Book Reviews: Lucky Breaks and The Middle Place

I think I'm going to start blogging my reviews of books I read. I don't know why I have the itch to do this. Perhaps I have the lofty notion that someone may actually be interested in what I think of a book ;) I know Melissa at Mommy Madness posts book reviews on her blog, and I think it's pretty cool. So here goes my stab at this, starting with the two most recent books I've finished:

Lucky Breaks by Susan Patron: This is actually a kid's book, geared towards the 8 - 12 year old set. Sometimes I like to read things my kids are reading; this one is Kevin's book, and it's the sequel to The Higher Power of Lucky, which he and I both read a couple years ago and really enjoyed. The story centers around, and is narrated by, a plucky, on-the-verge-of-11-year-old girl named Lucky who lives in a tiny desert town, and her adventures. I really enjoyed The Higher Power of Lucky (it was good enough to win a Newberry Medal); Lucky Breaks was cute, but not quite as good as its predecessor in my opinion. It tried just a little too hard, I think, to live up to the first one. Worth reading, though.

The Middle Place by Kelly Corrigan: Remember that basket of goodies my friend Lisa brought over a while back? This book was among the goodies. Lisa and I are in a book club together, so she knows how much I love to read. She also knows that my husband is currently battling cancer, so maybe that had something to do with her giving me this book as well. It's a memoir (my favorite genre, as of late) of a woman's battle with breast cancer . . . but also so much more. It's about cancer, and life, and family, and relationships. And I figured out while reading the book that the author and I are the exact same age, so a lot of her references to things as she was growing up - like Guess Jeans, using a curing iron on one's bangs to make them look like a hot dog, etc., had me cracking up with nostalgia. I finished this book in about a week That says a lot about how into it I was, as it's generally taking me about a month to finish an average book these days, what with my inability to stay awake if I'm sitting down. A really wonderful book.