Friday Finds

I can't remember if I posted about this before, but my book club is currently being featured on LitLovers! You can check it out here if you like. I really enjoy that site for all the "classes" it offers to readers on ways to improve our understanding of books. Let me know if you've tried any of them - I'd love to hear about it.

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You may have noticed this already, but I add LOTS of books to my TBR list each week. Maybe it has to do with the fact that I read 87 (mostly bookish) blogs every day ...

Here's what I've added since last Friday:

1. Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, by Jonathan Safran Foer - thanks to this review
2. Farewell to Manzanar, by J.W. and J.D. Houston - b/c I've always wanted to learn more about the Japanese interment camps in the US during WWII
3. The Time in Between, by David Bergen - this book has to do with a soldier missing during the Vietnam War, and since my dad fought in that war I try to read as much as I can about it
4. The i Tetralogy, by Mathias B. Freese - this is said to be a very disturbing Holocaust book, so I likely won't read it any time soon but it's still on my list
5. 1001 People Who Made America, and 1001 Events That Made America, by Alan Alexrod - good books to keep on hand for when you want to read a few tidbits of history (oh, and his last name reminds me of Eben Alexroot from The Poisonwood Bible!)
   
6. The Overachievers: The Secret Lives of Driven Kids, by Alexandra Robbins - just in case my son turns into an overachiever in high school (which I seriously doubt)
7. The Fortune Cookie Chronicles, by Jennifer 8. Lee - first off, who has the middle name 8?! Regardless, the book sounds fascinating!
8. The Passion of Artemisia, by Susan Vreeland - something about this review got me interested
9. My Brilliant Career, by Miles Franklin - according to Suzanne, this was mean to be the Jane Eyre of Australia but caused an uproar when it was published - how can I NOT read it after that?!
10. The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox, by Maggie O'Farrell - not my usual fare, but the review I read says it takes place in Scotland and India in modern day and the 1930s and the author is "gradually putting together the pieces until the full picture is revealed in all its shocking glory in the final pages." Sounds good to me!
11. Regina's Closet: Finding My Grandmother's Secret Journal, by Diana M. Raab - this reviewer says it's a true story and very interesting
12. Dear John, by Norma Betz - pre-Revolutionary War historical fiction/time travel/Abagail Adams ... what fun!
13. The Night Watch, by Sarah Waters - women living in WWII London during the bombings, etc. (just like my gram did)
    

No idea when I'll get around to actually READING any of these, but the are officially on my list!