Bookin' It Thru Life

One of my sisters suggested this book to me so of course I picked it right up.  I am a sucker for a good family drama and that's what this was supposed to be.  And it was, sort of.  The story starts out with four siblings who one summer day find their way to a fortune teller who predicts when each of them will die.  Then, we follow the lives of each of them as they move from childhood, through their teen years and into adulthood.  The story begs the question:  Is our course predestined whether we will it or not, or does knowing the supposed destination lead us to make decisions that will land us there?  The author leaves this question open.  In the case of each of the 4 siblings, you could argue it either way.  Rating:  #5 Good Enough

Before I write anything else, recognize that these are books 5-8 in the Outlander series.  If you are not familiar with Outlander I am both jealous and sad for you.  Sad because you have not experienced one of the best and most compelling fictional journeys I have ever been a part of.  Its Claire and Jamie for goodness sake!  And jealous because if you are smart you will take my advice and go get a copy of Outlander (I recommend you buy it because you're going to want to read it twice-at least) and you get to sink into this delightful book for the very first time and get your Jamie on.  So just know that I'm already a big fan, and I've already read these books, and I am not an indifferent reviewer.  Spoiler:  I loved the books.  Solid rating of #3 Enjoyed It Very Much.  Outlander itself (Book 1 in the series) is a #2 Fabulous with the others in the series falling just behind mostly because they aren't Outlander .  I mean, its quite the s...

I read Morgenstern's The Night Circus a couple of years ago and I liked it.  Though I can't say I was waiting around for her next book, when I saw this was out I grabbed it.  It was...ok.  It doesn't help that I started this book, broke my Nook, and waited close to 6 weeks to pick it up again.  I think it probably says something that I did not go out immediately and either buy the book or buy a replacement Nook - which is something I would not hesitate to do if I were in the middle of a book that I just had to finish.  On the positive side?  Morgenstern's writing is amazing-I have not a complaint in the world about her style.  The short little mini-stories interspersed with the main story were actually in some ways THE main story, with Zackary Ezra's plot meandering through theirs as opposed to the other way around.  I did not ever get tired of wandering through the corridors and corners under the ground-the world building worked for me....

First published in 1999, this is an older book that was recently made into a "major motion picture!"  You can see the line across the front of the paperback can't you?  I saw a trailer for the movie and then I listened to a podcast where Preet Bharara interviewed Edward Norton who wrote, produced, directed and starred in the Hollywood production.  It was a good interview and I was intrigued so I grabbed the book. I actually really liked it.  If you can get past the sometimes disconcerting writing style which often takes us inside our hero's experience of having Tourette's Syndrome you can really enjoy a good read.  As he takes the hard road to solving (and presumably avenging) his mentor's murder we get Lionel's life story starting with his days in a home for lost boys through his recruitment into a low level gangster's gang and his experiences there.  In some ways its a success story-a young man who finds a place where his handicap (if Tourette'...

I've read multiple Scarpetta novels, but not all of them, and not in any particular order.  I generally like them just fine-but this one, not so much.  With the major players in 4 different places (Scarpetta and Marino back in Richmond working a case, Lucy dealing with her own issues in Florida and Benton locked in his Aspen condo with a mental patient) the rhythm of the team seemed way, way off.  The underlying plot was a stretch and the tenuous ties that were supposed to hold the story together did not really work for me.  Also, there were too many unresolved issues at the end-did Dr. Touchy-feely ever get his comeuppance?  Did Mrs. Wacky Sex Life ever face reality?  How did Mr. Horrible New Chief really get the job in the face of his incompetence and did his own ghosts ever come home to roost?  I suppose resolution to some (though not all) of the drifting story lines could come in another book, but why do that?  If I were not already a fan, I'm...

So this was an interesting read.  In my never ending quest for new fantasy books I stumbled over this one somewhere in the recesses of the internet. I'd seen Evans's books pop up before but I never took the bait.  This one, for some reason, caught me. Set in a surreal landscape and designed to evoke the atmosphere of the Vietnam jungles during the depths of the War, the world building is convincing.  There are dwarves and flying dragons (which they don't call dragons but still) and magic and daring young soldiers.  There are magicians and developing technology and fierce convention defying friendships.   I enjoyed the writing and found the pages slipping by. "The peaks cast long, pointed shadows across the valley floor, creating the image of walking into a giant maw.  Carny brought his boot down hard on the first shadow tooth he reached, daring the jaw to bite into him.  He felt stupid, but if soldiers could wear amulets of the Sacred Tree and...

Boom is hired to work for the International Criminal Court-an organization charged with prosecuting crimes against humanity-where he pursues a possible massacre of Gypsies in the wake of the Bosnian war.  The book scans the globe from business meetings in Holland to on-site explorations in Bosnia to back door meetings in DC.  Its fast-paced and entertaining, technical enough to draw you in, not so Clancy-complicated that you lose focus.  I've read Turow before and my recollection is that I like his stuff.  I was not disappointed.  Winner of a Pulitzer?  Probably not.  But he's not a best selling author for nothing, and this one was better than most that claim that accolade.  Pick it up at the airport for a long flight-you won't be disappointed. Rating:  #3 Enjoyed It Very Much.

Got maybe a quarter of the way through and bailed.   Fantasy set in China, it tries really hard and the writing was actually not bad but I just. couldn't. do it.  Sorry.  If someone has read this and loved it I'd be happy to take a recommendation that its worth pursuing...otherwise, not much to say. Rating:  Didn't even finish it.

I read this on the recommendation of my brother-in-law via my sister (not his wife, one of the other sisters).   This book is one of the reasons I started writing this blog...because I absorb books like oxygen and sometimes I don't take the time to stop and ponder them before I move on.  As with anything I read more than a week ago, I start to forget...and this one I read sometime last spring I think so that's a while ago...and at the time, I remember really liking it.  Now?  Can hardly remember.  Another nice thing about the Nook...I took some notes and noted some quotes as I was reading and that made doing a current writeup on a previously read book a little easier.  I did manage to scribble out a note about how much I liked this book. And going back through refreshed my memory.  Recommend? Yes-go for it.  Its on the longer side (approx. 700 pages) but worth it. Wanna read something that will kick you in the gut?  This guy's mother l...

sort of an odd book... a little time travel, a little love story, a little about family.  I read this a while ago and don't remember any details-I suppose that makes it mostly forgettable?  I read a description on google and I pulled up the book on my Nook and still, not ringing many bells.  Best I can recall I thought it was fine.  Beach read?  Sure, knock yourself out.  Rating: I don't really remember this book but I think it was ok...#5 Good Enough