Book Reviews

Apple Turnover Murder by Joanne Fluke

Another mindless installment in the ridiculous life of cookie queen Hannah Swensen. Great fluff that requires no thinking on my part.

Firehouse by David Halberstam

The 40/35 firehouse in NYC sent 13 men in response to the World Trade Center terrorist attack on 9/11. This is a very topical story about the firehouse, about as much as I could handle. I prefer to avoid much in-depth reading of something so awful and overwhelming. Because it was such an overview though, it didn't make for great storytelling or paint a very vivid picture of the firemen.

The 5 Minute Face: The Quick & Easy Makeup Guide for Every Woman by Carmindy

Boring, nothing new. In fact, there were plenty of old things that I didn't think people did anymore, so there.

The Pioneer Woman Cooks: Recipes from an Accidental Country Girl by Ree Drummond

I guess I haven't read this book before. I'd looked at the amazon reviews, many of which panned the book for being a duplicate of what can already be found online, or for the nothing-special recipes. Although I'm quite familiar with PW's blog, I enjoyed reading through this recipe book and fondly "re-living"/remembering her experiences shared in the past. While there were a few new recipe additions, I also was reminded of other recipes I'd wanted to make in the past. It's a nice book to check out from the library.

The Victory Club by Robin Lee Hatcher

Nice light reading that was all but forgotten two weeks later.

Gingerbread Cookie Murder by Joanne Fluke

These are such mindless, predictable books, yet apparently I can't stop reading them. This is a mini-holiday story which follows the exact same formula as the other Hannah Swensen stories: New character is introduced, Hannah finds a dead body, she bakes cookies and shares recipes while illegally interfering in a police investigation, solves the crime unexpectedly, is threatened by the murderer, and saved at the last minute. The end.

The Good Daughter: A Memoir of My Mother's Hidden Life by Jasmin Darznik

This is the fascinating true story of the author's mother, Lili's, life as a young girl in Iran. Married at 13, she abandoned her first child and divorced at 14, and continued to pursue her education against all odds. The book reads like a novel and provides historical insight into the modernization of Iran and subsequent Revolution, along with detailed cultural elements . An excellent read, highly recommended. As this is easily the best book I've read in some time, I'm passing the book on to Holly.