Unfortunately I didn’t manage to pick any really good books for March. The highest rating I put was 3. I hope things will get better in April!
Number of books: 4 (and 2 started)
Number of pages: 1,181
Reading List:
◦ The Matchmaker by Marita Conlon-McKenna ★★
◦ Stardust by Neil Gaiman ★★★
◦ The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway ★★★
◦ Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason (Bridget Jones #2) by Helen Fielding ★
◦ started: Lord of Chaos (The Wheel of Time #6) by Robert Jordan
◦ started: Interview with the Vampire (The Vampire Chronicles #1) by Anne Rice
I chose a few of the books to review below:
The Matchmaker by Marita Conlon-McKenna
With three bright, beautiful daughters who are still single Maggie decides that a little romantic matching is needed. However matchmaking is not as easy as it seems and Maggie’s quest to find the perfect partner for each of her reluctant daughters is proving difficult.
The story was too sugary sweet, too predictable, too perfect. The characters weren’t particularly complex and they all reminded of each other. Besides, it felt like the part of the book that wasn’t about the mother’s desperate matchmaking only concerned what they all were eating…
Rating: ★★
The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway
The old fisherman Santiago has gone fishing for 84 days in his small boat without catching a single fish. On the 85th day he travels much further than ever before – and now he gets lucky! He catches a 700 kilos marlin, much larger and heavier than his boat. It turns into a battle of life and death, as Santiago has to not only battle the fish, but also battle the merciless sea on his way home.
This is the book I liked the most out of the ones I read last month. It is one of Hemingway’s most admired books, and I can understand why. It is a quiet yet powerful story, much deeper than one could be led to believe at first, and it is filled with symbolism and very inspiring.
Rating: ★★★
Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason (Bridget Jones #2) by Helen Fielding
Bridget is back! But has she really found true love? Far from being out of the Singleton woods, Bridget finds herself lurching through a morass of self-help books and mad advice from best friends Jude and Shazzer, struggling with a boyfriend-nabbing ex-friend with thighs like a baby giraffe, and discovering te inadvisability of sending Christmas cards written after a little too much holiday cheef — to say nothing of her uncontrollable mother. And what about Inner Poise?
I was very disappointed with this book. I thought the first book about Bridget Jones was very fresh and witty, I liked the diary style and found that I could relate to Bridget at least sometimes. This second book goes on in the exact same style – which I expected – but it’s just too much. Bridget is too naive and confiding, her friends are slightly too stereotypical, and all the weird situations that Bridget keeps finding herself in are just too hysterical and far-fetched. Right after I finished reading this book I wasn’t sure whether or not to read the next part in the series, but I have decided to give it one chance.
Rating: ★