First rule of slow readers book club...

Is to read slowly and relish every letter of it, but well, I'm sort of slow by nature so not only did I manage to string out my book for the months it was supposed to take, but also pulled the hat-trick of posting my review late. Did you read it? Did you like it? I enjoyed it, but honestly, not as much as I sort of thought I would. A huge fan of Jeannette Walls' first novel, the Glass Castle, and I think because of that my expectations were a bit high going into Half Broke Horses. While I found Walls' characters strong and often inspiring, I also thought her Grandmother to be a little too perfect. Can't say I hated it, was interesting, but knowing it was part fiction gave me permission to throw conjecture at the parts I thought she was exaggerating to put her grandma on a pedestal. That sounds terrible and believe me, if I was writing about my Grandmother I'd probably do very much the same but I'm glad it gave the disclosure about it being a NOVEL & not a biography.

But despite this rather dismal review, I have to share how much I loved the book club aspect in the read. As many of you already know, the book club idea that started early January snowballed into 500+ members and Diana of our.city.lights had the very clever idea of starting a forum, which can be found *HERE* to house all the ideas and discussions related to the club. Be sure to join today if you haven't already! The next book has already been chosen by member votes... Alice I Have Been by Melanie Benjamin:

The heartbreaking story of Alice Liddell from Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. Born into a Victorian family of privilege, free-spirited Alice catches the attention of family friend Charles Dodgson (aka Lewis Carroll) and serves as the muse for both his photography and writing. Their bond, however, is misunderstood by Alice's family, and though she is forced to sever their friendship, she is forever haunted by their connection as her life becomes something of a chain of heartbreaks. As an adult, Alice tries to escape her past, but it is only when she finally embraces it that she truly finds the happiness that eluded her. Focusing on three eras in Alice's life, Benjamin offers a finely wrought portrait of Alice that seamlessly blends fact with fiction.

Appealing don't you think? Still not sure what the deadline of the read is, but I'm guessing it'll probably be 2 months again? Also, on the non-est of non-sequitur's, I recently broke down and opened a facebook account. Do you have one? Care to be friends? Say yes... this is a link to my page. Hope you're having a very LOVELY Sunday!♥