Thank you for joining me here! (Reminder: the page numbers I list here reflect the number of Kindle pages, not paper pages.) I hope you enjoy this series and I’d love to hear from you about what you are reading these days.
Book #1:
The Wednesday Wars by Gary D. Schmidt (Length: 254 pages). This Newbery Award winner book (for 10-12 year old) is also very appropriate reading for adults who will appreciate excellent writing, laugh-out-loud funny scenes and a charming tale of a seventh grade boy living in 1967-68. From the Yankees, to the Vietnam War, and junior high school hijinks plus lots of Shakespeare, this novel is truly heartwarming and unforgettable. I will say this is one of the best “young adult” books I’ve read in years.
Book #2:
Little Secrets by Jennifer Hillier (Length: 338 pages). I LOVE this book. This thriller has strong character development (even if those characters are unlikable), the plot barrels forward and the central mystery is well-constructed. I gasped out loud at the twist, near the end of the book. I will say that there are triggers re: child kidnapping (from Pike Place Market) as well as some child abuse but I didn’t find either to be exploitative in the least. I hope you enjoy this one as much as I did!
Book #3:
The Millionaire Next Door by Thomas J. Stanley and William D. Danko (Length: 275 pages). As I mentioned last month, this particular book is one that my husband and I read together pre-marriage, in preparation for combining our finances. Since it has been over 18 years, I decided to take another look at this. This is the newest edition of the book, but the majority of it is the same as it was when it was originally written (ie, the statistics are from the 1990s and a bit outdated). I found it just as motivating to save, invest and not spend beyond our means as it was the first time I read it. The best part of this book are the anecdotes and stories about millionaires. True millionaires are the least-flashy people around because they don’t have to pretend to be wealthy . . . they just are. And if you lease, and don’t buy, a car (with very few exceptions), you’re wasting your money. 😉 This is absolutely a finance-type book that is worth reading.
Book #4:
Any Sunday by Debbie Macomber (Length: 250? pages). I’m trying to think if I’ve read a worse book in the last 10 years. No, I can’t think of any that would beat out this for pure drivel. I know Macomber is a very popular romance author, but I’m not sure how this particular book got published. I had this one on my bookshelf thanks to an awesome used book sale hosted by our public library a few years ago. There’s a reason it was 50 cents. 😉 This is a cheesy, formulaic romance with zero redeeming qualities. The protagonist is a helpless, overly insecure (with zero basis) female who protests that she’s entirely too independent to need or want a man. Yet, develops a very inappropriate (in my opinion) relationship with her doctor. The writing is stilted, and I literally groaned out loud while reading at some of the idiotic dialogue. While I do enjoy romance novels, I think I need to stick to those with way more depth from now on.
Lora Terrill 
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