Catching Up on my Books

Blogger was giving me troubles before Christmas so I put the updates on my book blog on hold (and fought it out with my personal blog to get some minor updates posted).  Now that it seems to be working fine again, I can finally catch up on my book review blogging.  The only problem is that I can't recall which order I read these books in!  So, I guess I'll just throw them out there with the thoughts I remember.
The Secret Daughter by Shilpi Somaya Gowpa was a well written story.  It follows the story of an adopted Indian girl, the family that adopts her and the family that gave her up.  Definitely emotional, and I was fascinated by the culture and that the timeline was current.  While I know many cultures still value male children over females, it's still somewhat shocking to read about that scenario in a
present-day story.
I also picked up The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown.  I have read a couple of Dan Brown's books and have been happy with them.  I didn't care for Angels and Demons though (and didn't finish it, to be honest), so I wasn't entirely sure about trying a third Robert Langdon book, but this was very good.  I enjoyed it as much as the Da Vinci Code.  Several times I found myself sitting up late at night just trying to find a place that wasn't gripping so I could put it down and go to bed.  Gripping and very interesting.  Excellent story telling, thrilling plot, exciting conclusion and fascinating topic.
The last of the three books i read in 2011 (though not necessarily in that order) was the Family Fang by Kevin Wilson.  This is the story of the two grown children of a pair of performance artists who stage events that send those around them into chaos.  The two kids, often referred to as Child A and Child B are (obviously) dysfunctional and the story centers around the two trying to figure out their parents' mysterious disappearance.  Each chapter ends with a description of event that the group has done in the past.  It was very very odd, but I entirely enjoyed it.
I attempted to read the Scottish Prisoner by Diana Gabaldon; the latest of the Lord John Grey books...but to be honest,  I lost interest and just don't care.  I want her to finish the Outlander series.  Then write more Lord John books, if she must, but let's finish one thing at a time.
This year on vacation I ripped through three books.
My reading started with a recommendation from a friend of mine; The Sex Lives of Cannibals I  by J. Maarten Troost.  Absolutely the funniest book I've read in a long time.  The story is based on a portion of the author's life in which he moves wit hhis girlfriend to Kiribati, a small atoll in the equatorial Pacific.  The culture shock (the locals love the Macarena), environmental shock ("did I mention it's hot?"), and societal shock are written in such a fantastically entertaining way, I repeatedly was reading out loud to Brad - without asking if he was actually interested in me reading to him, but he seemed entertained, so that's always a good sign, right?  Absolutely a recommend for me1
I moved on to the Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins.  In case you have been living under a rock with your fingers in your ears, humming to yourself, you have probably heard about the Hunger Games.  The trilogy takes place in a post apocalyptic country where the Capitol (read: evil dictatorship) punishes the people of the 12 Districts for their uprising 74 years ago by sending 24 teens to an arena once a year to fight to the death.  Pretty gruesome topic for teen literature, if you ask me.  I did enjoy the first one and read it in about a day.  The second book, Catching Fire follows the main characters as the districts start to revolt against the Capitol, and the third, Mockingjay, finishes off the revolution.  While it only took me a day to finish, I found book 2 to be fairly predictable and somewhat contrived.  The third book was just plain old boring for the first two thirds and took me just about a week to read.  The final third, however, became so utterly exciting though that I stayed up until 1 in the morning finishing it; literally huddled under the covers with a book light so that Brad, who was sleeping, wouldn't wake up, look at the clock and tell me to go to sleep (party pooper).  I found a lot of the imagery to be disturbing, though this could be because I have a pretty decent imagination.  I'm actually on the fence about whether i would recommend these books or not. I  think because they;re such an easy read, I would say yes.  Also, because the movies are coming out and I have a feeling that those who saw the first one without reading the book missed out on a lot of the subtler details and things that just couldn't be included.  But I suppose that's basically always the case with a book-to-movie transition.
Next on the list is another book by J. Maarten Troost, Getting Stoned with Savages.  VERY excited!!