me to want to read to the end to find out what happens.

What did you like least about it? The author is so full of gimmicks and deluded self-praise (you’ll understand why when you read the book) that I never want to read another one of her books again.

Who would you recommend it to? Anyone who likes stories in the vein of Jodi Picoult and has a higher tolerance level than me for gimmicks.

Any additional comments? The author is actually quite a talented writer if she would stop making it all about writing techniques and just tell the story. When you get to the end of this story, it’s so nonsensical that you just wonder, what was the point? I feel like she’s not using her writing to tell the story, but using the story to show off her writing.

Before I Forget by Melissa Hill

What is the book about? A freak accident causes Abby to lose her short-term memory, which of course causes a lot of problems for her. She wants to forget the man who left her before her accident, but can’t, and there’s a wonderful new man in her life, if only she can remember him.

What did you like most about it? It’s a fun and easy read, with a very interesting premise. It was exactly what I needed because I was still in a reading slump and couldn’t concentrate on heavier books.

What did you like least about it? The author is talented but often I feel like she’s trying too hard. She’s very gimmick-y, and you’re conscious of it the whole time.

Who would you recommend it to? People in need of a light beach romance.

Any additional comments? I found her gimmick-y writing very annoying and predictable after a while. I wouldn’t have read another one of her books except that I bought two on offer.

To make it easier on me, especially since it’s getting harder for me to come up with coherent reviews, I thought I should come up with a template of sorts for my book reviews. Sort of like a simple question and answer thing.

I’ve seen some people doing it before, so I guess it works, but I’m just wondering what questions I’ll be using. I’m considering just these:

What is the book about?

What did you like most about it?

What did you like least about it?

Who would you recommend it to?

Any additional comments?

I’ll try it for a while and see if it works.

I’m aware I’m still not back in the groove with blogging just yet. There’s been a lot of things I needed to catch up on, and I haven’t had the time to really think about blogging, but I do miss it so much.

I’m sorry I haven’t replied some of the comments either. I will as soon as I can think of better replies to them! =)

Well, this was just gonna be a quick note, so that’s about it. I’ll come back with more stuff and book reviews soon!

In the meantime, please bear with me. Thanks so much, my dearest readers!

Handle With Care by Jodi Picoult

As usual, Jodi Picoult comes up with a very interesting and controversial topic for a book. A mother whose child is born with osteogenesis imperfecta, or brittle bone disease, sues her doctor, who is also her best friend because the doctor failed to find out that her child had the disease until it was too late to abort.

The thing is, her child, Willow, was born five years ago, and even if she’d known ahead of time about the genetic disorder, she’d never have aborted the child. She’s suing because she wants to secure a better future for Willow, one where they won’t have to struggle to make ends meet paying for Willow’s surgeries and hospital bills because of her breaks and fractures.

I’m a big fan of Picoult, and I love most of her books. I love that she tackles controversial topics, and I love her writing style, which is so natural and engaging. However, I feel that Picoult is now being controversial for the sake of being controversial.

The subject matter of the book and most of the story is very interesting, but towards the end of the book, and especially with the verdict, a lot of things didn’t make sense. I couldn’t understand how the verdict could be what it was, with the testimonies presented. I felt like she ran out of things to say, and didn’t know how to continue with the story, as if the topic was a hypothetical one where she couldn’t find an answer to present to us.

Also, the ‘twist’ at the end of the book… I remember watching an interview of Picoult a while ago, where she says people expect twists in her books, because, hey, it’s Picoult, so in that particular book, there was a twist of a twist. The problem is, the ‘twist’ in this book was so unnecessary, and knowing that she did it for the sake of doing it made it really cheap. She calls it a twist. I call it jumping the shark.

It’s as if she feels her books can’t be good unless there are twists, but honestly, I think she’s an amazing writer and really doesn’t need to have twists in her books all the time! 

Well, I haven’t blogged since last Christmas eve!!! OMG, I’ve missed my blog so much, and more importantly, my reading!!

There’s a *really* good reason for my hiatus, though. =) My wedding was on January 31st 2010!! Yayyy!!! Congratulations to me! =)

So I’m not the most organized of people, though that’s changing, I hope, and one month before the wedding, there was a lot of last minute details we needed to finalize, but that’s normal. What wasn’t so great was that there were also some last minute changes, coz of cancellations and conflicts, etc.

I’ll spare you the details, but suffice to say, I was very stressed out and busy for the whole month before the wedding, to the point where I didn’t even have the mood or the concentration to read!!!!

Can you imagine? Me??! The girl who *always*, and I mean *always*, has a book in her hand and never goes anywhere without a book, and in fact, never goes a day without reading at least a couple of pages no matter how busy she is.

I went a whole *month and a half* without reading!!!!

I lost my mojo, and I felt totally lost without it. That’s how stressful my wedding was! I have *never* in my whole entire life, gone so long without reading! And it wasn’t even that I wanted to read but didn’t have the time to, I totally didn’t even feel like picking up a book! When I did, I read the same page 10 times before realizing that nothing was registering at all!

OMG, I’m so glad I’m only ever gonna have this one wedding! If I ever marry again, I’m gonna elope! =P

After the wedding, I was so out of whack that I still couldn’t read a book! It wasn’t until only five days ago that I finally got into a book!

Luckily, I had things to keep me busy because our friends from Canada came for our wedding, and right after the wedding, we became their tour guides for 10 days before they went back to Canada. And after they went home, it was Chinese New Year, so I had that to keep me busy too.

I’m so glad I finally got my reading groove back, but let me tell you, I’ve never felt so un-me in my whole life! Betty isn’t Betty if she doesn’t read. =(

Well, I’m finally Betty again, and I’m finally reading again, and I’m finally blogging again! I can’t wait to get back in the blogging groove! I’ve missed a lot!

But I’m so glad to be back! =)