Sarah's Key

I officially am not very good at doing a monthly post about my bookclub reads. In my defense having a baby made my priorities a little different and I found it hard to have the extra time or desire to sit down and keep up with these posts but its about time I do.

Last night we met and discussed our March book. But I will first give reviews on the other books we've read.

In September we read Major Pettigrew's Last Stand by Helen Simonson. I originally didn't get this post done right after book club because I still had 2 or so chapters to read. Then I finished it, and 2 days later baby boy arrived. But this book was interesting. It was an odd story that didn't really go anywhere and wasn't exactly a page turner or anything, but you became invested in the characters and wanted to see where the story went. However I felt the ending was a bit rushed and awkward.
Rating 8/10

October our book was Bossypants by Tina Fey. Being that I had a newborn during this one, I listened to most of it. This was actually a fun book to listen to because it was narrated by Tina Fey herself and it was fun to hear the reflections in her voice and stuff. I honestly didn't love this book. It was my first biography and for me it was a jumbled mess. I liked the overall story of her life, but I felt like she jumped in time a lot, like would talk about teenage years, then snl, then back to early twenties, then talk about 30 rock but then come back to SNL stuff. It was as though she had all these thoughts and just couldn't organize them. However it was very funny at the same time!
Rating 6/10

November was The Persian Pickle Club by Sandra Dallas. I first have to say that I LOVED this book. It's a murder mystery book that takes place in the middle of nowhere in Kansas. This book was very well written and really captivates you and you really begin to love each of the characters and become invested in the story. Once I finally got around to actually reading it, it was a fast and easy read. I really recommend this one!
Rating 8/10

December/January was It Ain't all about the Cooking by Paula Deen. I've been a huge fan of Paula for years! I have all her magazines, and I actually bought her biography years ago, but had just not taken the time to actually sit down and read it. What I loved most about the book was how honest she was, to the point of telling us that she would let her bird just defecate all over her apartment, and then her apartment became infested with cockroaches, and they were even in her bed! EEK! This woman has risen above a lot of obstacles in her life to become such a success! I love her even more. In fact Adam  and I tried to get into her restaurant when we were in savannah last year but we didn't want to sand in line for hours. Hopefully we will get to when we go back next month!! My only complaints about the book was the last 2 chapters, they took forever to get through and I wasn't much a fan of all the stupid details she added. I know why she added them, because I'm sure she was asked the same questions over and over, but it just made for a painful end of the book. So because of the ending my overall satisfaction with the book went down.
Rating 8/10

For February we read The Memory Keeper's Daughter by Kim Edwards. For me this was a very interesting story but was also extremely frustrating when it came to the characters. This story is about a couple who in the 60's ended up having twins. The father is a doctor who delivers the twins and while his wife is under anesthesia he tells his nurse to take the daughter to a shelter because she was born with downs syndrome. The nurse tells him at first that she will do that, but then has second thoughts and takes the daughter and moves to another city and raises her as her own. The father tells the mother that the daughter died, and the mother suffers from alcoholism and depression for most of her life because of it. Both of these characters are extremely frustrating in how they handle things and it was almost at times annoying to read. You wanted to just reach in the book and strangle them! But at the same time it kept your interest and kept you wanting to know what was going to happen and if the mom was ever going to find out the truth about her daughter.
Rating 7/10

In March we read Sarah's Key by Tatiana De Rosnay. I absolutely LOVED this book. Not in the way that I loved the story but in the way that you just loved each main character and it kept your interest. Every time you thought you knew where the story would end, it would take another turn. It was extremely well written and a beautiful tale of the the WWII in France and the Vel D Hiv. The roundup of French Jews in WWII. It was heartbreaking, made you want to cry but also made you love many of the characters for their spirit and love. The story is told from the perspective of a child who was part of the round up during 1942 but then also about a woman who discovers the child's story in 2002. Just overall a great book! Highly recommend!!
Rating 9/10!

I am going to try and get better about these book reviews, but it seems like every time I try something gets in the way! Oh well. Enjoy reading!