The Bride's Farewell & The Terror - Reading is FUN!

This month for our book club we read "The Bride's Farewell" by Meg Rosoff.

I really enjoyed this read, and it was much lighter than the last book we read (only 214 pages). It was a lovely story of struggle, loss, devotion, family, and finding your own kind of freedom.

I found this book on the BUST.com book review section (I really love some of the titles that they recommend). Click here to check them out!

Anyhew, back to the book! I'm sure we'll have a lot to discuss at our next meeting, which I'm really looking forward to. I loved the main character (Pell) - who rides off on her own to gain freedom from a marriage she did not want to be tied down to.

Her adventures and numerous problems along the way caused me to find both admiration and sympathy for Pell and her little brother Bean. Although she deserted the rest of her family to pursue her own selfish hope, she still is devoted to those she loves. Even when she finds a romantic love she's never experienced before, she does not let it distract her from righting her wrongs with her family.

I cried at the end when all of the lessons were learned (although this may have been partly invoked by the 2 glasses of wine I downed while reading the last 50 pages), and celebrated Pell and her strength throughout.

Who knows what book will be next??

I actually did start another book (before Bride's Farewell came in from the library) called "The Terror" by Dan Simmons. It's significantly longer than our book club book (I believe just over 900 pages), but it has sucked me in! I'm a sucker for historical fiction novels, and this book really throws you right into the story. It's based on Franklin's Lost Expedition for the Northwest passage, and all of the catastrophes that befall the crew: ships frozen on the ice, rotting food from not being canned properly, food running out quickly, coal & heat running out quickly, and a strange monster out on the ice terrorizing them..... Ugh - I'm LOVING it!

Kind of ironic that I'm reading a book about characters stuck in below-freezing temperatures while I'm melting from 80+ degrees weather in my apartment, but I love to contradict myself.

What are your summer reading books?