Finished 10-22-11, rating 3.75/5, fiction, 353 pages, pub. 2002

One family, the McLeods, and three Junes, 1989,1995, 1999.  In 1989, we meet the patriarch, Paul, on a trip to Greece that he takes after his wife dies.  We learn about his life in Scotland through flashbacks.  In 1995 we meet his son, Fenno, after Paul has died.  Fenno is a gay man in New York who takes care of a neighbor and friend battling AIDS.  In 1999, we reconnect with Fern, from part 1, as she find herself pregnant and scared.

I liked Paul very much, but wasn’t really drawn into his story.  There wasn’t enough going on for me.  I loved the middle section told from Fenno’s perspective.  He wasn’t the most likeable character ever, but I thought the storyline was great.  The third section completely lost me.  I didn’t get it.  Fern was not nearly compelling enough for her own section.  I know it brought everything full circle, but it wasn’t enough for me.

The book was a mixed bag.  I liked the writing and the family drama.  I like the idea of what Glass was trying to do, but it felt like a gimmick that only half worked.  I would have liked the book a whole lot better if she’d just expanded the middle section to include the first part and then left the last third out altogether. 

I don’t know if I’m making any sense.  It’s a hard book to talk about even if I was willing to fill this post with lots of spoilers.  I’m glad I read it and will definitely give Glass another try.  This was her debut novel and is a National Book Award winner.

This was from my personal library and was chosen for me by Golda and Soft Drink.  Here’s what they had to say…

“I love this book.”  Soft Drink

“Not what I expected, but still good.”  Golda

Finished 10-22-11, rating 4/5, fiction, 200 pages, pub. 1977

My life has been a history of casting off encumbrances, paring down to the bare essentials, stripping for the journey.  Possessions makes me anxious.  When Saul gave me my engagement ring, I worried for months.  How would I hide it?  For surely I should take it with me; I could sell it for food.  But wouldn’t it tempt bandits as I lay sleeping by the roadside?  In their haste they might cut off my finger, and I carried no medical supplies.  I was glad when times got hard and we had to sell the ring back to Arkin’s Jeweler’s.

A husband is another encumbrance; I often thought that.  And children even more so.  (Not to mention their equipment: their sweaters, Band-Aids, stuffed animals, vitamins.)  How did I end up with so much when I had thrown so much away?

Chapter 3

Charlotte has lived a quiet existence in the small town of Clarion, Maryland.  We first meet her when she goes into the bank to withdraw money so that she can leave her husband.  Only she gets more than she’s bargained for as she’s taken hostage by Jake, a recent prison escapee.  They eventually end up in Florida after they’ve picked up Jake’s pregnant girlfriend up along the way.  The story goes back and forth between her life as a hostage and the life she’s led up until that point.

Okay, I usually start with what I liked about the book, but I must start with the part that gave me the most trouble.  The hostage plot device made me roll my eyes in annoyance for the first fourth of the book.  This book was published in 1977, before cell phones but certainly not before common sense.  It really isn’t until you get further into the book and had time to reflect that the things that annoyed me about her being a way-too-accomodating hostage were the same things that made her life story so interesting.

Charlotte is a woman who has never felt like she belonged anywhere and things seem to happen to her instead of her making any conscious decision herself.  She’s stuck in a life not of her choosing.  Her mom always told her that she believed that Charlotte had been switched with her real baby at the hospital and that was something that stuck with Charlotte, that she might have another life out there-her real life.  So, Charlotte spent her life always believing that one day her real life would show up and she’d be ready to go.

Charlotte is not a warm and fuzzy woman, really she’s not even sympathetic, but there is a realness to her that surprised me.  She is like a lot of people, stuck in a life they didn’t think they wanted.  Being taken hostage was the most exciting thing that ever happened to her.

I didn’t like this book as I read it.  It’s only 200 pages so it’s a quick read, and it wasn’t until after I’d finished and I’d had a little time to consider it that I realized how complex and great the story was.  Tyler has been hit or miss with me, but this one is a hit.

This was from my personal library.

Take a minute to vote for the scariest character s in literature

Finished 8-24-11, rating 4/5, fiction, 319 pages, pub. 2001

I must say a word about fear.  It is life’s only true opponent.  Only fear can defeat life.  It is a clever, treacherous adversary, how well I know.  It has no decency, respects no law or convention, shows no mercy.  It goes for your weakest spot, which it finds with unerring ease.  It begins in your mind, always. 

Chapter 56

Pi, an Indian teenager, was raised by loving parents who ran a zoo.  He didn’t feel like he had to choose between religions, he studied them all.  He was a Hindu, Christian, and Muslim and no one could convince him this was contradictory.  When his family decided it was best to leave India, they packed up all of the animals (the ones they didn’t sell) and headed for Canada.  They didn’t make it.

Pi finds himself in the middle of the Pacific Ocean on a lifeboat with Richard Parker.  Richard Parker is a 450 pound Bengal tiger.  Day after day he must work to survive,  and his only chance is to keep Richard Parker alive too.  From early on you know that Pi is at sea a very long time, but you also know that he survives, so it isn’t that uncertainty that keeps you reading.  The day-to-day struggle is compelling and outrageous.   If you are taking an ocean voyage this book will teach you everything you need to know about staying alive.

This is a consideration of religion, a compassionate view of zoos, and at some points, a test of your ability to listen to/read about savagery of killing, even of only for food.  I listened to the first half of this one on a road trip with Jason and Gage and read the print for the rest.   I have nothing against the audio, but I much preferred reading it.  The play-by-play of animals ripping each other apart is much easier to read than to hear.  Not that this book can be reduced to that, only that’s what made the reading more enjoyable for me.  It is a book about belief and how what you believe can make your life meaningful and livable.

I really loved Pi’s story and grew to love Richard Parker too.  I was nervous that RP would meet the same fate as Wilson in the movie Castaway and I was very nervous for him.  I won’t spoil it by telling you.  I wasn’t crazy about the ending.  Jason loved it.  I’m not sure if my opinion will change after it’s had some time to settle.  I know I’ll be thinking about it for the next several days, but these are my initial thoughts.  The imagery was beautiful and obviously thought-provoking since I know I will be thinking about it, re-evaluating the whole based on the end.

 

This is from my personal library and chosen by Heather (Gofita’s Pages), Carol, Staci, MsMazzola, Heather (Book Addiction), Kerri, Alita, Julie, Rebecca and Rhapsody in Books.  Here’s what they had to say…

“It will blow you away.”  Rhapsody in Books

“I thought I was the only one left who hasn’t read it yet!”  Julie

“Some people didn’t like the unexpected ending, but I did and I would love to see what you think, too.”  Rebecca

“I’m going to attempt it next year as well”  Kerri

“It is on my TBR list, so I put it on your’s too.”  MsMazzola

“My brother bought it for me and I never read it, but encouraging you to relieves some of the guilt.”  Carol

“It’s on my TBR pile and I hear it’s amazing!”  Heather (Gofita’s Pages)

Finished 8-15-11, rating 4/5, mystery, 300 pages, pub. 1981

God only knows how it all began.  After all the searching and seeking, the rationale debate and wild, intuitive guessing.  I’m not sure we really arrived at the truth.  We poor humans are so imprisoned in narrow boundaries of space and time, so confined by five meager senses.  We are like ants, running frantically back and forth on meaningless errands that consume our years, taking a few square inches of earth for a universe.

first paragraph

Grayhaven Manor, an English Gothic mansion, was moved stone by stone (graves in the basement included), to rural Pennsylvania.  When Kevin’s parents won the lottery they bought the extravagant home and asked Kevin to live there for the summer to watch over it while they traveled.  He invited his fellow college professor, Anne, so they could work on a textbook they were writing together.  And then Aunt Bea and opinionated neighbor, Roger, show up and the house seems full, especially with the ghosts that make themselves known at night.  They are ghosts, right?

This spooky story is told in first person from Anne’s perspective and she had spunk.  I enjoyed her intelligence and identified with her insecurity about her looks.  She felt very real to me and if Anne saw a ghost then I believed her.  Kevin was a hot guy who everyone woman desired, maybe even Anne, to her disgust.  I liked Kevin and his easy-going nature, but did find him a bit shallow.

There was a considerable amount of history and I did love the way the three differing opinions were shown.  This book was haunting and I really want to visit a gothic mansion to see if I can detect ghost activity.

I did feel like the end was a little rushed and I was a bit disappointed, but not enough to take away from my enjoyment of the book.

Did you know that Barbara Michaels is Elizabeth Peters?  I recomend this for cozy mystery lovers and ghost story fans.

This was from my personal library.

Enter my giveaway for All for Love:A Romantic Anothology here.

Try my latest quiz here.

Finished 8-7-11, rating 4/5, mystery, 528 pages, pub. 2011

Second Dave Gurney thriller

What are you thinking?” he said.

She smiled and frowned, almost at the same time.

“I’m thinking life is short,”she said finally, in the way of someone who has come face-to-face with a sad truth.

“And therefore…?” he prompted, trying to break through her strange mood. 

She seemed to be weighing his tone, his words.  Just as he concluded she wasn’t going to answer him, she did. 

Just as he concluded she wasn’t going to answer him, she did.  “Therefore we’re running out of time.” She cokced her head-or maybe it was a tiny involuntary spasm-and regarded him curiously.

Chapter 14

Dave Gurney, retired NYPD detective, is trying to stay retired, but having a hard time relishing his new life in the country.  It’s been a year since he was pulled out of retirement for a case and it almost cost him his life and marriage.  Now a new case has been dangled under his nose and he rises to the bait and goes to work on another seemingly impossible murder.  A woman is murdered on her wedding day at her reception.  Not just murdered, but decapitated while more than a hundred wedding guests lived it up, oblivious to the horror.  Dave can’t resist, much to the consternation of his wife, Madeleine, and takes the offer from the murdered woman’s mother.

I really liked the first one and I really liked this one.  Dave Gurney is the man you want to hire if a crime has been committed and you want answers.  He is a brilliant detective.  I liked the initial impossibility of the crime and I didn’t completely figure out the how until the end.  I liked the continued look into the marriage of Dave and Madeleine, although Madeleine got on my nerves a bit in this one, but only for a little while.  I think Verdon is very skilled at fleshing out a character which doesn’t always happen in a thriller.

There was a lot going on in this one and lots of characters I wanted to know more about, but even though the book was over 500 pages it wasn’t long enough to get to know more about some of the more interesting characters.  Maybe we’ll run into them in a later book.  I do think the story could have been tighter.  I had to stop a few times to try to wrap my head around everything that was going on.  I did figure out the murderer and related mystery before the halfway point, so maybe part of my enjoyment came from feeling smart when I turned the last page.  One of the main storylines involved sexual depravity and it wasn’t something I really enjoyed, but it did keep me reading.

I thought this was a solid follow-up to Think of a Number.

I received this Uncorrected Proof for the TLC Tour.  Visit these other bloggers who shared their thoughts about this thriller.

John Verdon’s  TLC Book Tours TOUR STOPS:

Monday, July 11th:  Life in Review

Wednesday, July 13th:  A Bookworm’s World

Thursday, July 14th: Simply Stacie

Monday, July 18th:  Sara’s Organized Chaos

Wednesday, July 20th:  Books Like Breathing

Monday, July 25th:  Thoughts of Joy

Tuesday, July 26th:  Stiletto Storytime

Wednesday, July 27th:  Jen’s Book Thoughts

Friday, July 29th:  Colloquium

Monday, August 1st:  Cafe of Dreams Book Review

Tuesday, August 2nd:  My Random Acts of Reading

Thursday, August 4th:  Life.. with Books

Monday, August 8th:  Stacy’s Books

Wednesday, August 10th:  Lesa’s Book Critiques

Monday, August 15th:  Rough Edges

Wednesday, August 17th:  Bewitched Bookworms

Thursday, August 18th:  Rundpinne

Monday, August 22nd:  Book Junkie

Wednesday, August 24th:  Readaholic

 

Finished audio 8-4-11, rating 4/5, fiction, pub. 2005

Unabridged audio read by the author.  14 hours.

Book  2 of the Oz series.

I loved Wicked, the first book about Elphaba, the Wicked Witch of the West.  I was less in love with the musical, but it was still good.  The book had it all.  Here is a link to the review I wrote for another book review site before I started my blog.  I thought the book stood on its own brilliantly and was not all that excited to read a sequel, Elphaba was dead, the story was told.

Liir might be Elphaba’s son, no one is sure.  He was raised by her but without maternal actions he was left to feel more like ward than a son.  Liir was just a boy when Elphaba died and the story begins when he is found left for dead on the side of the road.  He is nursed back to health at the cloister by the quadling girl, Candle.  In alternating chapters we read about his recovery and what he did on the ten years between Elphaba’s death and his being found.

I felt a detachment from Liir that I didn’t feel to Elphaba, so the story, while good, did not touch me in the same way.  I loved revisiting Oz and the Scarecrow and Glinda, the good witch.  Maguire is a genius at creating an alternate reality.  You will never watch the movie The Wizard of Oz in quite the same away again.  This Oz has a dark underbelly full of political intrigue, revolution, animal rights, and an army of dragons trained to kill.

With all of the spectacle that is Oz this is still Liir’s story.  His quest to find himself and discover his purpose.  The journey was full of love, pitfalls, rediscovery, and disillusionment.

I would recommend this only for those who loved Wicked.

Maguire did a great job narrating his own novel, but I wonder if the distance that I felt from Liir was because that is how he chose to read him.  It’s hard to say.

This is from my personal library and was chosen by Shanyn, JoJo, Laura, Donna, and Lisa-Marie.  Here’s what they had to say…

“Son of a Witch is REALLY good! I think you’d really enjoy it!”  Lisa-Marie

“Absolutely one of the books everyone should read. Well actually they should read all 3 in the series – Wicked, Son of a Witch and A Lion Among Men. There is so much more to these books than them being loosely based odd the Wizard of Oz.”  Donna

“I have that in my stack and would like to know what someone else thinks of it.”  Shanyn

Take a guess at this week’s Who’s Older Quiz.  For every participant the winner will receive $1 B&N gift card.

Finished 6-14-11, rating 4/5, horror, 245 pages, pub. 1974

“You’re bleeding!” Sue yelled suddenly, furiously.  “You’re bleeding, you big dumb pudding!”

Carrie looked down at herself.

She shrieked.

The sound was very loud in the humid locker room.

A tampon suddenly struck her in the chest and fell with a plop at her feet.  A red flower stained the absorbent cotton and spread.

Then the laughter, disgusted, contemptuous, horrified, seemed to rise and bloom into something jagged and ugly, and the girls were bombarding her with tampons and sanitary napkins, some from purses, some from the broken dispenser on the wall.  They flew like snow and the chant became: “Plug it up, plug it up, plug it up, plug it–“

page 8

Carrie is an often maligned high school student who is treated poorly by her overly zealous mother and by fellow students who see her as a freak.  When she gets he first period in the school shower and has no idea what is happening to her something broke in her.  Or maybe it’s better to say that something awoke in her.  She started using her powers to move things and later for acts of utter devastation.

I’m sure a lot of people know this story, either from the book or movie, or maybe even from pop culture references.  I haven’t seen the movie, but thought I’d give the book a try and I wasn’t disappointed.  I wasn’t completely wowed either, but I did think it was good.  The characters were well-drawn and I was as disgusted with the hateful Chris as with any other character I’ve recently encountered.  I steered clear of girls like her in school, but I’m not sure anyone I knew was as awful as she was.

I wasn’t sympathetic to Carrie much.  A little in the middle and I guess at the end for a moment or two, but for the most part she started strange and ended strange and vengeful.  Not a combo to have me rooting for her.

I liked the way the story was told, from lots of different viewpoints.  Sometimes we read Carrie’s perspective or another student, like Sue, and these were intermingled with reports that happened after the fact, after the prom from hell.

Not my usual genre but as a pop culture reference I’m glad I read it.  I wasn’t bored and I was alternately disgusted and disapproving.  Not two emotions that endear me to a book, but it was still an entertaining read.

This was from my personal library.

Finished audio 6-30-11, rating 4/5, YA, pub. 2007

Unabridged audio 6 hours, 25 minutes.  Read by Joel Johnstone and Debra Wiseman

High School good guy, Clay, received a box of cassette tapes.  On these tapes was the voice of Hannah Baker who had just recently committed suicide and she was telling the 13 people who had a hand in her decision her reasons why.  Clay was horrified that this girl, who he’d had a crush on for years could somehow think he’d had a hand in ruining her life and he spent the rest of the day and night listening and visiting the places she talked about, forever changing the way he looked at his classmates and himself.

This book has such a great premise and the story goes back and forth between Clay’s thoughts and Hannah’s words and it is really powerful.  I listened to the audio and I think it was the perfect way to experience this book.  The book made me think about how we don’t know what effect our actions, big or small, might have on someone else.  A kind word might be something that a person thinks about for days or changes the way she views herself and it was nice to be reminded of that.

I think the topic of teen suicide is important and I’m glad that this book has become so popular.  Teens need to know how suicide may affect those left behind and they need to know that people are there for you even when don’t notice right away. I think this is a must read for teens.

I don’t read a lot of YA.  No particular reason, maybe I’m a little too far removed from it.  But everything I read about this one intrigued me so I finally checked it out and was impressed.  My few problems with the book stemmed from how far removed I am, I think.  I do remember my teen years, when everything was SO IMPORTANT and NOTHING COULD WAIT.  Being a teen is no picnic, but neither is it so hard that some things cannot be overlooked as trivial.  Hannah listed 13 people on her tapes, but a few of the middle stories left me feeling like Hannah needed to get a grip.  But that’s coming from a 39 year woman, so take that for what it’s worth.  Even with that I’d still recommend this book.

I checked this audio out of the library.

Finished 6-9-11, rating 4/5, fiction, 292 pages, pub. 2001

Long before Will Combray came along, Michael was there.  Always, there had been Michael.  And if Casey felt as though she’d known him forever, it was only because she had.

Chapter 2 

Casey had known Michael all of her life.  They were next door neighbors and best friends.  When they started a romantic relationship, she felt like it was the thing to do to make everyone happy, but she still felt like there was more out there for her.  She was looking beyond the life she’d lived so far into a future that held more excitement.  And that excitement came in the form of Will.  Older, worldly Will charmed Casey into loving him.  It does not end well.  Now it’s 20 years later and Will has come back, days before her anniversary party, celebrating the life she’s made with Michael.

This story felt familiar, in a good way.  Who hasn’t thought of the road not taken?  It felt more like that than a cheesy romance novel which also uses this plot line often.  Casey wasn’t necessarily a sympathetic character, but there was a genuineness to her that made the story work.  If she’d been nicer this story would have been boring.  As it was I read through this one fast because I wanted to know what she would choose-her comfortable life with Michael or the great unknown with Will.

It was a quick read and one that drew me in and surprised me along the way.  Grayson’s writing felt like I was listening to a friend and I look forward to checking out more of her work.

This was from my personal library.

Finished 5-31-11, rating 4/5, current events, 441 pages, pub. 2011

(part one reviewed here)

I jumped on my soapbox in the first half of my review so I’ll try to exercise some restraint this time around.  Lying is bad.  Perjury is worse.  How can we be a country ruled by law if people, under oath, lie.  I covered the first two celebrity perjurers, now on to the last two.

Barry Bonds is not a likeable guy, he used some sort of steroid, and his old friend was so faithful to him that he went to jail instead of testifying against him.  Oh, and the case is just now going to trial.  It’s like 10 years later! Sprinter Marion Jones was somehow caught up in the same investigation and she’s already served her time!  There were a lot of players involved and since baseball is not my thing, it was my least favorite.

My husband is a portfolio manager, so the Bernie Madoff case was right up my alley.  Somehow Bernie got away with lying to the SEC for years and to many different people.  Seriously, the SEC looks bad.  There were a few people in the SEC who were actually doing their jobs, but they or their superiors were in awe of Madoff’s power and reputation.

I really liked this book.  I thought all the stories were interesting and told with an easy to understand, yet detailed, narrative.  I complained in my first post that people made excuses for liars if they liked them.  I had to swallow that sentiment this week as my beloved Coach Tressel (Ohio State football coach) fell prey to the exact problems addressed in this book.  He didn’t commit the crime, but he did lie to cover it up.  If it can happen to the squeaky clean sweater vest, it can happen to anyone.

This book was sent to by the publisher for this book tour.

James’ Tour Stops

Wednesday, May 11th: Take Me Away

Thursday, May 12th: Laura’s Reviews

Tuesday, May 17th: Power and Control

Tuesday, May 17th: Marathon Pundit

Wednesday, May 18th: Man of La Book

Wednesday, May 25th: Stacy’s Books

Wednesday, June 1st: Bibliophiliac

Monday, June 13th: Lisa Graas

Tuesday, June 14th: Ted Lehmann’s Bluegrass, Books, and Brainstorms

Wednesday, June 15th: Deep Muck Big Rake