Ransom Riggs, Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children - This was a rare impulse buy at the bookstore, and more successful than many impulse buys. It's a story built around unusual old-time pictures, about a set of children with rare talents lost in a time-loop. It was an inventive and interesting story, well-told, and definitely a keeper.
Markus Zusak, The Book Thief - This was a book group selection. When I got about 150 pages in and realized I was still waiting for the book to start, that was a bad sign. I really couldn't get a handle on the characters and didn't care about them particularly. I understand why this rather unusual style of narrated storytelling, chopped up with emphatically bolded sentences and chatty asides from Death himself, caught the imaginations of many, but it went right past me and left me uninterested.
Ann Parker, Silver Lies - Another unfortunate failure. I couldn't get interested in the characters, the period flavor (it's a mystery set during the 19th century) was off, and overall I wasn't impressed by the writing.
Judith Warner, Perfect Madness: Motherhood in the Age of Anxiety - An unusual choice for me (it was a recommendation from a friend), but I found the book resonated with me strongly. I dislike the anxiety and the paranoia of modern motherhood, and I agreed with many of the book's points about the insanity of our lives spent devoted utterly to the raising of children, often to our own detriment. A wee bit dated, but still relevant.
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