January Book Review

Just a couple of books this month.  I need to get onto the library website and place some holds. 

First up was You've been Volunteered by Laurie Gelman.

I read the preceding book, Class Mom, in October.  This book picks up a couple of years after we left the characters in Class Mom.  The main character is back to being Class Mom and is also in charge of organizing the student crossing guards.  This is an easy read, I finished it one day!, and very entertaining.  I laughed out loud a few times and really enjoyed the writing.   I'm hoping Laurie writes more books with these characters. 

The second book I read was The Lake House by Kate Morton.

It took me a couple of chapters to get into the story but then I was hooked and could hardly put it down.  The story is about the disappearance of a young boy in the 1930s and then a police detective in modern day trying to solve this cold case.  I can't remember if I have read other books by this author but I am very interested in finding more by her.  Her writing style is exactly what I like, and that it's set in England is even better.  I thought I had the mystery of what happened to the boy solved many times, but it was not what I expected.  

I mentioned this final book last month when I started it.  I put it away during Christmas and didn't take it on our holiday.  It is Guns, Germs, and Steel by Jared Diamond.

I only have 100 pages left so I'll finish it up next week.  It has been a long read and reminds me of university reading.  But then I remember I'm not actually in university so if there are parts that aren't super interesting, i just skim through them, no exam to study for.  The book is basically about why certain civilizations developed at different rates than others and why when they met up why certain groups (often the Western Europeans) were able to conquer the other groups. It talks about a variety of factors such as animal and plant domestication, development of writing systems, geography and climate, innovations, and others.  It's a lot of information and I have learned a lot.  I am reading it because my boss gave everyone a copy and said we should read it, so as someone who follows instructions, I did as was suggested.  I have enjoyed speaking about it with my colleagues so it was worth it for that.