Other Books

Most of the time, I don't blog about every book I read. I do post reviews for a couple of different publicity groups (Christian Fiction Blog Alliance, for one), so those books are mostly what I review here at Fresh-Brewed Writer. In fact, I actually used to post more book reviews over on another blog that I was hoping, eventually, to receive payment for. I went to post a few reviews tonight and discovered the blog is gone. Poof! Thank goodness for Google's cache, so I can save some of those reviews that would otherwise be lost to the ages.

So, I'm going to mention a couple of books I've read that were not for review, that I read for fun.

The first of these is by Kate Jacobs. I first heard of Kate Jacobs when I read somewhere that Julia Roberts bought the film rights to her first novel, Friday Night Knitting Club. I read that book last year on my way to my friend Roma's wedding. I liked it. So when I came across Comfort Food, her second novel, at my library, I checked it out.

Comfort Food is about a gal named Gus who is quite Martha-Stewart-esque, and yet infinitely more loveable. Her cooking show is being revamped and she gets an unwanted new costar. She slowly loses control of her life...in a good way, of course.

I enjoyed this novel quite a bit. I don't love it like I love Angry Housewives Eating Bon Bons, which is the gold standard for "group of girlfriends" women's fiction, but it was quite enjoyable nevertheless.

Another recent read was The Bronte Project by Jennifer Vandever. It started out great: a doctoral student is searching for the lost love letters of Charlotte Bronte, and loses research funding because of an up-and-coming new professor whose field of study is Princess Diana. While the novel begins by skewering academia (and having been at the bottom of the academic totem pole both as a grad student and as an adjunct instructor, I found these passages to be absolutely hilarious!), it gradually degenerates and the story gets more and more unbelievable and less humorous. I finished it because I cared about the main character (and let's face it, most of the time I stick things out to the bitter, bitter end because I'm stubborn!).

Now that the "other" blog is gone, you'll probably see more of these types of posts throughout the year. Hope you don't mind :)