Dying to Cross

I was hopeful about this book as the topic is very interesting. BUT sadly, I was just bored. Yes, it is VERY tragic what happened to the people in the back of the truck. But the way it was written, I couldn't follow. There were way too many people and names and everything jumped all around. I couldn't keep straight who was who. Plus, I don't really see why this was made into a book. There wasn't that much to say about the incident honestly. It's a news story, not a book. Yes, it brings to light a lot of immigration policy issues, which is good. But I just don't think it was worth making into a book.

Marley and Me

I finally read this book. It was a great way to wrap up 2008. I really enjoyed it, though for some reason it took me longer than I thought. (I guess I kept getting distracted.) Grogan is a great author and just had a way with describing crazy old Marley that made me laugh. He was able to use just the right words. I loved it... as it seems most people did. I am curious to see the movie.

That wraps up my 2008 reading! I only read 29 books this year, which is slightly disappointing, but so it goes. I have six month to finish this goal!

Have You Found Her

This is one of the best books I have read in a while. I couldn't put it down. It's hard to believe it's all a very true story. Though it's ending is pretty bland, I can't say I didn't see it coming. You could see the enabling through out the book. BUT, that being said, there were so many twists and turns I didn't see coming. I kept wondering through out, though, why is she doing this? Why does she keep Sam in her life? I guess the title says it all, "Have you found her", maybe meaning, has she found herself? I don't know if I could have been as strong as Erlbaum. But the story was completely captivating none the less.

How I Learned English

This book was an interesting look into how one learns a language. (A second language). Working with ESL students on a daily basis, I was able to take a lot away from these stories and relate them back to my students. There were the common similarities; subtitles on TV or movies, reading everything in sight etc. I found it amusing that more than one author talked about National Geographic magazine. What's really funny is at my center, we have a whole shelf of these magazines and my students LOVE them. I just thought it was a funny thing, but now, after reading this book it seems this isn't such a strange thing after all.

Anyhow, this was an interesting read for anyone interested in language learning.

The Year of Magical Thinking

I am not sure I liked this book. I had a hard time relating to it. (Yes, I am young and have yet to experience any of the grief that the author obviously felt). The story was very sad, I admit, but that wasn't the part of the book that bothered me. I found the book quite pretentious. One thing that annoyed me was that she makes it quite clear that she and her husband are literary people who take literature seriously. If you haven't spent years in college didn’t study literature, you probably have no knowledge of these references. It was a bit tiresome. And these references would take her off onto stories of places she worked or lived for periods of time and sometimes I forgot what she began talking about in the first place.

Also, all of the medical references. She would go on for pages about all kinds of medical terminology that I just had to skip because I didn't understand a word of it. What was the point? I think maybe she was trying to justify how and why her husband died and what happened to Quintana. It was really actually boring to me.

Another thing was the incessant name-dropping. It was as if every single famous person they knew was mentioned in this book. But there was never a meaningful story to go along with it.. Its obvious she wanted to make sure everyone knew that she ran in a famous circle. It was really annoying.

My Sister's Keeper

This book was entertaining enough. (I at least finished this one!) I liked how the book rotated through different points of view for each character, though I don't think I really liked all the characters. The subject matter, though was fascinating. But somehow I don't see any hospital ever forcing anyone, even a minor to donate an organ, even if the parents were insisting on it.

I got annoyed with the whole romance between Campbell and Julia. It had really nothing to do with the major story line and it felt like wasted time reading through it. But with that said, it was a satisfying read. The ending wasn't actually a huge surprise. In a way, I thought it was kind of predictable.

The Zookeeper's Wife

So I am still having trouble with my choices lately. I tried really hard to get into this book. I couldn't finish it. There were too many unimportant details that I just couldn't get past. I had to skip the 4 pages about beetles! The whole premise of this book was interesting, but I also felt that it was a bit repetitive. It was also a bit dry for my taste. There wasn't much dialogue and there were too many characters coming and going and I couldn't keep track of them all. I had a hard time keeping track of the use of time in this book as well.

This book was set up interesting enough though. A fictional story based on a real life family who hid Jews in their zoo. The author obviously took a lot of time doing research about the family, the zoo and the time period.

I didn't finish this book. It was taking too much time and it wasn't keeping me interested enough to try and forge on.