Rainy Day Reads

I had high expectations of this one, because “All Quiet on the Western Front” by Erich Maria Remarque is my all time favorite book (along with “Pride and Prejudice” by Jane Austen) and this one promised something similar.   Once I got around to it though, it turned out to be a meticulous diary of trench life, but instead of the intense emotions and philosophical ponderings on life of Remarque this was a rundown of the technical workings of the trench. It was one long list of “then this person got shot in the head, then we built another shelter, then these two people got blown up, then we laid out some barbed wire, then this one was shot in nose and bled out, then it rained and stuff got muddy.” I wasn’t very far into it when I gave up, because even 50 pages of that was just too much. It was weirdly cold and unemotional and he listed deaths with the same punctuality as improvements on their shelters. I flipped through the rest of it and it seemed pretty much the same so I decid...

I wasn’t too thrilled by the sound of this book, but I actually ended up quite enjoying it.   This is the story about Delilah, a teenage girl who is having some trouble with her busy corporate mom. One night she climbs in her window after meeting a boy in the woods, only to find her mother waiting for her. Delilah’s estranged grandmother has died and the two must now travel to her lake house in order to take care of the funeral and sell the house. Delilah last saw her grandmother 8 years ago, having previously spent every summer with her grandparents at the lake house. But 8 years ago there was a big family fight and they left never to return. Until now. Being in the house agin prompts Delilah to go searching for the truth of what happened 8 years ago, but the people who know are reluctant to share.  I quite liked this book. It was a pretty fast read, and that might have been its biggest downfall. There is a lot going on in this book; rekindling old relationship...