Thursday, December 07, 2006

A Heart Warming Read

I never thought I would finish a second book today. lol But it happened, this was a short book but it was wonderful. It is a perfect Christmas book and non-fiction too. :)

This was the perfect book to start out the Christmas season. It is a beautiful non-fiction story about a family who goes to New York to sell Christmas Trees every year. One year in particular, the oldest daughter Ellie wants to go see The Nutcracker Ballet at the Lincoln Center. Billy, the father, sees this as an extravagance and almost loses sight of what Christmas really means to him and his family.

I enjoyed the entire family. Ellie was 10 and was starting to grow up. Patti, is the mom, has a strong head on her shoulders. The middle boy Harry was trying to be like his big sister. And the youngest one boy is only 2 but he is sure a cutie pie. I loved seeing how they work together as a family.

Billy Romp has only written this book and the co-author Wanda Urbanska has written a couple of other non-fictions with her husband. I enjoyed the writing style and it was like I was there living it with the family. I would highly recommend it to anyone who needs a good warm comfort hug and to remember that life is something to cherish! A book to definitely read during the holidays!


Well I just started The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield. But my little boy wants my attention. :)

My Second book for December

I just finished this book The Emperor's Children by Claire Messud about a half hour ago. :) Here is my review of it and I try to be nice as you will read. :)

Marina Thwaite tries to get out from behind her father Murray’s shadow with writing a book. Danielle tries to find true love but has another miss. Julius keeps on looking for love as well but wants someone to really love him but that backfires in his face. Fredrick Tubb goes to see Marina his cousin and look for success with the help of her father. They all look for success in life and try their hardest. Are they able to accomplish it?

Claire Messud is a writer different than from any other writer I have read so far. She gives a lot of background and then when getting to the heart of the story it changes at the end. I was constantly confused and wasn’t ever sure I would ever find out the meaning of the title to the book. She can express her characters’ feelings well but those even seem to be all mixed up.

I never really felt like I got to know any of the characters except for Danielle and she wasn’t even the main character. Fredrick decides to rebel and writes an article that could cause a lot of problems for people. Murray Thwaite is way past his prime but people still seem to enjoy his work and he does quite a lot of speeches. Marina treasures her father too much in my opinion.
I try not to write bad reviews because the book isn’t so much bad as it just doesn’t resonate with me in any way. Books don’t have to be all finished up nice and neat but I don’t like a lot of questions in a book unless I know it is a series. There were too many questions that I had and nothing really felt satisfied to me. Now, if that is what the author Claire Messud was going for then she did an excellent job. I just personally didn’t care for how the characters were handled. It is not a book I would recommend but someone else may think different than me and enjoyed it. I would say give it a try but maybe give up sooner than I did with it.

I hope to start reading my first Christmas book called Christmas on Jane Street by Billy Romp. :)