Trips provide for great reading time!

The 100 Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared by Jonas Jonasson
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Between 3 and 3.5 stars.

And how do you say quirky in Swedish--knäppa. This book is so knäppa! I don't know how else to describe it. Interesting. Makes you consider, makes you wonder. Also, this is one amazing centenarian. Is it true? or is he senile? Read it for yourself and tell me what you think.

I would never have read it had it not been for book club.


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The Art of Crash Landing--Great airplane read, bad airplane title.

The Art of Crash Landing by Melissa DeCarlo
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

A very likable woman with a very real story. I thoroughly enjoyed this book. There were laugh out loud moments in this book and moments of heartbreak. That's a great book that can capture both ends of the spectrum so well. This book makes you analyze your past and why you do what you do now because of past mistakes--your own and your parents' mistakes.

The only downside to this book is that I couldn't quite keep all the past characters straight and by the end of the book I wasn't quite figure out who was related to whom. I felt like there was one too many past stories.

But overall, I recommend this book.


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2015 Book Challenge

BEA Book

Burn Girl by Mandy Mikulencak
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I'm sorry to those who gave this five stars because really? Really?  The story is fine and the writing is fluid and you care about the characters but this was FAR too predictable. How many times is Arlie going to do the same thing over and over--sneak out to confront the bad guy. And I never quite really got why Lloyd was after her--it was too weak.

So, if you're on an airplane or at the beach and need something to read, then this reads well--the story just was too weak.


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Sunday-go-to-potatoes (when you need to stretch your meal)

INGREDIENTS

Nutrition

SERVINGS 6-8UNITS US

• 2lbs  frozen cubed hash brown potatoes
• 16ounces  sour cream
• 1(10 3/4 ounce) can cream of chicken soup
• 2cups  cheddar cheese, shredded
• 1⁄2cup  onion, chopped
• 3⁄4teaspoon  salt
• 1⁄4teaspoon  pepper

DIRECTIONS

1. Mix all ingredients in large bowl.
2. Spray crock pot with non-stick cooking spray.
3. Turn ingredients into crock pot.
4. Cook on Low for 5 to 6 hours.

The Sound of Glass--2015 Challenge

The Sound of Glass by Karen   White
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I give this a B grade. I do like how this book has three stories entertwined--a story from the past and two current stories. This book was a good roundtrip airplane read. The writing flows well.

I don't like feeling like a story is TOO manipulated. I mean really, a suitcase falls in the garden of a family experiencing the same kind of family trauma as the person the suitcase belongs to? And the back story of Cal was just too funky.

But I liked the characters Merritt, Gibbes, Owen, and Loralee (I can't even remember her name as I write this).

Last point: by the end of the book though I felt like I didn't need to finish it because I knew the ending. And there are no surprises--it ends just as you suspect it will.


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