The Help, Kathryn Stockett
The Shoemaker's Wife, Adriana Trigiani
The Boy Next Door, Meg Cabott
1/2 of The Emperor of All Maladies, Siddhartha Mukherjee
I was reading the Emperor of all Maladies when I left Boston so sadly I was unable to finish it, however the first half was fantastic and I will definitely read the rest once I am home.
The Help was also amazing. The writing was great, the story was enticing and interesting and I felt like I really knew the characters well. Highly suggest this book.
The Shoemaker's Wife was pretty good in the middle, but it started slow and I felt that the end was like the end of the last Harry Potter book, ie, fanfic. Although maybe I was just disappointed with the plot.
The Boy Next Door was a terrible chick flick book. It felt like it was written to be a screenplay. Unsurprisingly it was made into a movie in 2008 which has pretty mediocre reviews. Read only if you need something quick and fluffy/contentless.
I've been reading on an e-reader lately. Its nice to have so much versatility and to loan library books from Israel, but its frustrating to read in the sun because of glare, or when the battery runs out, or the glow when the light is low, or especially on Shabbat when I cannot read it at all. If I ever repeat a trip like the one I am on now (2 months away from home) I'd bring an e-reader again, but I'll never use them regularly.
