August 2013 reading list...

So I'm slow on the monthly book write-ups...Here's what I read in August!
The Beach House  I was sure I'd read this before--this isn't the James Patterson one though, I guess that's what I read.  This one is about a widow who rents out rooms in her house so she doesn't have to give it up.  My church book club read it.  It was pretty good, worth the read.
Love Does This was the book selection for the Pastor's book club a long time ago, it finally came up in the "hold list" at the library.  Bob Goff is a pretty amazing guy...there are some stories in the book that I wasn't sure I believed, but upon research, it appears they are all true.  Great book, very inspiring.  He talks a lot about "doing" and "being" and "loving" in the world.
Orphan Train  Parade Magazine recommended this book a few months ago and it was pretty interesting.  Historical fiction, of course, as well as a bit of a mystery.  It follows a young orphaned girl from the eastern US to adulthood "in the west".
In the Paths of Righteousness, a Psalm 23 Mystery The author keeps threatening that she'll stop writing these...this one is number 6.  They are certainly not great literature, but certainly entertaining as we try to figure out what the Presbyterian Church secretary and the Rabbi who works next to are up to next.
Mother of Ten I read another book by this author earlier this summer.  It was free on Kindle, well worth the price...It was a nice memoir, good to read about what happened to this family before and after the other book.
Wednesdays at the Tower The long awaited sequel to, um, well, that other book by this author.  Written for upper elementary school students it follows the princes and princes and their adventures with a living castle.  Cute and entertaining.
The Witch of Blackbird Pond We listened to this in the car--it was one my favorites as a kid, but I honestly couldn't remember anything about it until it was in the library CD's.  It was just as good as I remembered, and the kids say they liked it, too.  A childhood classic about the Puritan era...does it get any better than this?

Now, here's where my reading anything anything with any literary value completely falls off the tracks...My friend M handed me a large paper sack with a series of books in it about 3 months ago.  I read page 1 of book one and said, "meh, not for me".  The series is about a group of teenage vampires who attend a special school.  So in mid August another friend said, "Have you read those yet? You HAVE to."  I said, "meh, okay, nothing else exciting is in my pile".  Well, once I got past page 25 or so, the books were like trashy romance crack.  I couldn't put the dumb things down.  During the last  couple weeks of August I read the first two book...I'll tell you about September in another post...Here's a link to the website for the series, if you have a hankering to read some terribly addicting books...
House of Night Series