Never Go Back

Oopsie.  I got a little too engrossed in my book and didn't get my writing done on time.

Do forgive me.

I picked up Lee Child's latest Jack Reacher book this weekend--Never Go Back.

I might have mentioned how much I love Reacher.  I love how his mind works.  I love how he stands up for what is right.  A hero.

So when I saw the book on the shelf I just had to make it part of my weekend.

I would have finished it already except I forced myself to complete actual work tasks before I started reading.

And now I am deep enough into the book that I have to force myself again to put it down and get the work done so I can read without feeling guilty.

Hopefully you'll see me in the morning, less than 12 hours from now.

If not, you'll know I spent too much time with Reacher.  I just can't help myself. . .he's back at the headquarters of his old unit, the 110th MP.  He is expecting to meet the woman who holds the job he formerly held.  But of course, things have spiraled well out of control really fast and Reacher is in trouble.  I have to know how he figures things out this time to get himself, and others, out of hot water this time.

See you soon. . . .

Reconstructing Amelia

Vacation also meant a ton of time to read.  I am not the best little traveler you would meet so when I am on the road, if I'm not driving, I am reading.  It's the only way.

My first book of the vacation trip was one that I found thanks to Buzzfeed.and the list 14 Books to Read Before They Hit the Big Screen.  The title intrigued me.  The story is about a mother coming to terms with the death of her child. . .who apparently committed suicide after being accused of cheating on an English assignment.

But there was so much more to what happened to Amelia.  Her mother, Kate,  had to try to wrap her brain around how this happened to her daughter.  And then the texts came "She didn't jump."  Suddenly Kate is thrown into something much larger. . .and has to face up to her own shortcomings as well.

It was very well written with only a few oddities that made me think "huh?" in particular when dealing with some of the digital trail left behind by Amelia.  But overall, this was a book that left me thinking for days after I finished it.  In fact, it was intense enough that I had to pause before even trying to pick up another book to read.  It's more than just the issue of Kate unraveling what happened to Amelia.  It was also because Amelia in the story is the same as as one of my children.  It made me think about how difficult the teen years can be for kids, even the ones that talk to their parents all the time.  It was the same kind of "intense, make you think about it for a while books" as Jodi Picoult's Nineteen Minutes (which really ought to be required reading for parents and teens).

I give two huge thumbs up for Reconstructing Amelia by Kimberly McCreight.  It is her debut novel and frankly I am looking forward to more from Ms. McCreight.

What Should I Read Next?

This is rarely a problem for me.  I usually have a stack of "must reads" and have to simply determine the proper order.

But every once in a while, I finish up all my "knowns" and suddenly have no idea where to turn.

Welllll, I am thrilled to share with you a little link that someone shared with me the other day. . .it completely solves the dilemma of the lost reader by giving you recommendations for what you would like based on something else you have already read and loved.

Soooo simple.  Click on this link What Should I Read Next? and put in the name of a book you read and loved. . .or an author whose works you have previously enjoyed.  It should recognize the book or author so you can click on it and watch a list of book suggestions appear.

Amazing.

Truly outstanding.

No go try it.  Find some books!  The summer is still young!

Me Before You

I just love when someone at the library places a book right where I will find it and take it home to read and love.  Surely they have me in mind when they select books to highlight, right?

A year or so ago I read a book by Jojo Moyes and found it to be very good.  However I wasn't driven to find all of her books and read them one after another.

Hmmm, let's just say that was a mistake.  I should have looked for more of her books. 

But I didn't.  So this one found me.

Me Before You is the story of a young girl, Lou, who has just lost her job and finds herself utterly lost in the world.  The somewhat comfortable little life she had created for herself has folded in around her.  But was it comfortable?  Was she just settling because she felt she had to settle?  Her family needed her and it was her job to contribute to the household income.  It was her duty to take the smallest bedroom so that her unmarried and smarter sister (and baby nephew) could have the larger bedroom.

Lou soon discovers that her talents are limited and her picky nature about jobs that she could do really limit her.  She is given the chance to interview to be a nurse/caregiver to a quadriplegic and surprisingly, is deemed a perfect fit for the job.  Her patient is Will, once a high-powered businessman who was hit by a motorbike two years earlier.  He is not a likable young man anymore--something his mother hopes Lou can help change.  Lou agrees to work for the family for six months, providing companionship and care for Will.

What follows is an eye-opening experience for Lou--not just into the world that Will must live in but also her own world and what she really wants from her life.

I found a number of excellent quotes in this one. . .yes, I have turned into one of those people who has quotes scribbled away on random pieces of paper everywhere.  But when a story speaks to you, you have a duty to remember it and tell others, right?

See more about Jojo Moyes and her books here

And a few quotes that spoke to me:


“You can only actually help someone who wants to be helped.”

“I should have listened to my father. 'Want to know the true definition of the triumph of hope over experience?' he would say. 'Plan a fun family day out.'

“Some mistakes...just have greater consequences than others.”

“I will never, ever regret the things I've done. Because most days, all you have are places in your memory that you can go to.”

What Alice Forgot

I was on a reading binge for a while at the start of summer.  Sometimes the best books are the unknown finds. . .books you hadn't intended to pick up but they present themselves to you and you just have to take them home for a read.

And that is exactly what I found with Liane Moriarty's book What Alice Forgot.  Alice takes a fall while at her spin class and hits her head.  She is dazed and confused.  She tells people she is pregnant (Who are all these people anyway?  They all act like they know her but she doesn't know them?) and insists that she is 29 years old.  But she isn't.  She's actually 39.  She has three children.  And that husband that she adores?  They are in the middle of an ugly divorce.

How on earth did her life get to this?  How can it be that she has three children and she doesn't know them at all?

This is a really interesting story.  As a reader, you can't help but think about what you might think if you suddenly had the same experience as Alice.  Are all your choices good ones?  Have you made choices that a younger version of you would approve of for your life?

This book is a few years old.  I found it because it was well placed at my local library (thank you Madam librarian!)  I intend to try a few more of Ms. Moriarty's books now.  I just love when I find an author who crafts a story I can really get lost in and at the same time, gives me something to think about.

So it's definitely summertime. . .reading a lot here!

In the first week of summer vacation I polished off three books.  Yes.  Three.  One of them took just 26 hours. . .and I even managed to sleep for about 8 hours *and* address other family concerns during that time.  They were fed and everything!

The first was the final book in the Sookie Stackhouse series--Dead Ever After.

I suppose it was time for the series to end.  I caught up with it several years after it began so it doesn't seem like it's been around for ages. . .to me.

Throughout the ride there have been highs and lows.  I felt that the earlier books (before it became an HBO series) were the better books.  There were a couple of ridiculously outlandish ones later on in the series.

The final book does exactly what you would expect.  People, erm, perhaps I should say creatures, must die in order for Sookie to continue in her happy little home in Bon Temps.  I can't give away any particulars.  But the story wraps up nicely.  Some might say too neatly for a mind-reader who has taken up with vampires, the fae, werepanthers and shapeshifters.

I will miss the early Sookie--who just dropped into people's thoughts, even when she really didn't want to do so.  She was sweet and innocent.  She became to hardened as she learned more about the world around her.  Maybe that is inevitable.

Personally, I would love to see Charlaine Harris be able to write more stories for Harper Connelly.  There were some talks in the works to turn it into a tv series but they fell through.  I feel there are more stories that could be told with Harper. . .but then, I'm just a reader, not the writer.

Stay tuned for more short book reviews this week.  It was a rainy weekend!

Whatcha readin'?

I spent far too much time on a dud.  It was billed as a "thriller" and a real page turner.  The only reason I got through it was sheer stubborn determination to not quit.  I frequently told people what I was reading and told them to walk on by this one if they saw it sitting on a shelf.  Why waste your time on a dud?

And then as soon as I finished it I went back to PJ Tracy for my latest in that series--Shoot to Thrill.  Ahh, heaven.  Back with comfortable characters and a story I could follow. . .even though it is set in a part of the country I have never visited.  At least it was in the same country as me rather than a foreign land with it's own inside jokes that left me hopelessly lost.

I haven't finished it yet.  However it's not because it isn't any good.  It's because I picked up a "bestseller express" at the library and I needed to hurry to read it before it had to be returned.  What was it?  Six Years by Harlan Coben.  Again, it was a fine little read from an author I generally like.  This one is about a man who loses the love of his life and then six years later a death causes him to go looking for that lost love.  But the world turns upside down on him.  This seems to be one of Coben's specialties--showing us that the people we think we know aren't always the people we think we know after all.  The plot did not disappoint.  It moves right along with plenty of twists and turns. 

While I won't tell you the title or author of the first book I mentioned, I will tell you that it is a good use of your time to pick up a PJ Tracy book or a Harlan Coben.

Happy reading!

"New" Author!!!

I owe a great debt to the friend who recommeded PJ Tracy's book Monkeewrench. 

You might have noticed that I haven't written about any good books in a while.  I had fallen into a bit of a book slump.  I'd find something that was supposed to be good and I'd try to read it.  Only to give up and take it back to the library.

Well. . . . Dominique (stop making fun of her name--no pretending you are the Singing Nun here!) pointed me toward Monkeewrench.  And when I didn't respond in a timely manner with "I love that book!" she reminded me again. 

So I got it.  I was prepared to love it so I planned a starting time for reading it so I'd have a chance to just sit and read.

Wowsers.

The story takes place in two states where law enforcement are investigating murders.  One state has a series of murders that match up to the crime scenes in a game created by Monkeewrench Software.  The other state is working to solve the apparently random murder of an old couple in church. 

Monkeewrench Software is made up of of a group of five people who have been friends since college.  But they have some shared mysterious background.

You'll have to read it for yourself.  It's definitely a book worth your time. 

What I have not been reading. . . .

I love to read by lately I cannot find anything that holds my attention long enough to actually finish it.

I picked up the book No Easy Day, about Seal Team Six, the one that served the mission that killed Obama Bin Laden (please note I never celebrate the death of an individual. . .if this is the "solution" to our problems, what a sad world we are in).  I thought I would read the book to see what all the fuss was about whether or not this individual told information that should have remained classified. 

I never got past the first 30 pages.  So I took it back to the library.

I also picked up Zoo, which I understand is supposed to be one of James Patterson's best books ever.  I didn't make it past the first 50 pages of that one either.  so back to the library with it.

Part of the problem was the need to watch baseball (all that time in front of the TV, and still my team did not pull off a win in the World Series) and I suppose a general lack of good things to read.

I refuse to read that one series that has been at the top of the NYTimes bestseller list for months--the trilogy of trash.

But I do have a very good friend who recommended some books to me and I am going to start on her series this weekend.  I'm starting at the beginning of the series and working forward.  I'll let you know how that one goes.

Pardon me. . .I'm a little busy right now. I picked up a Wanted Man

I sure did.  The latest Jack Reacher novel that is.  And it is amazing.  Just like I knew it would be.  I have such a hard time reading it though.  Because I absolutely love Jack Reacher. And when I finish reading this one, I'll have to wait a long time for another novel to be released.  Painful.

This is the 17th novel in the series. That's a lot of Reacher stories.  Some novel series get old after a while.

Not Jack.  Never.  He is 6 foot 5 inches.  Former Army MP.  He's traveling across the United States just to see it.  No set plan.  No set address.  And he always finds trouble.  He's one of the good guys but he sure might not look like it at a glance.  He rights wrongs.  He takes care of those who cannot take care of themselves.

He's the man.

Reacher.

Get it. A Wanted Man by Lee Child

Sometimes books are such duds

I read a lot of good books.  And then I try to branch out for different books.  And get burned.

I picked up one that was written by a young man with OCD.  I don't think "bitter and hateful" are nearly strong enough words to describe this author.  Much of what he had to say struck a chord with me--in all the wrong ways.  He attacked the church I love.  He attacked education.  He had very strong reactions to people overusing OCD.  I suppose he has a point there but once he states that he has a very rare sort of OCD he really should understand that maybe he should cut the rest of society some slack for not understanding him or his particular version so well.  It's not like he walks around with a sign on his forehead stating his problem so people don't even realize that he is battling OCD.  I hoped that reading his memoirs of growing up with OCD might be helpful to me (hey, I never know everything I should know about all the students that walk into my classroom, right?)  But reading his story just made me uncomfortable--from what he did share, his use of foul language and his nasty belligerent attitude toward God, the Church and people in general.

Fail.

Time to pull out a trusted and beloved author like Harlan Coben.  Much better.

Not only do I love Detective Mike Bennett

But so does my mother!

I read a fair number of books that I like just fine but would never recommend to my parents.  Some things just shouldn't be shared with them, right?  I mean, I can live with some occasionaly cussing in a book but it seems wrong to recommend a book like that to my parents.

But Detective Bennett is the bomb.  No inappropriate cussing.  No inappropriate scenes with ladies.  Just a good Catholic boy who loves his family.

My mom had the first book for 2 days before she called me and said "what's the next book and where can I get it?" 

I call that awesome.

(Note--Detective Mike Bennett is with the NYPD.  His character was created by James Patterson/Michael Ledwidge.  The first book is Step on a Crack and the second book is Run for Your Life.  Check them out!)

Babymouse is my new hero!

My youngest is a somewhat reluctant reader.  She enjoys pretending to read but she gets frustrated sometimes with her reading.

The other day we went to the library to pick up a few books to finish out the reading program.  We found the Babymouse series.  She thought it looked interesting so she got Babymouse #1 Queen of the World!  She read it in the car as we ran errands and when we got home she told me she would finish the book.  We weren't home twenty minutes and my little angel told me "Mommy, I finished the book!"

Yup, my baby.  She read a 96 page book in nothing flat.  And she was so excited because it was the first time she read a book that long in one day.

Thank you Babymouse!

Delirium and Pandemonium

When will I ever learn?  Once again I have read a book, ok, 2 of them, only to learn that the story doesn't end here.  I really need to do more research before I start my books don't I?

I literally ran through Delirium.  I couldn't wait to see what would happen next. 

Pandemonium took more effort because it is told in two time frames. . .now and then.  The flipping back and forth caused me to just wish the story was being told chronologically.  It also frustrated me because it seemed some questions were not answered.  At the same time, some parts were entirely predictable.  I don't like when the books I read are predictable.  I like from them to have surprises.  Maybe I have just gotten better at understanding foreshadowing?

But then, suddenly I was at the end of Pandemonium. . .and left hanging until March of next year to get answers to the remaining questions. 

Oh dear.

I "heart" Michael Bennett

Really truly I do.

I mean, he's the man.  A Catholic police detective in New York City with 10 children that he's raising with a lot of help from his nanny and Father Seamus (I totally loved when they ran down the top ten reasons it's great to have a priest as your grandfather!)

This character speaks to me.  In the midst of all that happens with his job and his family he keeps track of what is most important and he does not screw up.  Well, sometimes he does--but not in a way that cannot be fixed.  When he is coping with a great loss, he heads to church to pray.  He takes breaks from his job to be with his family.  He is resigned to his role as dad of 10 but you know that he wouldn't trade it for anything in the world.  Obviously he would prefer to have his wife Maeve with him in this crazy world.  But he has his head on straight to tackle the crazy world he is in.

I love that.

As much as I love Jack Reacher for his renegade sense of justice (and his impeccable thought process to solve the situation), I completely adore Michael Bennett for being the perfect gentleman, doting father and smart detective who always gets his guy.  Yup, you could even compare him to Cary Grant.

As soon as I saw that there was a new Michael Bennett novel coming out I got on the waiting list for the library.  But then luck smiled upon me and I found a copy just sitting on the Bestseller Express rack, waiting for me to pick it up.  I refuse to read it too fast though.  Patterson and Ledwidge always makes these novels page-turners but I want to savor my time with the Detective.  Because he is everything you want a familyman to be. . .plus a detective who always manages to get the bad guy.  He is "the good guy" that you hope still exists in the world.

If you haven't read any of this series yet, shame on you.  Go pick up a copy and treat yourself to a great story.

Wicked reads

A few years ago I decided to give Janet Evanovich a chance.  I had a friend who simply adored the Stephanie Plum series and I figured it was a good way to spend my summer, right?

So I have made my way through the Plum novels and all the in betweens.  When I ran out of Plums I picked up the MotorMouth series and read it.  Loved it and wished Evanovich had taken the time to write more for that series (graphic novels are not my thing).

Then along comes the spin-off series for Lizzy Tucker, cupcake baker, and Diesel.  Delightful!  Wicked Appetite was a scrumptious little morsel.  No, really, it was. Pure fun to read.  So when I stumbled across the second novel Wicked Business on the bestseller shelf at the library I was terribly excited.  And even though I knew I had two weeks to read it, I was compelled to move it up in the reading stack. 

Evanovich is pure fun to read.  The characters are quirky and yet comfortable to hang out with for a few days, although it never takes me that long to get through one of her books!

Divergent/Insurgent--read them!

So now and then books come along that everyone insists you must read.  Like Harry Potter.  Like Twilight.  Like The Hunger Games.  Not all of them qualify as true must reads.

But Divergent and Insurgent are certainly worth your time.  The short summary is it is about a 16 year old girl who has grown up living in one "faction" but now must go through testing and determine which faction she will join.  If she leaves her faction, she leaves her family, presumably forever.  She soon discovers that she has a different aptitude than she might have expected and must find her way when no one can really help her figure it all out.  Along the way she makes new friends but she cannot tell them the whole truth about her aptitude. 

There's so much more I could say but I refuse to spoil the fun for you.  So you will just have to go out and get them for yourself!

Books Books Books!

Summertime is in full swing and I am all over the map with my reading these days.

I've read some non-fiction. . .about a mother raising two autistic boys.  While it was a quick read, I don't really think it is worth recommending unless of course you are raising an autistic child and you wish to be able to nod along in agreement with what she has to say.  At times she was a little too personal and overshared.  Which is sad because she could have left those parts out and simply had a statement about what her life is really like--something that some people might find unbelievable.

I've picked up a few cookbooks.  My oldest made some amazing cookies using one of those cookbooks.  And I had a thoroughly tasty and unspeakably easy to make salad from another one of those cookbooks.  Plus we made some pretty tasty snacks and supper one day.  Recipes that make the cut will eventually be shared.  Have no fear there.

I've read some Harlan Coben--Shelter--which is his first young adult novel.   He blends in characters from the Myron Bolitar series in telling the story of Mickey Bolitar, Myron's nephew.  This is a series that perhaps boys can enjoy.  There are so many great books for girls but it seems to me that there need to be more books for boys.  The website shows book number two Seconds Away will go on sale September 18.  I am not, however, sharing the website because you really must read these books and form your own images of the characters before you let anyone else tell you what they look like.  Really.  Just go get the book.  You'll love Mickey.  Ema will make you smile.  And you simply cannot help but adore Spoon.

Mr. Pip

I selected this book based on it's placement at my local library.  I was intrigued by the idea of a book about a man reading Great Expectations to a group of kids on a island in the 1990's. He was the only white man left on the island and he became their teacher.

The first half of the book went quickly.  I was re-introduced to Pip, Estella, Miss Havishim, etc. Many years ago I taught this novel to 14-15 year old students.  So it was definitely refreshing to see how he "hooked" the kids on the island with this story about a land so far away from them.

I must confess that as I was reading, I was terribly disappointed that they finished the novel as quickly as they did.  I expected it to last longer.  In fact, when I finished the book I closed it and thought, "that's disappointing."  I even told my mother the next morning (read this one while on a mini vacation with the parents) that I was very unhappy about how the story ended.

And then I had my "a-ha" moment.  It all clicked.

Looking back on it, I'd call it a book worth reading.  If you are not familiar with Great Expectations, I'm not sure you will come to the same conclusions as I did.  I'm not certain how important it is to have that frame of reference for it.

Take a look at Lloyd Jones' novel here

Gilded Lives, Fatal Voyage

One of my first picks for summer reading was this account of the Titanic.  I am not sure what exactly I thought I would be getting but I was surprised how far into the book we went before the Titanic hit the iceberg.

Hugh Brewster is the author.  He manages to give great insight into the people who made up the Gilded Age, sharing how so many of these "movers and shakers" of the time landed on the maiden voyage of this unsinkable vessel.  Among the passagenger list:   Margaret "The Unsinkable Molly" Brown,  Lady Duff Gordon, Dorothy Gibson, Helen Candee, Bruce Ismay, Frank Millet, Archibald Butt,  Benjamin Guggenheim, and the Astors--John Jacob Astor and his wife, Madeleine.

I was fascinated by their backstories (who knew there was so much divorce back then?) and stunned by their wealth, evidenced in part by tthe lists of what they packed for the voyage.  But the early part of the book still seemed to lag for me.  I was most interested in the fateful night and how these people fared.  Perhaps I should be ashamed of myself for this because these people had lives beyond that night and I should be more interested in those lives, not simply the final moments. 

Eventually, I did skip a few pages in the middle, around 20 or so. 

Possibly the most interesting part of the book was the postscript where Mr. Brewster gave additional information on the survivors.  So many accounts seem to stop with the ship going under or with the passengers on the Carpathia.  But Mr. Brewster continues with the arrival in New York followed by the investigation.  Then he round it out by detailing what happened to many of the survivors.  For some, that fateful voyage cost them everything--their money, their reputations and the life they had known.  Others managed to move onward and upward from the experience, finding a new calling for themselves. 

It is an interesting read for anyone fascinated by the Gilded Age or the Titanic story.  However be aware this is less about the ship and that night and more about the people on board the ship.


Amazon link to Gilded Lives, Fatal Voyage: The Titanic's First Class Passengers and Their World