Numbers Challenge Wrap-Up

Wow. I need to do a better job of keeping track of my books and challenges. Especially of reviewing books right after I read them... and not say... 3 months later. Or so.

For example, I finished the Numbers Challenge quite awhile ago and really that calls for some sort of announcement or celebration, right? My first completed challenge!

My Selection:
1. Six of One by Rita Mae Brown (review here)
2. The Five People You Meet in Heaven by Mitch Albom (review here)
3. Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury (review here)
4. Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut (review here)
5. One Hundred Years of Solitute by Gabriel Garcia Marquez (review here)

Favorite: Probably Slaughterhouse-Five. I don't know why it took me so long to read it.

Least Favorite: The Five People You Meet in Heaven. I knew it was a bad idea, but sometimes peer pressure gets to the best of us.

Thanks to Callista for hosting a great challenge!

The Five People You Meet In Heaven

I knew it was a bad idea. But see, I'm doing this Numbers Challenge... and everyone else has read it. But really... I knew it was a bad idea.

So clearly, before picking up The Five People You Meet in Heaven by Mitch Albom I was biased. It just seemed so... Oprah's Book Club. You know, before she did the revamp and "discovered" Steinbeck. Plus, my horrible horrible roommate had it as a fixture on her desk in our dorm room. (Thank goodness those days are long over). This wasn't going to be a book I'd like.

But I had to try it because... 1. It was a national best seller / everyone's read it and 2. I did enjoy Tuesdays with Morrie.

Starting out I surprised myself. I didn't mind it. Lately there's been the circus/carnivale setting trend going around, I like it. (Water for Elephants, Carnivale, etc) I enjoyed hearing about the old time pier amusement park, all that. And I even started to wonder who Eddie would meet in heaven. But that's about it...

The second half of the book I had to force myself through. I actually set a time limit.

My complaints? ... I've been trying to figure that out. I think I felt like Albom was trying too hard. It was too sentimental? It didn't work for me. Sorry I can't be more eloquent.

Recommendation: If you are the one other person out there who hasn't read this book, skip it.