The Audacity of Hope

I have been wanting to read this book for a while and finally snagged a copy on paperbackswap.com.

It is interesting to read this as it was written before he even campaigned to be president. It usually takes me a while to get through non-fiction books and this was no exception. I loved the little excerpts about his upbringing and life now. I must admit I don't know a whole lot about politics so I had to re-read some sections a few times.

Overall, he comes across as an every day regular person. It is truly astonishing that he has risen so fast in the political world. I think his book, Dreams from my Father, is more my style as it is more autobiographical and less political.

One interesting tidbit that I didn't know is that the title of the book came from a sermon from Rev. Jeremiah Wright.

Pompeii

This work of historical fiction takes place in the 4 days before and several days after the eruption of Pompeii. It follows the story of an aqueduct engineer, Marcus Attilus, and how he uncovers problems in the aqueduct that is related to the pending eruption of Pompeii.

I must say, it started out slow to me but then I really got into it. It made me do some more research on the eruption of Pompeii and some aspects I did not know about. I had heard of the philospher Pliny but I did not know he had a connection to Pompeii. The action after the eruption is very intense. There is one element I didn't like with Marcus Attilus and a woman named Corelia but I can understand why it was there.

The Cuckoo Sister

Katie's older sister Emma was kidnapped as a baby. Fast forward, 13 years later and Rosie shows up at Katie's front door. Is she really Emma? She is so different than Katie had imagined Emma would be.This is the premise for this novel that makes you think what you would do in this situation. Difficult decisions, frustration and anger are main themes in this book.

The cover I have of this book makes Katie and Rosie look more like 15 and 17 rather than 11 and 13. This cover looks more appropiate to me.

Josie and Jack

This whole book had a dark, creepy feel to it. Josie and Jack are teenaged brother and sister, living in western Pennsylvania with their father, a college professor, frequently absent from their lives and he isn't really all there. They are home schooled with not much contact with the outside world but Jack has more contact than Josie. They eventually both run away and...well, I don't want to spoil the story of what happens next.

The book has a very V.C. Andrews feel to it, if you know what I mean. The story keeps moving and you keep wondering what's going to happen next and the climax is shocking.