The immediate thought upon beginning When She Woke was Margaret Atwood meets Nathaniel Hawthorne. Hannah Payne’s name even sounds like Hester Prynne. I don’t normally love futuristic novels. Exceptions are The Handmaids Tale and The Hunger Games series (embarrassing to admit, but true). I cruised through When She Woke while on vacation, neatly reading it in two days. I love lazy days by the pool reading – I wish I could make that into a career. But I digress. When She Woke was an enjoyable read. There were flaws, like Hannah’s ridiculous commitment to Reverend Dale, and a few not-fully-fleshed-out threads in the story, but overall, it was an intriguing storyline and a compelling read. I recommend it.

This was a total beach read. There was nothing to it and it took only about 3 hours to read. I had nothing in common with the main character, Franny, a mostly out-of-work waitress and actress wannabe. Not only did I not identify with her, but I barely wanted to find out what happened to her because she made such obviously bad choices over and over. Fortunately, I checked this one out of the library, so there was no regret that I had spent any money on it.

Americanah just won the National Book Critics Circle Award for Fiction. I hadn’t heard anything about the book prior to starting it, other than it was very long. I was totally into the book until I hit about 50%. Then it started dragging. I liked the characters and I enjoyed the story, but for me, it was too slow and too long. My kids kept asking me why I was still reading it and I had no answer other than, after investing so much time, I wanted to finish it. I will admit that the last 20% I just skimmed quickly through. I merely wanted to finish. While I found the book very informative — it taught me about the African in America’s experience — it was a bit repetitive and just too long.

I didn’t know what to expect when I started The Rosie Project, but I was hooked from the moment I started. Don Tillman, the protagonist, drove me nuts and was so painfully awkward, that it was often hard to take. And, yet, you wanted him to succeed and you had to find out if his hypothesis was true. What a fun read. I loved getting into Don’s head and was impressed with the realistic way Simon portrayed Aspbergers. This is a quick read and absolutely worth grabbing. You won’t regret it.

Wow. And an exhalation upon finishing this book. The House Girl was an incredible read, well worth hanging in at the beginning when it was WAY too slow. I almost gave up several times and then everything picked up and I could not stop reading. The intertwining of Lena and Josephine’s stories was powerful and perfect. I loved the research element and the way the past came together in the present. It left me wanting more – the ending was too abrupt. But, I can live with that because everything else about the middle and ending sections was so compelling. While there were parts of the book that bothered me, on the whole, I really enjoyed the story and would definitely recommend it.