Member Profile

Name : Denise K.
Gender : Female
Occupation : Retired

My Reviews

 
Inspiring, Dramatic, Informative
Unbroken

It was long, but interesting. I don't like torture at all, so the prison scenes were hard to read. He was quite a human being. Very well written.

Dark Places by Gillian Flynn
 
Dark, Dramatic, Interesting

Line by Line by Barbara Hacha
 
Book Club Recommended
Informative, Interesting, Adventurous
Line By Line, Barbara Hacha

I love reading about the Great Depression and there are not many fiction books about it. The difference between a hobo and bum, riding the train as a boy, the negative history of Henry Ford, and the Veteran's Bonus March was very informative. Definitely recommend this as an interesting read.

The Husband's Secret by Liane Moriarty
 
Book Club Recommended
Interesting, Dramatic, Addictive
My Husband's Secret by Lianne Morarity

You need to get through the first 3 chapters to know all the characters and eventually how they will connect with each other. After that you're hooked! Things are not always black or white, but a lot of shades of gray.

The Invention of Wings by Sue Monk Kidd
 
Book Club Recommended
Informative, Insightful, Inspiring
The Invention of Wings

Read 'The Author's Notes' before you start the book. We didn't realize it wasn't about a fictional character.
Amazing woman for her time and what a difference she might have made today?

The Life We Bury by Allen Eskens
 
Book Club Recommended
Dramatic, Addictive, Interesting
The Life We Bury

Great characters and a different story line.

 
Book Club Recommended
Slow, Interesting, Adventurous
The Cuckoo's Calling

Never read any of her Harry Potter books, but her vocabulary makes you look up words! The main character is a very different detective and the locale in London was different. A mystery is always fun to try to figure out early who-done-it, but this one was more difficult than most! We all look forward to reading the sequel "Silkworm".

 
Fun, Interesting, Adventurous
Where'd You Go, Bernadette, Maria Semple

Different format that made it difficult to know the characters or understand why certain events happened.

 
Informative, Interesting, Slow
Under the Wide and Starry Sky

Very long and laborious to get through, more like homework. Was interesting about the life and wife of Robert Louis Stevenson.

 
Book Club Recommended
Beautiful, Insightful, Dramatic
All the Light We Cannot See

One of the best books I've read in a while. Told a side of WWII that I hadn't thought about...how the children were affected: the Hitler Youth school, how communication with the radio was key during that war, how families and towns were altered forever, etc. Even though it was 545 pages, it was a fast read and I couldn't put it down!

 
Book Club Recommended
Fun, Interesting, Insightful
The Rosie Project

Very different for a basically romantic book. Very funny and informative about a man with Aspergers deciding he needed to find a wife. How he went about it was hilarious and also a bit sad and frustrating for him. The ending was appropriate and I'd definitely recommend this to other book clubs as being out of the normal book choice.

 
Book Club Recommended
Interesting, Adventurous, Informative
The Whip

Loosely based on a true life story, it was fast paced and a quick read which I couldn't put down. I recommended it to our book club and everyone loved it! Plus, we live in Northern California where most of the story took place in the late 1800's so the cities where she/he drove the stagecoach were familiar to us. Great read!!

Ordinary Grace by William Kent Krueger
 
Book Club Recommended
Insightful, Dramatic, Inspiring
Ordinary Grace

I really liked this book and they're making a movie of it!!
There were so many different layers to the story and the character developments were excellent to where you cared about them. So many different personal stories in a small town with young boys having to grow up faster than they should have done. Good read!

 
Book Club Recommended
Insightful, Interesting, Optimistic
The First Phone Call from Heaven

Very thought-provoking book and made you think about the afterlife, God, spirituality, and grieving. When you realize it is also a mystery then you try to figure it out. The invention of the telephone interwoven into the story was also informative. Our book club liked the premise.

 
Dark, Slow, Interesting
The Goldfinch

There are excellent scenes and lines in this novel, and I'm glad I read it as a Pulitzer Prize book, but in the end it reminded me of the antique shop the character Hobie runs in in the book:" many amazing, high-quality things half hidden beneath mounds of less interesting stuff!

When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi
 
Inspiring, Insightful, Informative
When Breath Becomes Air

This memoir is very medically clinical and a difficult read. Also, the age group of our club (mid 60's-70's) made the subject a bit too close to home as many of our friends and family have died of cancer.

What She Left Behind by Ellen Marie Wiseman
 
Book Club Recommended
Dramatic, Informative, Addictive
What She Left Behind

Enjoyed the 2 very different era's and how Women's Rights have changed since the 1920's. How we used to treat the mentally ill was criminal by today's standards!

 
Book Club Recommended
Adventurous, Interesting, Informative
Circling the Sun

Didn't know anything about Beryl Markham and had not read Out of Africa. She was a woman very ahead of her time before Women's Rights. She was a horse trainer, pilot and adventurous for a woman in 1920's Kenya. Well written and researched; based on a true story but read as fiction.

Secrets of a Charmed Life by Susan Meissner
 
Book Club Recommended
Informative, Interesting, Insightful
Secrets of a Charmed Life

I thought "no, not another WWII novel", but was so wrong! I never thought of the children in Europe during that war! Our club is in a Senior community and one of our members was 7 years old in Germany at the beginning of that war. Her memories were almost better than the book but so very informative and heartbreaking too!

The Wedding Dress by Rachel Hauck
 
Romantic, Interesting, Slow
The Wedding Dress

Written more for high school readers.

The Nightingale: A Novel by Kristin Hannah
 
Book Club Recommended
Dramatic, Informative, Inspiring
The Nightingale

This was a part of history that many of us in our club did not know about the WWII in France and how women were involved and the sacrifices they had to make.

 
Fun, Informative, Romantic
An Irish Country Doctor

This book is the first in a series of 11! I had a difficult time getting into the book or caring about the characters. There is some humor but didn't feel there was much substance for a book club to have a good open forum review.

 
Book Club Recommended
Informative, Interesting, Dramatic
The Last Days of Night

The beginning is very technical and read more like a non-fiction, but once you understood the characters I was finally involved enough to want to finish. Checking all the main men on Wikipedia was very interesting.

White Gardenia by Belinda Alexandra
 
Book Club Recommended
Informative, Interesting, Adventurous
White Gardenia

A lot of history in this book of which some of us knew nothing about so was very informative. Being in different locals during the story with more history made it more interesting. Most felt however that for a long book, it ended rather abruptly and a bit unsatisfying. But overall everyone enjoyed it.

 
Addictive, Dramatic, Adventurous
The Woman in Cabin 10

Initially main character not very likeable and blames things on her constant drinking/medications/anxiety problems and makes several serious errors in judgment.It is reminiscent of Girl on a Train but on a cruise yacht and less involved or interesting. Lot of narrative not needed.

 
Book Club Recommended
Dramatic, Addictive, Interesting
The Couple Next Door

I was hooked on this book after the first chapter and then couldn't put it down! I love a book that I'm thinking about what will happen next when I'm unable to read at that particular time. Usually I can figure out early who did what to whom, but this book had me wondering until towards the end...and then the ending was a shock!!

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