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Showing posts from January, 2017

Book Review - "Commonwealth" by Ann Patchett

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Despite how inviting I find the cover of this book to be, I just couldn't get into this one. I saw it recommended several places, I think originally in People magazine. I believe it was one of Oprah's Book Club picks and I know I saw Reese Witherspoon post it on Instagram. From what I can tell, it included a couple of families, some cheating spouses, and a dad with cancer. It started out at a christening party which seemed to last for multiple chapters. It included a lot of characters with obscure names (which made them hard to remember) and flashbacks between when a kid was young and when a kid was grown (which, for me, made it difficult to know where I was at and when, as well as where the plot was going in general). I gave this one a try for about 75 pages and then moved on. Perhaps you would like it, though? I wonder where the title comes from, but didn't want to stick around to find out.

Book Review - "The White Princess" by Philippa Gregory

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Well, I did terrible in 2016 with my book reviews. I think I kind of forgot that I was planning on doing that. The last one I wrote was in May, but I promise I read quite a few books in 2016! Let's start 2017 off strong with the book I just finished! It's "The White Princess" by Philippa Gregory. Now don't be put off by the word princess in the book title. That word reminds me of something I would've begged my mom to buy me from the book fair in elementary school. This one is not a fairy tale; in fact, it's based off of true events. Historical fiction is one of my most favoritest book genres and many of Philippa Gregory's books are about English history and the monarchy. This one follows the story of Henry VII (Tudor), who married Elizabeth of York in 1486. Their union joined the two rival families who both had claims to the English throne. Unfortunately, their enire marriage was plagued by "pretenders"--relatives coming forward and