December Book It

Please hop over to the Life as Mom blog to see what everyone else is reading. I was able to get a lot of reading done over the Thanksgiving Holiday. Reading is my form of relaxation.

Border Songs by Jim Lynch took me a while to read. It is part of the Whatcom Reads Program. Whatcom Reads is a community wide reading and discussion program. This is the third year I have participated. Border Songs is about a Bird Watching Dyslexic Border Patrol Agent who is extremely gifted at finding and intercepting criminals and drug loads. The setting of the book is the county I live in and I thought the descriptions were spot on. I know quite a few Border Patrol Agents and I am not sure if they would agree with some of the characterizations of the Agents. Overall, I thought the book was OK. We are going to discuss this at book club. I am anxious to hear what the other ladies think as this topic of the border hits particularly close to home. I have lived on both the Southern (San Diego) and now the Northern Border. I much prefer living on the Northern Border rain and all. I think the book does a good job of addressing that the trade up here is not people so much as drugs. I don't think everyone who lives across the border is on the take. The book makes it seem like that is the case.

My favorite book this month was the book, The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary An Shaffer and Annie Barrows. This is a lovely book. The story is told entirely through letters and notes. I am usually not fond of this format but this is beautifully done. The setting is both London and Guernsey after WWII.

The Happiness Project by Gretchen. I enjoyed how Gretchen Rubin mapped out how she was going to meet her resolutions. Her step by step method impressed me. It reminded me how too often we make resolutions without any idea how to accomplish those goals. I also like how she cut herself slack when she didn't quite meet goals. There was loads of inspiration and inspirational quotes in the book. Here is a link to my friends blog where she also discusses the book. Gretchen has her own blog too.

Last but not least, I read Plain Perfect by Beth Wiseman. This is a bonnet novel a fictional account of Amish love story. It was OK. It just increases my fascination with the Amish.