The Invisible Man. Finished 4-23-14, 2.5/5 stars, classic, 192 pages, pub.1897

Unabridged audio, 5 hours 30 minutes. Read by James Adams

I loved The Time Machine by Wells and started this book with high hopes.  A scientist finds a way to make himself invisible.  It sounds cool right?  The scientist, Griffin, does have the power, but the basic necessities of life are lost to him.  When he eats, the food can be seen moving through his system and how does he find basic shelter for himself?  Griffin isn’t very likeable, maybe due to the potion or maybe he’s just a narcissistic jerk.  He finds himself having to swaddle his body and face in clothing so he can appear human and live a real life.

The possibilities for this premise are endless and by today’s standards are definitely lacking, but even giving credit for the originality of it at the time it was published, 1899, I just couldn’t appreciate it.  This may be another case of the audio not doing the novel justicel.  I tried to listen to the audio once several years ago and only made it an hour before giving up.  I’ll be reading my next Wells, War of the Worlds,  the old-fashioned way, as it was intended.

The Diving Bell and the Butterfly. Finished 10-13-13, rating 2.5/5, memoir, 132 pages, pub. 1997

In 1995, Jean-Dominique Bauby was the editor-in-chief of French Elle, the father of two young childen, a 44-year-old man known and loved for his wit, his style, and his impassioned approach to life. By the end of the year he was also the victim of a rare kind of stroke to the brainstem.  After 20 days in a coma, Bauby awoke into a body which had all but stopped working: only his left eye functioned, allowing him to see and, by blinking it, to make clear that his mind was unimpaired. Almost miraculously, he was soon able to express himself in the richest detail: dictating a word at a time, blinking to select each letter as the alphabet was recited to him slowly, over and over again. In the same way, he was able eventually to compose this extraordinary book.

By turns wistful, mischievous, angry, and witty, Bauby bears witness to his determination to live as fully in his mind as he had been able to do in his body. He explains the joy, and deep sadness, of seeing his children and of hearing his aged father’s voice on the phone. In magical sequences, he imagines traveling to other places and times and of lying next to the woman he loves. Fed only intravenously, he imagines preparing and tasting the full flavor of delectable dishes. Again and again he returns to an “inexhaustible reservoir of sensations,” keeping in touch with himself and the life around him.

Jean-Dominique Bauby died two days after the French publication of The Diving Bell and the Butterfly.   (from Goodreads)

I read this memoir during the 24 hour read-a-thon last month for the same reason I read the others, it was on my shelf and short.  I think I have owned this book since I lived in the Washington DC area 16+ years and 4 moves ago so I felt good about finally reading it!  Unfortunately, as much as I was riveted by the real life of Bauby and the tragedy of his end, this memoir just didn’t work for me.  And, yes, I feel bad saying that since the man wrote it by blinking his one good eye to convey every. single. letter.  It’s hard to critique that sort of accomplishment so I won’t.  I will just say that I think I would have preferred to read a biography capturing his whole life rather than this memoir version, but I totally respect the power of the human mind to overcome and Bauby is a perfect example.

Sweetheart. Finished August 11,2013, rating 2.5/5, thriller,

Book 2 of the Archie Sheridan/Gretchen Lowell series (Book 1)

Oh, Archie. what a waste you’ve become.  You have good friends, a great family and a detective job that you are great at and you can only obsess about the one mistake you made.  Obsess and throw love back in the face of those who love you.  Your wife accepted that it would take time to heal, but she was there because she loved you.  Your kids are at that young age when having their dad around is so important.  Your best friend Henry who looks out for you and your family because you can’t or won’t do it yourself.  Susan,  who has a crush on you but is also a fan and friend, sees you at your worst and still accepts you.  These are all things that count.

Gretchen, serial killer/your abductor and tormentor, is difficult to accept.  You respect her and are hot for her, but it’s hard to see why.  She seems to get men to do exactly what she wants even locked up in a maximum security prison, especially you.  When you revealed your secret I understood your thing for Gretchen better, but after that your behavior ruined your story for me.  Might you redeem yourself in the next book?  I don’t know but I’m probably not going to find out and that’s a shame because I really liked your first story, the one where you were a real person.

You should thank your skilled storyteller, Chelsea, it’s her skilled writing that made your story readable.

This was from my personal library.

Finished 10-18-12, romance, pub. 2012

I like to read debut novels.  It’s like you’re getting the scoop on a really great sale or gossip about who’s going to win Project Runway.  I stopped accepting debut books a few years ago because there were just so many seasoned writers I wanted to read but when Trish offered a romance for the TLC tour (other tour stops here) I said yes.  I don’t read enough romances.

Because having it all does not necessarily mean having it all at once…

In a small, Virginia town where fly-fishing is the favorite pastime and Hampton Steel is essentially the only employer, Associate General Counsel Livi Miller believes she has reached the top rung of Hampton Steel’s corporate ladder. With her alcoholic boss retiring soon, Livi is the presumptive heir to Hampton Steel’s general counsel position. However, in the midst of proving herself promotion-worthy, Livi’s high school sweetheart, Jake Cooper, returns from Iraq and causes long-lost butterflies to alight in Livi’s emotionally charged stomach. The resulting loss of her promotion to slimy newcomer Edward Winston combines with her rekindled feelings for Jake to place Livi on track to choose between her career and her heart.

If she chooses Hampton Steel, she saves her hometown. If she chooses Jake, she saves her butterflies as well as herself.

I liked Livi.  She was a driven career woman, but one who also lamented not having it all.  She wanted a relationship and a family of her own but was was married to her job.  And when things got funky at work she wasn’t afraid to get right into the middle of it, even though there was real danger.  I was happy to see that Jake came back and offered her a chance at personal happiness.  I would have liked a little more about Jake. He came back from serving in Iraq with his best friend dead and I wanted to know more about his transition.

This is a short read, which is always a plus for me, but maybe in this case it was a bit too short.  There were a few storylines that were brought up and then just dropped (like when Jake attends church) and the whole reunited with your first and only love was a good story that happened so quick.  I wanted more.  I actually felt like I spent more time with Livi at work and all the craziness there, which I liked, but it felt like less of a romance because of it.  That could be good or bad depending on if you like romances 🙂

This was a solid debut.

Thanks to Trish at TLC for putting the tour together.

Death by Chocolate Finished 6-27-12, rating 2.5/5, 289 pages, pub. 2012

I briefly met Julie at the Ohioana Book Festival and picked up her book by the title alone.  This is her first book, but she already has plans to publish books 2 and 3 in the series.  I love her blog Musings from the Slush Pile. This is my fifth stop on my Ohio author tour.

Ruby Russell has just found out her husband has been cheating on her with a much younger woman.  Instead of confronting the jerk she mixes his Viagra with some chocolate mousse and leaves it as a treat when he arrives home.  The next morning Ruby wakes up to a dead husband and some very incompetent detectives.  Ruby goes on to use her deadly culinary skills to deliver justice to her town and her best friend Charlotte is along for the ride.  When Ruby’s son comes home with a bride-to-be the crazy reaches a fever pitch.

This book is completely over the top.  Ruby, who you realize is stark raving mad about 50 pages in, goes on to kill many more people before, well, I can’t tell you that.  I had a major problem with Ruby.  I did not like her at all and I didn’t find her craziness funny.  I couldn’t relate to anything that was going on in the book which made the book drag on for me.  I wanted to like it and maybe it’s just because there’s a lot going on around here right now and I’m in no mood to suffer fools.

When I looked around it seemed that the other bloggers who have read it liked it, so what do I know?  The storytelling was okay and all of the characters were full of interesting foibles.  If you like high body counts in your mystery with a dash of nuttiness them maybe this would work for you.

Finished 12-6-11, rating 2/5, romance, 186 pages, pub. 1979

Julie is a recent graduate and looking for a teaching job and she sure found one.  Leaving a snowy Boston to head to Hawaii for at least six months as a private tutor to a teen stuck in bed after an accident, Julie has a lot to be thankful for.  Raul, the teen’s sexy brother, shows an interest in Julie, especially after she starts dating a surfer.

For some reason I liked Harlequin novels when I was in junior high, reading them must have made me feel grown up.  I remember reading Janet Dailey’s Harlequin books and liking them.  So, when she came out with this romance series in the 80’s that was a book for every state I felt like I should read them all.  I ended up picking up a lot of them too.  In a box in the basement of my parent’s house I found 36 of the states!  Fast forward to this states challenge I am determined to complete this year and I decided to read this one for Hawaii.  I don’t remember ever actually reading it.

In all fairness I did learn quite a bit about the island of Oahu, the sugar cane, the pineapple, the winds and terminology.  The story itself was just not interesting at all.  How a story set in Hawaii could be so lackluster is a mystery.  At 180 pages, it was perfect for helping me finish the states challenge at this late date, but nothing that I’d recommend.

From my personal library (at least for now)

Finished unabridged audio 11-25-11, rating 2.5/5, inspirational fiction, pub. 2009

Listened via Playaway. 8 hours.  Read by Barbara Rosenblat

Book 2 Tucker Mills trilogy

In 1839 Tucker Mills, Reese Thackery is an indentured servant to a man who has physically made advances toward her.  When he dies she hopes she may be free, but the bank is owed money and the bank manager takes over her papers.  It doesn’t take long until the bank president hears what’s been done and rides into town.

I don’t read inspirational fiction very often and I don’t think I’ve ever made it through one as church centered as this one. I’m sure I would have given up on it if I’d been reading, but the playaway did make my cleaning go faster, so I stuck it out.  I can’t say that I really got enjoyment out of it, but it was passable.  My biggest problem aside from the absence of a compelling storyline was Reese and the way everyone in town treated her (I think the author would say Christian, but I would say like she was made of glass).

It was well written and the reader was very easy to listen to. Having said that I can’t really say how this stacks up to other inspirationals since I don’t read them.  Maybe they all spend considerable plot time having new believers ask biblical questions. This wasn’t my cup of tea, but I know from other reviews I’ve read that it is plenty of other readers genre of choice.

I checked it out from the library.