Kat with a K

July Books

See? I'm catching up...

On My Own Two Feet: A Modern Girl's Guide to Personal Finance by Manisha Thakor and Sharon Kedar
Genre: Personal finance
Pages: 191
Rating: 4.6
I've been wanting to become more educated and informed in regards to money matters, and a few friends recommended this book, so I thought I'd give it a try. It was great. It managed to explain things on a basic level without sounding patronizing, and it had a very good balance of information and advice. It covered a wide variety of topics, from budgeting to retirement savings to investing to getting out of debt to buying a house. I'm not going to necessarily follow all of their advice word for word, but it was definitely helpful. Based on this book, I was able to make a plan for how I will save to buy a new car in the next few years. I got this from the library, but I'm planning to buy a copy eventually so I will have it for future reference.

All I Want Is Everything by Cecily von Ziegesar
Genre: Young adult
Pages: 215
Rating: 3.6
This is the third in the Gossip Girl series, and there's not much to say that I didn't say in the review of the second one (under June books). The books are fun in an artifical sort of way, and I thought some of the characters were more annoying in this book than the last. I may read more; I may not.

I Heard That Song Before by Mary Higgins Clark
Genre: Mystery, psychological suspense
Pages: 318
Rating: 3.7

I read lots of Mary Higgins Clark in middle and high school, so I was curious to pick up one of her new ones and see what I thought now. I didn't like it as much as I had liked them then, but I'm not sure whether her books have gotten worse or my tastes have changed, or both. This was enjoyable, but I didn't think it was as thrilling or clever as I remember thinking her older books were, but that is likely because I've read so many more adult mysteries now than I had then. This one is about a librarian who marries a rich recluse whose family her father used to work for. He was a "person of interest" in the disappearance of a friend long ago and in the death of his first wife a few years ago, and these cases are reopened around the time of his new marriage. The main character, whose name I have apparently forgotten in the month since I read this, has to decide whether to trust her husband and how to protect herself, as the killer is almost certainly someone in her husband's family or employ. There were lots of twists and turns, some more interesting than others, and I kept thinking it was about to become Rebecca, but it never did, quite. It was enjoyable enough, and made me want to read some of the books I missed in the 8-10 years since I stopped reading Clark regularly.

Reread: Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince by J.K. Rowling
Genre: Young adult, fantasy
Pages: 672
Rating: 4.6
I had originally read this the day it was released, and realized that I didn't remember much of it, so I reread it to prepare for book seven. I thought it was very good, of course, but not quite as good as some of the other books in the series, as a lot of it was set-up for the finale.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J.K. Rowling
Genre: Young adult, fantasy
Pages: 759
Rating: 4.8
I don't want to give spoilers, just in case, but I thought this was the perfect end to this series. I read it in less than a day, of course, and it was actually a pretty emotional experience: a few of the deaths had me crying, and some others had me just stunned. I know the epilogue has been criticized by many, but it was probably my favorite part. In a few months, I'm planning to reread the whole series to see how various things in the seventh book were set up all the way through.