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Here's the last 10 books I've read this summer, which brings my current total to 20 books read this summer. Nowheres near my goal of 100, but still not bad considering most people don't even read 1 book. I should be able to get up to about 25 before school starts on the 3rd.
1. A Man Named Dave by Dave Pelzer
2. The Other Half of Me by Emily Franklin
3. Babylon Revisited and Other Stories by F. Scott Fitzgerald
4. You Had Me at Goodbye by Tracey Bateman
5. PS, I Love You by Cecelia Ahern
6. Fine Things by Danielle Steel
7. Johnny Angel by Danielle Steel
8. Running with Scissors by Augusten Burroughs
9. Lightening by Danielle Steel
10. Dry by Augusten Burroughs
A Man Named Dave wasn't as good as A Child Called It or The Lost Boy, but it was ok. Kind of bland. I don't even remember most of it.
The Other Half of Me was a really interesting book. Very modern especially with the increasing popularity of in vitro fertilization. I bet within the next 20 years a lot of kids will be looking themselves up on donor regesteries to find siblings and stuff.
Some of the stories in Babylon Revisited and Other Stories were great and others were a bit boring. I love Fitzgerald's basic writing style though. He paints a very clear, vivid picture of what life was like during the 1920's, but he doesn't really make it seem like it happened ages ago. When you read his stories you become a part of them as if everything is happening around you.
You Had Me at Goodbye had a really cool message that if you trust in God he'll always show you the way. Even when it feels like things are falling through, they really aren't. Those things just weren't meant to be, but by trusting in God you will find what's meant to be. I could really relate to this story and I guess that's why I loved it so much. It was religious, but not overly preachy religious. The religion was kind of hidden in, like how it is in another one of my favorite books, The Penny.
PS, I Love You was one of my all time favorites books and probably my top book read this summer. I couldn't put it down! It was definitely a page turner. It was so sad and depressing, yet so cute and sweet. I cried a few times, but other times I smiled and laughed. It was such an amazing concept. If someone close to me is on the verge of dying I'd love them to leave me a set of letters with directions on how to live without them. It's an amazing idea. It may sound morbid, but it's really not. It's sad, cute, sweet, and thoughtful. I saw the movie after reading the book though and I was really disappointed. The movie cut out so much. The book is 1,000 times better.
Fine Things was pretty good. Everything by Danielle Steel is good. It didn't stand out as much as some of her books do, but it was still really good.
Johnny Angel was amazing. I tend to like the Danielle Steel books that have kids in them the most for some reason. This book had a similar theme to PS, I love You with the dead coming back to communicate with the living. It was well put together and sad, cute, and sweet like PS, I love You was. It was also another page turner. One of my top favorite books now.
Running with Scissors was freaking weird! But it was so weird it was good. Hard to explain. I'm not sure that I'll ever be able to believe that it was a real memoir. It just seems too weird. I'm not sure whether or not to feel sorry for the things that happened to him or not. A large part of me says "well, he liked being with the 30-some year old when he was 12. He knew it was weird but it didn't stop him." I know he couldn't help the fact that his mom gave him away to the crazy psychiatrist, but the whole thing with the pedophile was kind of his own fault. he never tried to escape it, he liked it. The book was just weird.
Lightening was a sad book, but it was pretty good. I HATED THE ENDING THOUGH!!!! Really really really hated it. I mean, come on. The girl's husband leaves her when she's deathly sick from chemo. He refuses to acknowledge that she has breast cancer. He yells at her for being sick on Thanksgiving and explaining her illness to their daughter...and in the end he claims to be this changed man so she takes him back? What kind of crap is that?
I think I enjoyed Dry better than Running with Scissors. It's kind of strange that I read a memoir about a recovering alcoholic though. haha. I don't drink and never intend to start. But the book was good. It shows how strong Augustus Burroughs was and how determined he was to quit drinking, but at the same time it shows how weak he was to not support his friend PigHead when he was dying. It was pretty neat to see how his friend's illness caused him to relapse, yet the memory of his friend and how his friend wouldn't want to drink helped him to altogether quit drinking. This memoir was much more belieavale than Running with Scissors was.
Now I'm already beginning to read book number 21...William Faulkner's The Sound and the Fury. It's by Faulkner and he's an amazing writer, so it should be good!