The Art of Hearing Heartbeats....and a couple others...

  Well, once again I got derailed, and just fell off the blogging band-wagon. Now that this has become a pattern for me, I was able to trace the problem back to the roots. I feel like blogging about what I'm reading, when I'm reading something I really love. I don't like blogging about books I didn't care for. So when I read a couple duds consecutively, I give up my blog. That being said, here is what derailed me:

Sorry Potter fans, I did not care for this one at ALL. I'm not sure how it's possible to introduce a cast of like 20+ characters, and have all of them be so awful. Really, every single character was terrible. And I guess to J.K. writing a book for grownups just means all the characters have to be revolting, and throw in tons of profanity, drugs, and explicit sexual innuendo. Um, last time I checked, it was still o.k. to have a good plot/story line in adult fiction. Sheesh. 

I guess this would be a pretty good example of how I feel about profanity and sex in books, because some books need to be pretty raw, others, not so much. Which leads me to my next read:

The Perks of Being a Wallflower was a pretty graphic read, but I also felt like it was a pretty accurate portrayal of a high school existence. At first it seems like a pretty simple coming-of-age novel, but as the layers begin to peel away, it tackles some way deeper issues the characters are dealing with (domestic violence, coming out, child molestation). I would say read this one at your own risk. Its a tiny little book, but it took me awhile to finish it because I kept putting it down, but I kept going back, and finally made it through. I wouldn't say I'm recommending it....but...if you want to, go ahead. If that makes any sense at all. 

This one was a little gem, now I want to go buy it for my library. A beautiful story about the power and longevity of true love. A father disappears  and his grown daughter goes on a search to find him that uncovers a tale of his life she never fathomed. Has elements of Cutting for Stone and The Painted Veil, if you liked either of those, but it's a much sweeter story.

Also really loved this one. It's hard tale about slavery. It's not Roots or anything, but it was a good story.

I'm comfort reading these two right now, and they are like a warm cup of tea/cozy sweater/a hug...love my A. McCall Smith! 

And I'm waiting for a tidy list I have reserved at the library right now. How fast I blog about them will probably depend on how much I like them.