Book Updates

Well, I'm taking the lazy route again. I haven't updated on the last few books I've read, so I'm just going to lump them together.

'Salem's Lot by Stephen King - I love me some Stephen King. This wasn't my favorite story of his, but it was exactly what I expected - typical Stephen King. Actually, there were a couple of things in this book that surprised me a bit (that I can't really mentioned without spoiling it). It was a "comfort" read for me. Three stars.

Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe by Fannie Flagg - I'm pretty sure I saw this movie way back in the day, because some of the story seemed familiar, but I really didn't remember much of it. It was a good novel, but I had a hard time following it sometimes. I wasn't fully concentrating when I first started reading, and kept getting confused when it would jump times (past and present). Three stars.

The Virgin's Lover by Philippa Gregory - I think this is the only book of Gregory's that I hadn't read yet. I was mainly pissed that the back of the book gave so much away - I literally spent the entire book waiting for Amy Dudley to die, since the back of the book says "When Amy is found dead, Elizabeth and Dudley are suddenly plunged into a struggle for survival." Yeah, this happens with about 20 pages left in the 400-some page book. Granted the book his historical fiction, so maybe I was supposed to know more about the story, but the back of the book is pretty deceiving, since the story really isn't about their struggle for survival, it's more about what led up to Amy's death. Anyway, besides that annoyance, the book was just too long and drawn out in general. Not my favorite of Gregory's by far. Three stars.

The Appeal by John Grisham - Ok, a small confession. Remember this post? Refer to number #6 and my books all being the same. Well, this time around, I broke tradition. All of my Grisham books are in paperback - I always wait for it in paperback so I can be consistent. However, I was browsing the clearance section of Half Price Books recently and found the hardcover of this book for only $1! This book was just released in hardcover earlier this year, and paperback probably won't be out for another few months. I'm assuming it was a mistake that the book was marked to a dollar, since it was in fabulous condition, so I had to snatch it up. Of course, a year from now I'll probably replace it with a the paperback version, but in the mean time, it was a sweet find.

Anyway, this book was typical Grisham. I felt like it was moving really slowly at times - it wasn't quite as action-packed as some of his other novels. I also felt like the twists and turns were a little more subtle than the usually are. Still, it was a decent read - more "comfort reading" for me. Three stars.

Hannah's Dream by Diane Hammond - I'm just going to come right out and say it - this book was a huge disappointment. I believe the cover says something along the lines of "If you liked Water for Elephants, you'll love Hannah's Dream." Of course, that should have been my first clue, since I didn't love Water for Elephants, but this was an even bigger disappointment. The characters felt too one-sided, like the author was trying to fit each one into a particular mold, and some of the characters were absolutely pointless and really contributed nothing to the story except to make it longer. Two stars.

The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson

The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson
447 pages
Finished 8/19/08














The Devil in the White City is a true story about the World's Fair that happened in 1893, and tells two stories - the bringing of the World's Fair to Chicago and the building of it, along with the story of a serial killer operating in Chicago at the time.

Unfortunately, I found that the story revolving around the main architect and the building of the fair so incredibly boring. I had to fight my way through it, and only kept reading to get to the parts that mentioned the serial killer. Until the fair was actually built and running, the story was so dense and uninteresting. The story of the serial killer, on the other hand, was extremely interesting. I would have preferred to read a book about the killer than the combined book that I read - it felt like two completely different stories that didn't totally intertwine as well as it should have.

Two stars.

Pink Ice by Susanna Carr

Pink Ice by Susanna Carr
304 pages
Finished 7/20/08














Boy, am I glad I only paid 75 cents for this book at a local thrift shop! The book has four short stories that center around 3 sisters and pink diamonds that they bought. Apparently there is supposed to be some mystery/suspense in the story, but it is seriously lacking. The sisters are apparently all gorgeous and well educated, but don't have a man until they have the FABULOUS pink earrings.

It could have been not so eye-rolling if the author stretched out the stories a bit, but she tried to jam them in so quickly that you were left wondering what exactly the men saw in the sisters that made them fall in love so quickly and wrap up each storyline.

Two stars.

After You'd Gone by Maggie O'Farrell

After You'd Gone by Maggie O'Farrell
384 pages
Finished June 22, 2008















This book had been on my amazon.com wishlist for quite awhile. I always passed it up for one reason or another - the book looked good, but there was always some book that looked better. I found this at Half Price Books last week and picked it up - and I even started reading it right away, while I was sitting in the truck while David shopped at Menards.

The book was fair. I was annoyed by constant changing in the book within chapters. Within every chapter, time changed constantly - at one point we'd be seeing what was going on real time, a few paragraphs later we'd be years back to when the main character was a little girl, then it would jump to the main character in her twenties, and then back to real time. Not only was that not constant, but the narrative also changed from first to third person within the chapters. So annoying.

I may have been able to get past those things if the book was great, but it wasn't even good. The characters were not developed very well (especially the main character's mother - I wasn't sure where most of her actions came from). It was such a disappointment!

Two stars.

Anonymous Tip by Michael Farris

Anonymous Tip by Michael Farris
470 pages
Finished 5/23/08










I found this book on a fabulous shopping trip to Savers - I ended up getting a total of 7 books (3 of them Baby-Sitters Club) for under $6! Who knew Savers was so cheap? Anyway, I just skimmed the back of the book, and it sounded really interesting - a bitter ex-husband calls in a (very false) anonymous tip to an abuse hotline that his ex-wife is abusing his daughter. It results in some extremely over-zealous child protective agents filing false reports of abuse against the mother, and the book follows what happens after that.

The thing that I really liked about the book is that it moved really quickly - I was surprised at how fast some things happened, which was nice. It really helped to move the story along. However, it was also very predictable, right down to the ending, which really had me rolling my eyes.

The thing that really drove me nuts, though, is that I discovered a little way into the book that I had bought yet another Christian legal thriller. Turns out it said it was on the back of the book, and I just hadn't read it. I really need to start paying better attention - I had a hard time with a lot of the book, including one of the main characters because of the Christian factor. It was entirely too preachy, even for a book, for me.

Two stars.

Keri Arthur Novels

Last month I updated on two of four books in a Vampire/Werewolf series by Keri Arthur. On 5/13/08, I finished the third novel, Tempting Evil, and on 5/16/08 I finished the fourth, Dangerous Games. I'm not going to lie - the books got progressively worse and worse. In some cases, it just seemed like she was throwing in random characters to keep the storyline moving (or to give the book an actual storyline).

The worse thing, though, was that everything was not wrapped up at the end of the four-part series (as it was originally billed). Turns out there are at least two more books out there now, which annoys me because I just it all to be done. I probably wouldn't have read all four books if I had realized that there were actually more. Bitches.

I won't be reading the rest of the books. I gave the last two books two stars.

The Trial by Robert Whitlow

The Trial by Robert Whitlow
464 pages
Finished 4/3/08













This book ended up being a huge disappointment for me. It's about a trial lawyer whose wife and sons had died in a car accident years ago. In the beginning of the book, he's considering ending his life when he gets a call from a judge, asking him to represent a man accused of killing a local heiress of a powerful man in town.

I had quite a few problems with the book, one of them being (and I'll admit this isn't a huge thing) that the book is called The Trial. The trial only takes place in a few chapters of the book - it's covered pretty quickly. There is a lot leading up to the trial, and more following the trial.

My biggest gripe has to do with religion. I don't mind reading Christian novels (I've read most of the Left Behind series), but no where on the book did it mention that it was a Christian novel. When the main characters started quoting scriptures (including the lawyer to his client!), I started rolling my eyes. Almost every single main character in the book had a deep faith and were constantly expressing it, and those that didn't have a strong faith in the beginning did by the end. Really? I didn't read the book to be preached to, I wanted to read it for the "court room drama." I was really disappointed in the book, and the fact that it was not promoted or explained on the jacket as it should have been. I probably wouldn't have bought it if I had known.

Two stars.

Life Expectancy by Dean Koontz

Life Expectancy by Dean Koontz
496 pages
Finished 3/31/08













On the day Jimmy Tock is born, his grandfather predicts that he will have five dates in his life that will contain terrible events. His grandfather even predicts the dates of the said events. After detailing the incidents surrounding Jimmy's birth and his grandfather's predictions, the book basically follows these five days (all falling between ages 20 and 30).

To be honest, I thought the book started out really good. The circumstances around his birth, along with other things that happened at the hospital, made me really get into the book. Unfortunately, the book pretty much fell off there. I think the main characters (including Jimmy, his parents, his grandmother, and wife) were supposed to come off as quirky and funny, but they just came off to me ridiculous and annoying.

The five events were present in a weird manner as well. The first two were incredibly drawn out. There was a car chase that seemed like it was 23 chapters - I had to start scanning because it wouldn't end. It seemed like the last 3 were thrown in there in the last few chapters. It seemed really disproportionate.

It was too bad the book went downhill, because it had started out so good.

Two stars.

Nightshade by John Saul

Nightshade by John Saul
399 pages
Finished 2/18/08










So, you probably don't know this, but John Saul's Suffer the Children is one of my most favoritest (yeah, I said it) books of all time. I first read it when I was young - probably around 5th grade or so, and the only reason I really remember it is because it is one of the first books that truly terrified me (um, maybe because I was way to young to be reading this crap?). Anyway, since I adored that book so much, every once and awhile I'll pick up another John Saul book to see if it will get me the way that first one did.

The answer? Not so much. It's hard to describe what this book is about, so go to the amazon.c0m link above and read about it. Yes, I'm feeling lazy tonight. Especially because I have another book to talk about that is WAY more interesting than this one.

Bottom line - I skimmed most of this book, just to get to the ending and feel a little dirty for reading it. It was no Suffer the Children, that's for sure.

Two stars.

Icebound by Dean Koontz

Icebound by Dean Koontz
408 pages
Finished 2/1/08






This book is quite different from typical Koontz books. There I think it was one of the first books he published (although I could be wrong). It was originally published in the '70s under a different title (and under a pen name), and was brought back in the '90s with some updates.

Icebound doesn't have the creepy, horror feeling that most Koontz books have. This book was about some scientists trapped on an iceberg that is set to explode in less than 12 hours. To be quite honest, I was pretty bored by the book, and skimmed most of it. This book is probably my least favorite out of all of his books.

Two stars.

The Alibi by Sandra Brown

I'm not going to say much about The Alibi by Sandra Brown - I pulled it off of the dollar shelf at HPB because it looked kinda interesting. I realized about five pages into it that 1) I had read this book before, and 2) that it is a horribly written book. I was not a fan.

Two stars.

The Unholy by Michael Falconer Anderson

The Unholy by Michael Falconer Anderson
223 pages
Finished 12/30/07






I found this book in a box of my old books that I got from my mom - the box had some of my Baby-Sitter Club books, a bunch of teen angst books, a few romance book...and then there was this one. The book is in horrible shape - bent, sun faded, and it looks like part of it had gotten wet, but I was desperate for something to read a week or so ago (before I went to the bookstore and ordered from Amazon).

The back of the book makes the story sound really freaky and disturbing, but the story was actually a bit of a disappointment for me - I didn't get the chills I was expecting when reading it. It seemed a little rushed in places, and a little drawn out in others, and sometimes details were mentioned that just didn't fit with the storyline, and had me going "Huh?". Ug, plus, the other thing that annoyed me was that the f-bombs were edited. Really? Why have your character speak them if you are just going to type it "F..."?

Two stars.

The Almost Moon by Alice Sebold

The Almost Moon by Alice Sebold
291 pages
Finished 12/11/07






When I saw this at HPB, I snatched it up right away, even though it was a brand-new hardcover. I didn't know this author had another novel out. I had read her two previous books - her memoir, Lucky, and her first novel The Lovely Bones, and I adored them. I figured this would be the same.

Except, yeah, not so much. The main character (Helen) was disgusting. The book starts out (the first sentence) with Helen proclaiming that she killed her mother. The book follows the next 24 hours as she tries to decide what to do next. I'm not sure if Sebold's intention was to make us feel empathy for her, but whatever the plan was, Helen came off as a serious lunatic. And she didn't really have any redeeming qualities, and yet it seemed like everyone in her life (especially the men) would do anything for her. Unfortunately, whatever they saw in her doesn't come across to the reader.

An utterly disappointing Two stars.

On This Day by Melody Carlson

On This Day by Melody Carlson
329 pages
Finished 11/25/07













This book was a pretty quick read, even at 329 pages. I actually started it late yesterday evening and finished it in bed before 11. I'm not going to lie, I did some skimming, because it wasn't the most interesting or well written book.

The biggest issue was how it was the writing style. The book follows 5 different women during the course of the day - they are all guests at a wedding with some relation to the bride and groom. The author wrote each chapter so that it was in the "voice" of one of the women - a first person account of what they are thinking, feeling, etc. The problem is that the author really didn't have the ability to distinguish these voices - the 20-something maid of honor sounds exactly like the 80-something grandmother of the bride, who sounds exactly like the 40-something over-Botoxed drunk family friend, etc. It takes a pretty good author to pull this type of book off, and I just didn't think this one cut it.

I gave it two stars.

Joe College by Tom Perrotta

Joe College by Tom Perrotta
306 pages
Finished 10/15/07





I really wanted to like this book - it seems like all of Perrotta's books get rave reviews. Unfortunately, I just wasn't feeling it too much. The main character was too out there - there were times when I really liked him and his honesty. There were a lot of times throughout the book when I thought "That is so a college boy." For the most party, I thought all of the other characters in the book were completely out there and unrealistic, from Cindy to Matt to Nick.

I was enjoying the book for the first half or so - while Danny was still at Yale. Unfortunately, the book got pretty ridiculous about half way through it, when Danny moved back home for spring break to help out with his dad's lunch truck (which, incidentally, what the hell is that? I've never heard of the thing. Is it an East Coast thing?).

I give it two stars.

Breakdown by Eileen McNamara

Breakdown by Eileen McNamara
344 pages
Finished 9/30/07






This is a true crime novel that I picked up at Half Priced Books for $1. I figured it would be a pretty interesting read - it is about a Harvard Medical School student that began going to a Harvard psychiatrist for treatment for depression. Five years later, he commits suicide, and his family blames the psychiatrist, who was extremely unorthodox in her treatment.

The summary of the book made it out to be more interesting than it really was. It was really drawn out with stories repeated throughout, possibly to make it a full length book. It seemed to end abruptly, too, much like my review will.
I give it two stars.

Sept. 15 & 16

I went on a major reading binge the next few days...here's the start...


How to Be Good by Nick Hornby
305 pages
Finished 9/15/07










Another Hornby book I found while looking for High Fidelity. These two books that I have read by Hornby are making me rethink my mission to find HF. Anyway, the main characters in this book were uninteresting and annoying, and I found that I didn't care for them at all. For the most part, I found myself skimming a lot of the book, hoping it would end. There were a couple parts that I actually that were very enjoyable, which gave me hope, but then it went back to it's wordiness. I had to force myself to finish it.

I gave it one and a half stars.


Mutation by Robin Cook
338 pages
Finished 9/16/07










I considered this book a nice, familiar read. You know what you are getting when you read a Robin Cook novel - they all seem to have the same formula, etc. It was a very fast read, and had a level of intrigue that I like - not so sure what's going to happen, but you know you'll get to it quickly.

I gave it three stars.


The Girl Who Talked to Ghosts by Dean C Young
322 pages
Finished 9/16/07






A true story about a family that purchases a house that was haunted. I found it at a used book store, and decided to buy it because it was only a dollar. I was pleasantly surprised to find that this book was somewhat local - it takes place in Wisconsin, and all of the towns mentioned I am familiar with.

The story itself leaves something to be desired. The editing on the book is pretty bad - there are so many mistakes (particularly with quotations and paragraph indentation). It was a fast read - I read it while watching the Packers beat the Giants.

I gave it two stars.

3 More

About a Boy by Nick Hornby
307 pages
Finished 9/9/07











I actually picked up this book because I was looking for another book by the author (High Fidelity - I still haven't gotten it yet) and thought I'd read this one, since I liked the movie.
This is one of the few instances where I can say that I liked the movie better. I think my biggest issue was the author's writing style - I just wasn't a fan.

I gave it two stars

The Saving Graces by Patricia Gaffney
394 pages
Finished 9/11/07











This was a nice, quick, easy book about 4 friends. It got a little cheesy at times, but was a very sweet story. It is very girly, and I have to be in the mood to read this type of book typically. I guess I was, because I didn't throw it down in disgust.

I gave it three stars

Hitler's Niece by Ron Hansen
306 pages
Finished 9/14/07











Historical fiction about Hitler and his relationship with his niece. I think I went into this book with too high of expectations. I had heard good things about the book, but I found it to be very slow moving, and at times really boring. It was very wordy and drawn out. The book definitely picked up about 3/4 of the way through but not enough that I can give it that good of a review.

I gave it two stars

First 2 Books

Lisey's Story by Stephen King.
653 pages
Finished 9/3/07











A typical Stephen King, but not his best. In true King form, he makes up his own words (and repeats them constantly), and has thoughts running all over the place. The novel went up and down for me - some parts were really interesting, and some parts I skimmed just to get through them.

I gave it three stars


The Man of My Dreams by Curtis Sittenfeld
269 pages
Finished 9/5/07











I didn't like it nearly as much as I liked Prep, the author's first novel. Like Prep, the main character in this book was completely unrelatable, but on top of that, she was pretty unlikable and unbelievable as well. The book was a very fast read, though - I started it just after 8 pm, and ended up staying up and reading it. I finished it just before 11 pm the same night.

I gave it two stars