I feel like I’ve hit the BookMooch jackpot lately as several of the books I’ve had on my wishlist or radar came through. I’m still expecting another book soon but let me tell you which books I’ve received.

• Burning Bright by Tracy Chevalier. She’s been a bit hit or miss for me but we’ll see what I think of this one.
• I Wish Someone Were Waiting for Me Somewhere by Anna Gavalda. I thought her book Hunting & Gathering was quirky and fun so I’m curious to see what this will be like.
• One Corpse Too Many by Ellis Peters. Loved the first book in the series so must read more.
• Burglars Can’t Be Choosers by Lawrence Block. I believe Sandy recommended this series to me.
• A Plague On Both Your Houses by Susanna Gregory
• No One You Know by Michelle Richmond. I really enjoyed Year of Fog and Melody had a great review of this one recently so I think I’m in for a treat.
• Ferris Beach by Jill McCorkle. Danielle mentioned this book not too long ago and I just had to add it to my list.

I need to put up more books in my inventory there but I’ll probably wait until I do another weeding of the shelves to do that.

So how about you? Gotten any good bookmooch books lately?

As usual I’m behind on reviews and I’ve actually finished more than two books recently but here’s some thoughts on two of my recent reads.

I know I mentioned Hold Love Strong by Matthew Aaron Goodman before. It’s a story about a young boy whose mother had him when she was thirteen (yes, thirteen) and how he grows up in the projects. While the story was a bit grim at times, I found it very empowering really. Abraham is such a great character and is surrounded by love from his family, even when things aren’t going so well for them.

What I liked best was the prose, it was so descriptive. Here for example is how he describes one of the characters (one of my favorite characters actually): “He was the type of humble southern man who had come north to do two things: fight in Madison Square Garden and find his queen.”

So, if want a good story with strong characters then I recommend this one. Here’s my full review.

Now my next book, Barefoot by Elin Hilderbrand, is one of those books where I think I went in with the wrong expectations. I kept thinking it was going to be one of those settings where all the townspeople are charming, lots of cute scenes, warm and fuzzy feelings at the end but none of that happened.

Three women decide spend the summer in Nantucket to escape from their lives and problems. Being away is supposed to be a balm for the soul but when I finished the book I didn’t think the characters had changed much. If you see the reviews of her books though it sounds like a lot of people love ’em. So maybe I’ll try another one of these days but who knows. Anyway, here’s my full review.

So, off to continue with my current reads I mentioned yesterday.