Book Reviews

In keeping with my deployment goal of spending time doing something I enjoy, I've read a few books lately and wanted to give you my thoughts on them.

One Day by David Nicholls

I first heard about this book when I saw celebrity photos of Anne Hathaway filming the movie adaptation of this book.  I cannot resist reading a book that I know is being turned into a movie.  One Day is written where the author follows the two main characters, Emma and Dexter, for one day each year over a 20 year period.  In that one day you learn what has happened over the past year and where life has led the two friends.  I was really enjoying this book until I reached the end.  It was one of those books where you assume the author must have just been sick of writing it and slapped an ending on it just to be done.  I'm not so sure I would even waste my time going to see the movie because of the ending.  So I'm warning you now that the ending is a huge letdown, but the beginning and middle were pretty good.

Confessions of a Military Wife by Mollie Gross

My mother sent me this book as a gift after she saw the great ratings it had on amazon.com.  Mollie Gross' husband was an Officer in the Marine Corps.  She went through two deployments during his 4 years in the Corps.  She writes about her experiences as a military wife, and she writes it with humor.  This book was a refreshing change from the "woe is me" or "let's all hold hands" types of books that you typically find about military wife life.  Reading this book brought back so many memories from my first few years as a military wife.  I had forgotten about many experiences I had, and through reading this book I was able to look back and laugh at some of the things we had gone through.  I recommend this book as a fun read and as a look at military wife life through another's point of view.  I guarantee there will be something you can relate to in this book.

The Apothecary's Daughter by Julie Klassen

I had been wanting to read this book for a while, and then saw that it was temporarily a free kindle book.  I got it right away.  (Sorry, it's no longer free, but it is worth the price!)  I loved this historical fiction book.  Maybe I'm a sucker for the flirting and romance in these period pieces.  Lilly the main character is an Apothecary's daughter (hence the title) who just wants to get out of her hometown and explore the world.  She finds an opportunity to live in London with her Aunt and Uncle.  She is enjoying the social life and attempting to find a husband when she receives word that her father is ill.  She must return to her hometown and fears giving up the new life she just had a taste of.  Quite a bit of this book is focused around Lilly's dating life, but it was a fun read where you are hoping she'll choose the right gentleman.  If you are into books like this, then I highly recommend it.

Have you read any good books lately?