What I read in March

I was going to write a post about International Children's Book Day, but that would require creativity and thoughtfulness...and since I just spent (another) 3 hours working on the kids's bedrooms, that might be beyond my abilities at this point. (I'm on spring break--code  for "get all the stuff done that I've ignored all winter....") Some of the links this month are to our local library site--if they don't work, google or amazon the titles...in honor of April Fools Day, Amazon is not functioning well.

Six books this month--

1.  American Sniper (Chris Kyle)--"Everyone" kept telling me I "had" to read this.  It was fine...Boots on the Ground by Dusk (Tillman) left me feeling much more empathy and patriotism (maybe because it was written by Pat Tillman's wife after he died). Sniper reminded me a lot more of Jarhead.  Both Sniper and Jarhead were interesting books, but I didn't close either at the end thinking, "that was great!".  I'm glad I read it, now I know what everyone is talking about, but it isn't going to make my "top 10 of 2015" list.
2.  Anne Frank:  The Book, The Life, The Afterlife (Francine Prose)--This was an interesting read.  I picked it up a while back from Amazon when it was free (it is 10.99 now!).  It's been a long time since I read the "real" Anne Frank book, this one analyzes it and gives some supplementary information.  Worth it if you can find it free again or at the library.
3.  The Grey Beginning (Barbara Michaels) This was my trash reading from spring break #1 (in Breck with the kids).  I've read it before (I don't think there are any Mertz/Michaels/Peters books that I haven't read....) but don't own it in paperback (I don't think) and haven't read it for years.  It was 99 cents on Amazon, so it was well worth it.  This is one of Michaels' books that I don't love the ending (it just, well, ends), but the characters are fun, the story is engaging...a little bubblegum reading, well worth the 99 cents...
4.  The Queen (Kiera Cass)-Actually a novella, so I don't know if it counts, but it finally came available through the library (electronic version).  It is a background novella, set when the Queen from the Selection books (see last month) was a teenager.  It had a lot of foreshadowing, I'm glad I didn't read it before I finished the "true" series  because I think there were also a lot of spoilers.
5.  Saint Odd (Dean Koontz)--The First Odd Thomas book was published in 2003 (I thought earlier...but that's what Wikipedia says) and I really liked it.  It was kind of in the style of Stephen King, but not as scary--some supernatural stuff, but entertaining characters who save the day and a (light) love story.  I'm pretty sure I read the 2nd and 3rd, and liked them, but not as much.  Then Koonz started making video trailers for the books (I know, that is what authors do now) and sending (almost daily) updated to my email (I was on his mailing list, waiting for the next book). The final straw was when the "next book" was a graphic novel not a real book...blah.  So I was stalking the "it's your lucky day" new book bookshelf at the library, hoping to find the new Kearsley book there, and ran across Saint Odd and though, "meh, I'll get it...probably will have no clue what's going on because I've missed at least two books...".  I actually enjoyed the book--it was not too hard to pick up and figure out what I'd missed (which doesn't say much for the missed books), but the book was a good ending to the series.  The ending was a little strange (I think leaving things open for more Odd Thomas or a spin off series) but a good read none the less.  I might go back and read the missing books...or not.  Start with book 1 of the series if you're going to read--Odd Thomas.
6.  A Desperate Fortune (Susanna Kearsley)-I've been on the waiting list at the library for months to get this one--It is a typical Kearsely book--has ties to her other books, especially Firebird, my favorite Kearsley book ever. Someday I'm going to read them all in a row and make charts of the connections. Instead of time travel this time though, there is a code breaker (who has Asbergers).  There are two stories, one set in the 1700's and one set today--there is a connection (because of the code).  Good story, I still like Firebird best though....maybe her next book will be a sequel to that!

In April I am going to reattempt "The Maze Runner" on the advice of my friend, T...she hasn't steered me wrong yet, so I'll give it another try...