Four Month Challenge

The Four-Month Challenge sponsored by Virginia Barbeau is ending September 30th. I've completed the first section for 5 points:

A Chick-Lit Book - "Queen of the Road: A True Tale of 47 States..." by Doreen Orion
Historical Fiction - "City of Dreams" by Beverly Swerling
Like the Cover - "The Magician's Nephew" by C. S. Lewis
Jean Plaidy - "Myself, My Enemy" by Jean Plaidy
Number in the Title - "Three Willows" by Ann Brashares

I read some of the books for the other sections, but this is the only one I have completed entirely. I really enjoyed this challenge because it exposed me to some books I might not have read otherwise. I especially liked the Jean Plaidy book and expect to read more of her in the future.

City of Dreams by Beverly Swerling

City of Dreams: A Novel of Nieuw Amsterdam and Early Manhattan by Beverly Swerling

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I read this book because I wanted to read an historical fiction and I've always liked American history. It was okay, but it had lots of sex and brutal killings and many vividly-detailed surgical procedures. The family it depicted was definitely woven in and out among the branches of its family tree. I did have a few favorite characters though: Roisin Campbell, Morgan Turner, and Andrew Turner. They were quite different from each other but true to themselves.

The Innocent Man by John Grisham

"The Innocent Man" is John Grisham's first nonfiction book. I have never read one of his fiction books, so I can't compare them to this one. It was a sad story...not teary-eyed sad, but pathetic sad that someone had to spend most of his life as a pawn in the justice system. The book held my interest all the way through. I liked that it was a true story. Even though some parts were repetitive, it didn't bore me. I really liked it. I wanted to find out what happened and I was sad but satisfied at the end. Some people have written that there wasn't enough suspense, but I don't think that that matters. It's real life and sometimes real life isn't suspenseful. Anyway, I would recommend this book to people who like CSI or the Mentalist or any of the other cop shows on television. It was very good, in my opinion.