What are the last five books I finished reading?

Booking Through Thursday

1. What are the last five books that you finished reading? These are five books I remember finishing. They might be the last five. I'm really not sure.
   
   • A Million Little Pieces/My Friend Leonard by James Frey (3 1/2 stars)
     
   • God-Shaped Hole by Tiffanie Debartolo (1 star)
     
   • The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien (5 stars)
     
   • Guys Write for Guys Read edited by Jon Scieszka (5 stars)
     
   • The Girls by Lori Lansens (4 stars)
     
   
   
2. How long did it take you to read them? Sigh! If you read my profile, you will see that I'm really a hit and miss reader. I might read eight books in seven days or not read anything for months. I read A Million Little Pieces/My Friend Leonard (I'm counting them as one because it really is one long story) in November. I went through them very quickly, a few days each. For God-Shaped Hole, it was between Christmas and New Year's. That went quickly, also. In fact, the next two books did, too. The last one, The Girls, has taken about three weeks. I have been very busy and migraine-y but I just finished it an hour ago! So, apparently it took me seven months to complete five books. Now, I have started at least three books in-between but they are lying around unfinished for now. The pace has picked up since I've been cruising the blog world. There are so many good recommendations out there. It is making me book hungry.


3. Did you enjoy reading these books? Why or why not? I enjoyed all of them except for God-Shaped Hole. Blech! One of the reviews on the cover says it is 'This generation's Love Story.' I should have paid more attention to that review. Have you seen Love Story? For all it's popularity at the time, it sucks. The best thing about this book was that two of the characters are writers/journalers. It inspired me to renew my writing, hence I now have three blogs. Count 'em, one, two, three.
   
   I was disappointed after reading the Frey when the controversy erupted. I don't think he needed to be drawn and quartered but I remember thinking as I was reading 'Million,' "I wonder who is in charge of fact checking for something like this?" I guess the answer is, "No one." Having said that, it is a very powerful book. I might be a little biased because I've watched people with addictions screw up their lives. I would absolutely recommend it to someone.

The Things They Carried is so great. It has an emotional tie-in for me because my late uncle, who was a vet recommended it to me before he died. But the writing is excellent, the approach is great. And, interestingly enough, O'Brien has a lot to say about the difference between what really happened and what is true. I think it would be good for some of the Frey critics to read.

Guys Write for Guys Read is a collection of essays/drawings by male authors. It is part of a non-profit organization to get boys reading. The link is in my sidebar. Well, it is just so much fun and so insightful. Anyone could and should read it!

The Girls is good but I'm still digesting it and don't know how to express what I feel. It is about a set of conjoined twins in Canada (fiction.) Very interesting. Melancholy. Like I said, I need to sit with it longer before I can really discuss it.