So January was a resounding success in the realm of reading, though admittedly not so much in the realm of writing. February was pretty much a failure in both areas. In contrast to January’s eight books, in February I finished one book. Just one, which I had started in January. Oh, and I read three issues of National Geographic after they all arrived on the same day (apparently this happens when you renew a subscription after it has already expired).
The book I finished is The Fever
In the meantime, sorry for my absence and I’m sorry to all of you authors who are waiting for those promised reviews. They are coming!
by P.D. Eastman. We got this book as a baby shower gift before our oldest was born, so I’ve read it bunches of times over the past four and a half years and even heard it at a few library or bookstore story times. Basically, it’s the story of a baby bird who goes looking for his mother, as she wasn’t in the nest when he hatched because she was out getting food for him. He encounters other animals as well as cars, boats, etc., asking each, “Are you my mother?” before he reunites with his mother in the nest. I have to say that until this week, I was generally indifferent to it. I thought it was a good enough story, and fun to read every once in awhile, but it wasn’t one of my favorites. Actually, I think I had an annoying association in my mind from a Barnes and Noble story time I went to a few years ago – every time I read the book, I pictured the woman from the story time and heard the story in her voice. Annoying. Plus, I thought it was awkward to read with a lot of repetition and an irritating lack of contractions.
by Lindsay Marie Miller is part one of an adventure-romance trilogy set in 1899. Wealthy New Yorker Henry Rochester, fleeing his mother’s matchmaking efforts, boards a ship with a friend and thus embarks on what is supposed to be a one-year adventure sailing across the Atlantic. Instead, his ship sinks, killing everyone on board except for Henry. Improbably, Henry washes ashore on a deserted island inhabited by a young woman named Elaine, who washed ashore herself years prior after a similar shipwreck. Together they battle both the jungle’s natural dangers and human menace, facing wild animals, poisonous plants, extreme weather, and pirates. Inevitably, they fall in love and navigate their new relationship while trying to survive their circumstances.
Kristin Houlihan, Writer 