march: 4, 5, 6, & 7

2014 started out as a slow year in books, but i picked up my pace this month!  in march i read:

me before you, by jojo moyes (thomas gave me this book for christmas, and i really liked it.  the basic premise is that a woman gets hired as the personal assistant for a young man who is a paraplegic.  it's one of those books where both of the main characters are changed by their interactions with one another, but the book is well written and not nearly as cheesy as i just made it sound.  it was a quick and interesting read and i'd recommend it!  would be perfect for spring break or a long weekend without work.)

what the dog saw, by malcolm gladwell (okay, so i listened to this audiobook in the car, but i'm counting it because this is my blog and you can't stop me.  people!  this book is awesome.  it's a bunch of essays that gladwell wrote for the new yorker over the years, so the topics are varied and all quite interesting and well-researched, as all of gladwell's stuff is.  my friend jenny LOVES audiobooks, but i haven't had great experiences with them in the past because i don't concentrate well enough on them (while driving) to follow plot lines in fiction books.  but!  turns out non-fiction is the perfect thing to listen to while driving.  i'm midway through another non-fiction audiobook, and loving it, too.  i think i have been converted.)

the maid's version, by daniel woodrell (mama bought this for me for christmas, and it was another great book this month.  the author wrote winter's bone (which became a pre-hunger games jennifer lawrence movie), and this too is a story about the ozark mountains.  his writing style is really different from most of what i read - sort of faulkner-esque, in that you don't exactly know what he's writing about for a while - but as the story came together it was fascinating.  i definitely want to re-read this book at some point, because i imagine the beginning of the story will be more meaningful now that i understand where it's going, but either way, this was a good read.)

the ocean at the end of the lane, by neil gaiman (womp womp.  it was my month to pick books for my book club - when it is "your" month, you pick 5 or so books and the rest of the members vote on which book to read, and this book won.  i had never read any neil gaiman before and, um, i didn't really like this.  i read on amazon.com that this book started out as a short story, and i think it should have stayed that way.  there some some magical realism - not my favorite - and the book just wasn't what i was expecting in general.  i read it, but i wouldn't necessary recommend this to anyone.  neil gaiman seems like a cool author if you are slightly nerdy, though, so i wanted to like this.  it just didn't happen.  sorry to let you down, book club.)