Freestyle Readers Club discussion
Soo...Watcha Readin?
I am reading Xenocide by Orson Scott Card.
I have just started reading The Painted House by John Grisham. It's not a legal story this time and I am pleasantly surprised. Enjoying the story so far.
I started to read "blink" which I think it's way too good!!! :d
Right now I'm reading Blindness and Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist. They're both great books.
I just finished Beat The Reaper by Josh Bazell. I would never have picked up this book if it wasn't the top of the January IndieNext list. But I'm glad I did. The best way I can come up to describe it is that it's an unholy but frequently hilarious combination of The Sopranos and Scrubs. It's interesting (and frightening on some levels) that it is written by medical resident, so there are endless insider jokes and footnotes (yes, footnotes) regarding hospital behind the scenes stuff (very funny but it will make you avoid hospitals for as long as possible, trust me!). The main character is a former Mob hitman who is in the witness protection program and finishing up his medical training. It's hard to decide if he's a good guy now, or if he was a bad guy then, or really just what he is. He's certainly a colorful character, to say the very least. His past and his present collide when he walks into a new patient's room and the guy recognizes him from the old days. Chaos ensues. There is a Tarantinoesque scene at the end which will send the sensitive running for the bathroom, so be warned. It reads quickly, though it requires a somewhat jaded eye to truly enjoy. Fans of Palahniuk will love it.
I just finished Miles From Nowhere by Nami Mun. This is the debut novel of Mun, and it isn't an easy one. At the age of 13, after her father left them for another woman and her mother went completely insane (she was already half-way there, but...), Joon decides that she would be better off on her own, on the streets. The book is basically 5 years of vignette's about the various situations she had fallen into. Most are not pretty, but Joon accepts them all without anger or much emotion at all--some of that is the drugs she's on, but most of it is the fact that she has never been valued in her entire life, so she doesn't expect it now. If anything, she becomes a collector of other people's stories, a witness to lives falling to ruin. The characters are always interesting, and the story is well told if rather muted.
I'm currently reading Stiff: The Curious Life of Human Cadavers by Mary Roach, Family Planning by Karan Mahajan, and The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield. I'm also about to begin Prodigal Summer by Barbara Kingsolver.
Hi! I'm Libby. I just joined today. I live in Indiana. I'm 37, married and have one son and 2 furbabies.
I am currently reading The Dead Room, Death Dealer and The Perfect Victim
I look forward to reading with you.
I am currently reading The Dead Room, Death Dealer and The Perfect Victim
I look forward to reading with you.
This week's reading:Shelter Me by Juliette Fay
Fay's debut novel takes us through the heartache, confusion, and ultimate renewal of a young widow's first year without her husband. A fluke bike accident leaves Janie widowed with a pre-schooler and an infant to care for in a world gone very dark to her eyes. Festering wounds grow worse when a contractor shows up at the house to build a porch contracted by her husband months before. But slowly Janie comes to see that help is there for her--her crazy aunt actually gets her involved in some good ideas, the young priest can offer more wisdom than she ever dreamed, her family continues to blossom and grow and carry her with them. And the chance at new love might just be waiting for her on that new porch. This isn't as simple a story as it sounds--Janie is bitter, not a paragon of gentle widowhood, there are complications aplenty from the many "good intentions" that crowd her life, and choices are not easily wrestled into order. Fan's of Lolly Winston and Anne Tyler should especially like this book.
The Mercy Papers by Robin Romm
This is a brutally honest book about living through the last few weeks of a terminally ill parent's life. Fierce love, fierce loneliness, self-centeredness, frustration, fury, exhaustion, bitterness, memories, too harsh realities--they are all here. Robin Romm is intensely brave and puts herself, and her family and friends, under the brightest of spotlights during one of the most difficult things a family can ever go through. It isn't pretty, but it is achingly true. There are no heroes in this book, only humans doing the best they can under the pressures that surround them. This isn't the kind of book you can "love" or "hate", but it is the kind of book you will be glad you read no matter what your feelings about it end up being.
I'm currently about half-way through Addition by Toni Jordan, and I'm having a hard time putting it down! There will be a review soon, I promise!
One more for the week: Addition by Toni Jordan. After reading a couple of books about people dealing with death, I was SOOOOOO ready for this light hearted, quirky story, and in fact nearly swallowed it whole on a lazy, cloudy Saturday. This is a story about Grace, who lives with a form of obsessive/compulsive disorder that demands that she count EVERYTHING and live by the rule of numbers. This can be rather demanding, as you can probably guess. But she is absolutely adorable, with an acerbic wit that made me giggle many, many times. This book is all about learning to embrace, and even flaunt, who you are, no matter what. It's a first novel by Australian author Jordan who is bound to set the chic-lit world on it's ear with this delicious down-under treat!
Currently reading First Daughter by Eric van Lustbader, just because I enjoyed his Ninja books, years and years ago. Have been disappointed by his books lately, especially his Bourne novels.Just finished Black Ops (Presidential Agent) by WEB Griffin - disappinting, but still liked it.
This weeks reading list:Irreplaceable by Stephen Lovely
This is a very intriguing novel about two families--one the family of an young organ donor in Iowa, the other of the recipient of one ofbthose organs in Chicago. Though typically donations are kept
confidential, an overheard conversation between doctors leads the curious and very grateful Janet, who received a very needed heart transplant to the names and addresses of her donor's husband, who wants nothing whatsoever to do with her, and mother, who embraces the chance to hold on to this last piece of her daughter. This is a very deep book, dealing with all sorts of tough things--the many forms of grief, the dynamics of organ donation on both the donors and the recipients and their families, dealing with chronic illness, the
nature of gratitude and responsibility, and much more. The common thread seems to be how we deal with choices--both the ones we make and the ones that others do. Lovely obviously poured a lot of research into this book and it rings true on every page. This book will really make you think.
The Spare Room by Helen Garner
Award winning writer Helen Garner returns to fiction after 15 years to write this short, intense and beautiful novel about friendship and dying. It seems intimately personal since the narrator is also named Helen, and the emotions are so raw and powerful. The premise--Helen agrees to let her friend stay with her for 3 weeks while she undergoes an alternative cancer therapy in Melbourne (where Helen lives). What she didn't know was just how very sick her friend is. Both women are in their 60s and on their own, and it becomes a struggle between needing help and asking for it, wanting to help but knowing what personal limits there are, and the boundaries of friendship and love. The issue of
truth comes up again and again--facing the truth of an illness, the realities of a moment, and the sum of a life. This is a quick read, but not an easy one.
Wow, Jackie, really deep reading! Your reviews are wonderful and I would think important. I don't know that I could read two in a row at such powerful books, but I definitely will be putting both of these on my want list! Thanks for posting!
Thanks Betty! And yes, I do seem to be on a run with the illness/death thing this January--I don't know if there is an unusual amount of those sorts of books coming out now or if that's just what's catching my eye these days. Even now, as I am reading a rather political novel, I keep waiting for someone to get sick and die, lol!
Jackie wrote: "Thanks Betty! And yes, I do seem to be on a run with the illness/death thing this January--I don't know if there is an unusual amount of those sorts of books coming out now or if that's just what'..."To be honest, I often find myself on a run of one topic. That's when I give myself a shake and search through my multitude of stored lighter reads. Right now I'm reading Tales of Beedle the Bard while I wait for each page to load!
I just finished Attachement by M.E. Jabbour. This book is set in the months surrounding the 2004 election. I felt bludgeoned by this book, to be perfectly honest. It is a series of manic political(mostly) and societal(to a lesser extent) rants very thinly pulled together by the whisper of a narrative about a writer in Oregon. Don't get me wrong--the arguments are actually quite well thought out and brilliant and I agreed with 95% or more of them, though they often were delivered in such a way as to court as much attention to the orator as they delivered the intention of the same. They were so aggressive and so rapid with so little buffer around them (and none IN them) that they were exhausting. The best was an imaginary trial the writer held for George W. Bush, alleging that he has an anti-social personality disorder and therefore should be disqualified for any sort of leadership role. The intelligence and ideas in this work shine brightly, but I really feel like they would be more appropriate to a political blog than a novel. Fans of vehement political discourse will appreciate this book.
Just finished a fantastic to-be-released medical thriller called Rupture by A. Scott Pearson that I think is going to be a real winner. Unfortunately I can't post a review yet, but hopefully it will be in stores soon.I'm now reading Echoes by Erin Grady, one of our GoodReads authors.
I got wind of a great new young adult series being written by one of my favorite authors, Kim Harrison. The first book, coming out in May, is called "Once Dead, Twice Shy". Here's the review I posted for it:Kim Harrison is the author of the very popular adult paranormal fiction series known as "The Hollows" (it starts with "Dead Witch Walking" and the most recent addition is "The Outlaw Demon Wails") She's trying her funny charm and fiendish imagination on the teenage crowd now, still dealing with what I at least would call paranormal beings--angels. It's a very complex world full of Time Keepers (humans who can bend time and control angels), Dark Reapers (angels who scythe humans when fate says it's their time) and Light Reapers (angels who try to prevent that fate from happening), Guardian Angels of various aptitudes, and more. Madison has learned all of this since she was scythed on the night of the junior prom, but there were some complications with all of that. The Dark Reaper went rogue and stole her body, but she managed to steal his amulet (a kind of power source) which has left her soul on Earth and given her the illusion of a body so that no one but the angels actually know she's dead. The whole book is a cat and mouse game of them trying to find each other and take back what was stolen from them. While I don't like it as much as all the vampires, witches and pixies that inhabit The Hollows, I think this is a fine start to a new series that should capture teen-age interest, let alone please Harrison's mighty legion of fans.
Sounds interesting. I'll keep that series in mind.
I was asked to read Sonata for Miriam by Linda Olsson because the publisher (Penguin) was looking for bookseller comments on the book. This could have been a dicey situation, but luckily this is a truly wonderful book. Here is the review I posted for it:The first thing you come to in this complex book is a quote from Symon Laks: "But words must be found, for besides words there is almost nothing." This thought is central to all of the story lines in this novel of memories, silence and history both shared and hidden.
On the same day that Adam Anker loses his only remaining family, a teenage daughter, he finds an obscure lead to his father that leads him on an amazing journey through post-war-torn Europe and it's survivors. Secrets long untold are slowly revealed and truths come to painful light that somehow complete the circle of who Adam is and what he is meant to do in this life. The idea that no true love is ever lost reoccurs over and over again.
Mostly told in Adam's voice, there is a brief section where the author says that one of the other characters just "had to be allowed to speak for herself... Nobody else could possibly tell her story." While jarring at first, this change in tone, and the glimpse into years of silence it offers us, is perhaps one of the most moving parts of this emotional book.
This book truly spotlights the value of words, especially stories of people, and their ability to bring us closer together and ease our pain. Full of loss, this is nevertheless one of the most hopeful books I've read in some time.
Yesterday I spent a lovely afternoon with Jane Hamilton's new book "Laura Rider's Masterpiece". Here's my review:Jane Hamilton, author of the emotionallywrenching "A Map of the World" and "The Book of Ruth", is trying her hand at humor this spring in this tale of two marriages and four profoundly disassociated people.
Laura and Charlie Rider are childless and the proprietors of a grand and successful plant nursery where Laura does the designs and Charlie does the hard work (including the quiet work of fixing Laura's designs). Laura is bold, bright, ambitious, completely self centered and just as completely uninterested in Charlie anymore. Charlie is an immature, simple, pleasant guy who prides himself mostly for being great in bed despite most of the town being convinced he's gay. They run the business together and make up stories about their 4 cats to give them something to talk about with each other.
Jenna Faroli is the town celebrity, hosting a syndicated radio talk show that brings in all the stars, hot authors and politicos. She is married to Frank who is a judge, Rhodes Scholar and budding amateur chef who is 15 years her senior and still in love with his college sweetheart who married his best friend. Jenna and Frank's marriage has been basically passionless since the complicated birth of their daughter 20-some years ago (an emotionally troubled and clingy young woman prone to multiple frantic calls to her mother every day). Their's is a marriage of intellects more than anything.
Things change when Charlie and Jenna meet by accident just about the time that Laura decides that she wants to write romance novels. Trying to figure out a plot, she begins to experiment on Charlie and Jenna, with Charlie's knowledge, establishing an email relationship between the two (that she partially ghost writes) until an actual affair begins. That's when things begin to get out of control for everybody.
This is a darkly hilarious novel that I would categorized as "suburban Machiavellian chic lit with a slight literary twist". It's also an extremely quick read--I knocked it out in a matter of a few hours. While it doesn't resonate like Hamilton's previous work, it's definitely worth the read for it's creativity and wicked humor.
The title of this next one is rather grim, but it's actually a wonderful book. The Household Guide to Dying by Debra Adelaide. Here's the review I've posted for it:Don't let the title fool you, or at least read the whole title, which continues "a novel about life". Because that's certainly what it is. The main character, Delia, is an advice columnist for domestic stuff, as well as a writer of several books based on a modern and cheeky interpretation of the 1861 classic "Mrs. Beeton's Book of Household Management". She also happens to be a mother with a loving husband, two young daughters, and end-stage cancer. She figures that her final book should be, in fact, how to manage a household dealing with death. She's flippant, upbeat, well read and extremely funny while dealing with enormous issues head-on (mostly) and unflinchingly. The book moves around in time a bit, back and forth between 17 year old Delia who was making her way in the world as an unwed teenage mother in a small town and the current organized, irreverent, dying-in-as-practical-way-as-she-can Delia. The scope and generosity of her story is difficult to pull away from--there are quiet insights throughout the book that sneak up on you in unexpected ways but hit you like a hammer. It's a charming and ultimately hopeful story that I sincerely gets a lot of attention--it deserves it.
Right now I'm reading Something Borrowed. So far I'm liking it. I think it's a decent book so far. When I finish that I think I'm gonna start Duma Key. Plus I have like 6 others that I've started over the last year and still haven't finished.
I got my goodie box of ARC's from Simon and Schuster today and immediately devoured "Secret Recipes For The Modern Wife" by Nava Atlas, which is coming out in April. It's short but side-splittingly funny. Here's the review I posted for it:This little book, done up in 1950's cookbook style, is hilarious. It includes recipes such as "Control Freak Cookies", "Bean and Weenies of Sexual Tension" and "Hypercritical Cinnamon Rolls" among many others, with instructions to let things marinate with lost dreams and repressed rage, or offers the option to spice with cinnamon or cyanide, cook's choice. There are a few happy recipes in there too (her editor made her add them), but this is truly just a giggle for those of us whose rose colored glasses got lost a long time ago, about the same time as our tired souls turned a deep shade of jade.
I also got some great news today--my review was picked for the number 1 pick on March's IndieNext list. It's for "Fool" by Christopher Moore. That's especially exciting because I made the Feb list as well with my review of "Dog On It" by Spencer Quinn. Sorry to toot my own horn, but I figure you guys will understand how psyched I am about all of that! And both are TERRIFIC books that I highly recommend.
I finished "The Help" by Kathryn Stockett last night. Wow, what a book! Southern fiction is not usually my genre of choice, but a co-worker really urged me to read it, and I'm glad he did. Here's the review I've posted for it:This book focuses on 3 women in the early 1960's in Jackson, Mississippi. Two of them are African American (or "negra" in one of the kinder terms of the time) housekeepers/nannies, and one is an awkward white woman, raised by a friend of theirs, who just can't accept the system as it is for ANY woman at the time. She's also trying to break into journalism and a New York editor challenges her to find a story that no one has done before. She chooses to write about her home town from "the help's" perspective, and begins the hard work of making these women even talk to her, let alone tell her their stories. And oh, what stories they have!
There is a wonderful contrast between the empty, vapid world inhabited by the white young women with their Junior League and country club activities and the gritty, hard-working, multi-layered lives of their domestics. These black women have tough lives in their own right, with children and husbands of their own to deal with, a community to hold together, and their own sanity to maintain as a person of color in the Deep South. But they are also privy to the ins and outs of their employer's lives--raising the white children, witnessing all sorts of machinations, knowing all sorts of secrets of these often falsely prim houses where things inside are nothing close to their glossy surfaces.
This is a fascinating book that tells soooooooooooo many stories through the eyes of 3 very memorable women. I know I stayed up reading long into the night because I just HAD to see what was going to happen next, had to know if they were going to be okay. Trust me, you all need to meet Skeeter, Minny and Aibileen--everyone needs friends like these.
Ok, I finished Something borrowed. So now I'm reading The Wedding by Nicholas Sparks. So far I'm enjoying this one also.
Right now I'm reading The Diving Bell and the Butterfly and Special Topics in Calamity Physics.
So Jennifer what did you think of "Something Borrowed"? I am almost finished and I just can't sympathize with Rachel, the big Dumbo!
Jackie wrote: "I finished "The Help" by Kathryn Stockett last night. Wow, what a book! Southern fiction is not usually my genre of choice, ..."Jackie, that sounds like a fantastic book! Thanks for posting your review here.
On a whim yesterday, I snatched up and basically inhaled "Six-Word Memoirs on Love and Heartbreak" edited by Smith Magazine. Simply amazing! Those little gems are really lingering in my head. Here's the review I posted for it:It took me maybe 30-40 minutes to read through this book, giggling a bit, wincing a bit, stopping for a brief moment to ponder the story behind the simple 6 words each author offered. The emotion--love, joy, pain, betrayal, boredom, frustration, confusion, devotion, and more--that can be conveyed in 6 words is astounding. I am in awe. This is a fascinating project of Smith Magazine's that I hope lives long--it's too interesting to give up on.
I, of course, had to come up with my own (though it seems like someone else MUST have said it, too):
"Thought I was smarter than this."
Connie wrote: "So Jennifer what did you think of "Something Borrowed"? I am almost finished and I just can't sympathize with Rachel, the big Dumbo!"I liked it. I didn't think that Racheal was justified in doing what she did. But on the other hand I think it would've happened to Darcy anyway. I was upset that she didn't just blow it off and forget about Dex. But overall I thought it was a good book.
The next one I don't know if I'll like, cause it's written from Darcy's perspective and I really didn't like her.
I just finished The Wedding by Nicholas Sparks. It was great. Then today I got my first ARC ever!!!!! I got Sag Harbor by Colson Whitehead. It looks like a pretty good book so I'm chomping at the bit to start it. Looks like I'll be up for a while tonight. LOL
Jackie if you liked that you might like the Post Secret books. There is a website too. It is an incredible project and some of the secrets are just crazy bad. I think there are at least 3 or maybe 4 books of them now. Love this.
KrisT wrote: "Jackie if you liked that you might like the Post Secret books. There is a website too. It is an incredible project and some of the secrets are just crazy bad. I think there are at least 3 or maybe ..."Thanks, I'll check it out.
This was a heavy reading week for me (lots of review deadlines as well as weather cold enough to keep me curled up with a book).I read "The Leisure Seeker" by Michael Zadoorian, and LOVED it. I've even dug up his other
book, "Second Hand", from my to-be-read purgatory pile because I loved the rhythm of his story telling so much. Anyway, here's the review I posted for Leisure Seeker:
Instead of riding out the last of their lives in doctors' offices and nursing homes, this octogenarian couple decide to take one last trip in their trusty RV down what is left of Route 66 (sneaking away from their very worried children to do so). This book is a meditation on growing old and facing death--sometimes hilarious, sometimes heartbreaking, but always ringing with a clear and intelligent voice. She's got end stage cancer, he's got Alzheimer's, but what's important is that they both still have each other for one last hurrah. And the end...well, read it for yourself.
"Hunted" by P.C. Cast and Kristin Cast, book 5 in the House of Night teen vampire series, advances the story of fledgling vampire Zoey and her friends another few havoc ridden days. I really do love this series--this is a far more clever vampire world than the one Stephanie Meyer created in her Twilight Saga. There's more action, more ethics, and overall more intelligence to the story. The thing I hate about series--having to wait another year or more to find out what happens next!!!
I also got a bound manuscript from one of my publishing pals for Joyce Maynard's new novel "Labor Day", due out in late summer 2009. I haven't read anything by Maynard before, but she's certainly on my list of authors to read more of now. This story, which I easily devoured in a lazy day at home, is touching on so many levels. Told through the eyes of a 13 year old boy, it's the story of five days when an escaped criminal comes to live with him and his mom, changing their lives forever. Henry feels responsible for his recluse mother, Adele, and spends all of his time with her. He's a bit of an outcast himself, being rather small for his age yet beginning the inevitable battle with his raging hormones. They meet Frank in one of their rare shopping excursions in town, and both immediately take to the bleeding man with the kind eyes. Frank does just enough "bad guy" stuff to help them pass a lie detector test should the need ever arise, but mostly he brings both of these broken people out of their shells and into remembering what being loved and being a family is like. This gentle story of love and hope is sure to be a hit.
And lastly, my Sunday afternoon read, "Home Game" by Michael Lewis. This is a hilarious account of learning to be a father in the 21st century. I actually gave this book to a guy friend of mine who is struggling with the idea of marriage and fatherhood in the near future, and he stayed up all night reading and laughing, which is amazing since he's even more of a reluctant reader than he is a reluctant grownup. Myself, I was able to read it in just a few hours--it's light and amusing but makes some real points about the naturalness of maternity versus the learned behavior of paternity. This should make a fun gift for any expectant or new father this coming Fathers Day.
I am currently reading "Extras" by Scott Westerfeld. It is the final book of the Uglies series. I am somewhat over halfway through the book and it is really good.
Here's this week's list--it was quite a mix, let me tell you!:Anything But Typical by Nora Raleigh Baskin
This is a charming and disarming book written in the voice of a 12 year old autistic boy. Jason writes wonderful stories on a website called Storyboard because that is the one place that he can make himself understood. The rest of the time,especially since he's been mainstreamed into the public school system, he can't make himself heard or understood by the "neurotypical" folks, even his family. A young girl also on Storyboard writes back to him with emails getting away from stories and more just friendly chatter. This is a new and treasured thing for Jason--a friend who sees him as talented and
interesting instead of "different". But when a chance comes along for Jason and his correspondent to meet, his world is thrown into panic as he struggles with who he is and who he'd like to be. This is truly a wonderful book, designed for ages 10-14, but I was enthralled with it and I'm a rather high multiple of those ages.
Reunion by Therese Fowler
Therese Fowler's sophomore book shows that she just keeps getting better and better. Reunion tells the story of Blue Reynolds, a nationally popular talk show host with a past that she's hidden for years--a short time in her heartbroken youth that led her to
partying, doing drugs and ultimately giving a baby up for adoption. She discretely begins to search for that child 20 years later, ironically at the same time her career leads her to the same man who broke her heart back then. Past and present collide in many ways for Blue,making this a very interesting read indeed with a satisfying but teasing ending. Fowler is very good a creating multi-dimensional characters that stay with you long after the last page is turned.
The Wildwater Walking Club by Claire Cook
Summer is coming and so ,of course, is a new, hilarious book by Claire Cook (Must Love Dogs, Summer Blowout, Life's A Beach). This one follows 32 days in the lives of 3 neighboring women who come together for fellowship and understanding as they set their pedometers for their daily walks. Noreen just took a buyout from her job and got dumped by her boyfriend. Tess is a school teacher suffering through her daughter's last contentious summer at home before leaving for college. And Rosie is a "tweener", raising young sons and taking care of her father and his lavender farm after the death of her mother. Cook once again blends familiar and serious issues with her keen sense of humor to serve up yet another summer treat for her vast legion of fans.
The Lie by Chad Kultgen
I have a sort of morbid fascination with this author after reading hisfirst book The Average American Male. To say his writing style is misogynistic is like saying the Grand Canyon is a big hole. It terrified me that when I gave that book to a guy friend of mine he gobbled it up and reviewed it by saying "Ya, that's pretty much how we think".
This gave me a full body shudder that I've never been quite able to shake.
Kultgen's second book, The Lie, trumps the first soundly. This is the story of three college kids--2 males, one female. One guy is relatively normal, at least at the beginning of the book. The other guy is an over privileged fiend that goes out of his
way to invent humiliating sexual situations to put women in and has an extensive catalog of offensive descriptions for and opinions of women. Completing the triangle is a status conscious, brainless and seemingly soulless young woman. The book tells the tale of how these 3, over the course of their 4
years at college, do their best to destroy each other.
There is some suspense, or at least a hovering sense of impending doom, that kept me turning the pages of this book. It is definitely NOT for the faint of heart or the easily offended. It is sick, twisted, dark and hypnotic. And yes, I will be giving my
copy to that same guy friend to see what he thinks. I'm afraid. Very afraid.
Bret Easton Ellis and Chuck Palahniuk fans will easily fall into the Cult of Kultgen.
Right now I am reading three books. So far they are all pretty good. First, I'm reading Sag Harbor A Novel by Colson Whitehead So far it's been a very good book. Far anyone who was young in the 80's it is quite a walk down memory lane. Also it's just a good book about growing up and finding who you are.
Second is Duma Key by Stephen KingStephen King. I'm not real far into this but from what I've read so far it's going to be a great book.
Lastly I'm reading A Slaying in the Suburbs. It's about the Tara Grant Murder. It's also pretty good. Living in the Detroit area this story was all over the news. But this book does a very good job of giving the back story about the couple and explains how things were going in their lives at the tims she was murdered.
I just finished reading The white Tiger by Aravind Adiga. Still working on the third in the Raybourn series Silent on the Moor.
I've been busier than I had planned on being with week (a project is taking WAY more time than I had planned), but I did get the following read (or listened to, as the case may be):Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim by David Sedaris (audio cd)
I don't ususally do audio books--I generally don't have the attention span to "just" listen to a story. But this week David's been keeping me company while I sort through years worth of former treasures and wishful thinking preparing for an upcoming move this
spring. There was something poetic about him telling me about his past while I was sorting through mine. I definitely prefer the live recordings to the somewhat sterile "read by author" stuff, but Sedaris is funny no matter what. He kept me upbeat and
moving, and I will always appreciate him for that more than anything. Now if he'd just hire me a moving company....
Broken by Lisa Jones
Colorado author Lisa Jones set out to write a book about Stanford Addison, a quadriplegic medicine man and horse breaker who lives up in Wyoming's Wind River Indian Reservation. And certainly he was a main character (and an EXTREMELY fascinating one whose broken body freed him to soar), but "Broken" is more about Lisa herself. She finds a home, and more importantly herself, interviewing this amazing man and hanging out with his large, eclectic and somewhat wild family. She's fearless about telling her story, even when itpaints her and her own family in a less than flattering light. I think women everywhere, especially women who feel a bit "broken" themselves by what their life has handed them,
will identify with her. In addition, she does a tremendous job of capturing the spirit of the west as it lives and breathes today within the shadows of it's violent past. The 'medicine" in this book is thought provoking and hope-giving, especially Stan's tale of what the animals taught him about medicine, healing and living life. Read this book andsee what all it has to offer for yourself--an to yourself.
How To Buy A Love of Reading by Tanya Egan Gibson
Gibson had me at the title, I have to say. And the premise is very interesting: after 15 year old Carly admits on a school questionnaire that she's "never met a book I liked", her very rich, very status conscious parents decide to commission a book just for Carly. They actually hire an author to move into their house(well, mansion, complete
with it's own bra museum) and write a book that Carly would actually like to read. That starts a lot of balls rolling in their little, monied town. The true story is about relationships: overweight and somewhat outcast Carly and her best friend model-perfect but strung out womanizer Hunter; the author Bree and her long ago love Julian whohappens to be hiding out in this same berg; the complex machinations of high society marriages in which social standing means more than personal happiness. I identified with Carly so much I cringed and cried for her as her mother alternated between bullying and ignoring her and as she continued to love others with her arms wide open even as they continued to not deserve her. I ached for Hunter's empty life and his need to escape. All of the characters in this book, the author's first, are drawn with great depth and sensitivity. There are times when things got a bit muddled, when flashbacks or fantasies
or fictional tv shows seemed to get tangled into the story a bit too much, but overall the beauty of the story, and it's somewhat tragic, somewhat deeply satisfying ending, make all of that ignorable and this debut book very much worth the read.
I am reading One Bad Apple by Sheila Connelly
I just finished A Slaying in the Suburbs The Tara Grant Murder and I have to say I was a little surprised at the info the authors found to add to the story. Here is my review:This book surprised me. I live in the Detroit area, so the Tara Grant murder was on every news broadcast and every instance of breaking news during the search for her body was about this case. Given that, I figured there would be little that I would "learn" from this book. I figured that it would end up being a re-hash of everything covered in the news. This book was so not a simple re-hash.
The book starts the night the cops searched the Grant home. The search that turned up the torso of Tara Grant, in the garage. After the discovery the story jumps into the past. These authors present Stephen and Tara's lives before they met. It sets up the kind of people they were and then talks about how they met, their dating and their lives as a married couple.
What I really liked about this book is that it didn't "take sides". Tara was not portrayed as a saint and Stephen was not portrayed as evil. It just told about their lives, and the problems they had. It gave facts, and the facts were that Stephen killed his wife, who at times seemed to be a bit of a domineering wife. After reading this my views on the case have not changed, if anything I'm more set in my belief that Stephen Grant killed his wife and was in a panic to try and cover it up.
While this isn't a who done it kind of book I would have to recommend it to anyone that likes murder mysteries. To have this much insight into the mind of a murderer is quite a shocking thing. And even if you think you know all about this murder, I would still say read it. There are things that this book uncovers that I don't remember the media even touching.
I just finished Starvation Lake by Bryan Gruely. Great stuff! Here's the review I posted:First time novelist Bryan Gruley (though seasoned writer--he's the Chicago Bureau chief for the Wall Street Journal) creates fascinating,multifaceted, believable characters in this book that you just KNOW you'd recognize if you walked past them on the street. Their quirks and their mysteries draw you in, as does the overlying story of new details emerging, literally, from the depths about the death of a beloved hockey coach. Presumed an accident, when bullet ridden evidence washes ashore 10 yearslater years of cover ups and lies begin to unravel in the hands of two reporters for thetown's small newspaper. Warning--this book will keep you up late into the night because you just have to know a little bit more before you go to sleep, and then...you know how THAT goes!
This is supposed to be the first book in a new series. If Gruley keeps writing like this, it's going to be a popular one. Fans of Dennis LeHane will especially like this book, I think.
I am reading Passion, Betrayal and Killer Highlights by Kyra Davis. Very fun,
This weekend I finished "Madewell Brown" by Rick Collignon. Here's the review I posted for it:Though this is a book meant to be an answer to a mystery created in an earlier book, "Perdido", it stands alone quite well. It involves a forgotten
team in the Negro League baseball of long ago, one old man who tells it's stories over and over, another old man who keeps a dark secret about it until his death bed, and the younger people who inherit the stories and the pall of the secrets. It's a rambling story, changing voices and eras effortlessly, but a fine one, showing the importance of memory and oral storytelling in keeping the past alive long enough for the present to learn from it.
I just finished Sag Harbor A Novel It was my first ever ARC book. I was so excited to get it :-) Here's my review:We are introduced to Benji and his family as they make their annual summer long trek out to Sag Harbor. The community of the upper/upper middle class African Americans who want to have their own summer place, just like their white counterparts.
The writing style takes a little to get used to but once I was hooked the writing didn't matter only the story did. At times it seemed as if one tale had little or nothing to do with the next but as you step back and look at the story as a whole everything is there for a reason.
I quickly grew attached to Benji and short of a few incidents he seems to be a really good kid, just trying to find his place between two societies. The white prep-school kids he's with at school and his black Sag Harbor friends that he shares his summers with. We are also taken into the 80's with catch phrases like "Dag" and the music that is so often referred to in this book. And anyone who's been a teenager can relate to the situations that Benji finds himself in.
Overall this is one of the best books I've read recently.
Next I'm working on Rachel's Tears 10th Anniversary Edition The Spiritual Journey of Columbine Martyr Rachel Scott It's a quick read so far so I should be done soon.
Jennifer is that book that is in diary form? (Rachel's Tears)I read that I think when it came out and I know i cried.
KrisT wrote: "Jennifer is that book that is in diary form? (Rachel's Tears)I read that I think when it came out and I know i cried. "
KrisT, It does have passages from Rachel's Diary. It's mostly her parents talking about Rachel and then explaining her convictions using the journal entries. But it's also broken into one parent speaking then the other parent speaking. So I would say it probably is the book you are thinking about. I got it from Thomas Nelson advanced reading list because they've "revamped" it a little bit since the 10 year anniversary of Columbine is coming up.
I'm almost done with it and I have to say that I too have been crying. It's such a sad story but I don't think that her parents meant for you to feel sympathy for them rather they just wanted to share their daughter's life.
Freestyle Readers Club
Books mentioned in this topic
The Perfect Deceit (other topics)Water for Elephants (other topics)
Sag Harbor (other topics)
Rachel's Tears: The Spiritual Journey of Columbine Martyr Rachel Scott (other topics)
Control Freak (other topics)
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Authors mentioned in this topic
Stephen King (other topics)Colson Whitehead (other topics)
What am I reading? It's a book my friend has shared with me. It's Back on Blossom Street by Debbie Macomber. It's the third one in the series. Loved the first one Shop on Blossom Street and then there was Susannah's Garden with really didn't move me all that much. I am really enjoying this one.