christianreader | 2017 January Books

Royal Wedding by Meg Cabot 3/5

I finally got around to reading the last Princess Diaries book! (It is the last, right?) It was cute and I liked it. Not as funny as the earlier books, but maybe that's because Mia is 25 now. No longer a teenager. The books are so much better than the movies. I love Julie Andrews and all, but Book-Grandmére is a much funnier character.

Here I Am by Jonathan Safran Foer 4/5

It's difficult to describe what this book is about. There are characters, and they do things, and things happen, but there isn't an overarching plot. I guess it's a character-driven novel? The characters are the Bloch family - Jacob and Julia, with their three boys: Sam, Max, and Benjy. They live in Washington, D.C. Jacob and Julia's marriage is rocky. They are planning Sam's bar mitzvah, even though Sam doesn't really want a bar mitzvah, and neither Jacob nor Julia feel particularly religious. But they are Jewish, and that's what you do when you're Jewish. Jacob's cousin from Israel comes to visit. While he's visiting, there is an earthquake in Israel. The book is about the characters, and their relationships. It's kind of sad, but beautiful. Jonathan Safran Foer is an excellent writer. I like character-driven novels when they're well-written.