A Couple of Ho-Hum Books

Two books that I have recently read that I didn't find all that great: Beautiful Ruins by Jess Walter and Burnt Mountain by Anne Rivers Siddons.

Beautiful Ruins was read by one of my book groups.  None of us found it to be a great read.  Part of
what put us off was the connections to the characters with Richard Burton (the actor).  Just seemed a bit far-fetched.  There were a couple of interesting items in the book, such as figuring out who was really the father of one of the characters.  But then, even that turned out to be disappointing.

Burnt Mountain by Ms. Siddons turned out to be a big disappointment for me.  I am a fan of her books that I have read.  This book was not at all at the same level of writing (of course, just my opinion).  It actually started out pretty well with the main character,

Thayer, going to summer camp and falling in love.  Of course, summer ended and she never heard from her love again.  Several years later, Thayer met and married an older Irishman, a professor who taught Celtic literature.  When Thayer's beloved grandmother died, she left Thayer a charming home outside of Atlanta, near another summer camp.  And then the whole book took a deep dive and ended poorly. It felt as if the author was in a huge hurry to end the book and didn't take the time to go into what caused the events at the end.  Very confusing and disappointing.