September novel: Out of the Easy

It seems that our reading circle flat lined sometime late July, but as the trees start ti wither we intend to blossom, or at least get back on track. For September we intend to read Out of the Easy by Ruta Sepetys:

Title: Out of the Easy
Author: Ruta Sepetys
First published: 2013

From the publisher/book website:

It’s 1950, and as the French Quarter of New Orleans simmers with secrets, seventeen-year-old Josie Moraine is silently stirring a pot of her own. Known among locals as the daughter of a brothel prostitute, Josie wants more out of life than the Big Easy has to offer.

She devises a plan get out, but a mysterious death in the Quarter leaves Josie tangled in an investigation that will challenge her allegiance to her mother, her conscience, and Willie Woodley, the brusque madam on Conti Street. Josie is caught between the dream of an elite college and a clandestine underworld. New Orleans lures her in her quest for truth, dangling temptation at every turn, and escalating to the ultimate test.

With characters as captivating as those in her internationally bestselling novel Between Shades of Gray, Ruta Sepetys skillfully creates a rich story of secrets, lies, and the haunting reminder that decisions can shape our destiny

Why we chose this book:

We have both encountered talk about and reviews of this book online, on YouTube, Goodreads and blogs, and we've been intrigued. A book set in 1950s New Orleans, starring a seventeen-year-old, born of a prostitue, trying to get out and into a new life? Could be great.

What we expect from it:

Kiwie: I want to read this mostly because of the New Orleans setting, I have slight fascination with the city (or rather it's portrayal), but haven't really read anything about it lately which is why this is a book I've noticed and keep seeing and going "oh yeah I might read that" but not actually getting far enough to even stick it in my to-read list on Goodreads. Plus I'm guessing this is also a coming of age story, which I like.

Katastrofekat: As Kiwie already said, this book caught my attention because of it's setting. I have been fascinated with New Orleans since I read the first books in Anne Rices Vampire Chronicles when I was a teenager. Then I read Poppy Z. Brites vampire novels a few years ago and was reminded of how wonderful I found this setting. I hope this book has some excitement and some of that dreamy mood from Poppy Z. Brite. The description sounds very promising and I'm very excited going into this book

World War Z by Max Brooks

So, things didn't go quite as planned this month. I finished the book and completely forgot to write anything about it and then Kiwie didn't finish it. She might write about why, but she told me she bought the audiobook, like me, but she hadn't been in a mood to listen to any audiobook this month. So she will finish the book but she probably won't write about it here. I was planning to make up for that by writing a long review but that did not go as planned either. I have been feeling kind of rubbish lately and don't have much to say about the book, so this month you just get the short review from Goodreads. Just know that this is us being human and not the book being bad. I liked the book a lot, I just can't muster the will to write a lot about it at the moment. So, have a short review:

This is my favorite zombie-book. I loved the way the book is out together, how it really feels like you get to hear many different peoples stories. This book felt very real and it must have been a hard book to write, with so many points of view and so many people from differing countries. To research this book must have been a nightmare and I'm very impressed with the finished result. 

Also, this book was very fitting as an audiobook. It really made the oral history of the zombie war come alive.