2013 READING LIST & REVIEWS

COMPLETED BOOKS

Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn.  Wow, or should I say ‘Amazing’?  I loved the writing in this.  I wanted to keep reading, not just for the sake of the plot but to find out how Flynn would phrase things.  Absolutely excellent.  432 pages.

The Secret Keeper by Kate Morton.  I guess this was just not my cup of tea. I know it’s a NY Times best seller but it’s not a book I would recommend. The story was a good one, interesting even; however, I didn’t enjoy the author’s apparent need to use 100 words when 1 word would suffice. I almost put it down right at the start because it took the author about five or so pages to get to the story. The first five pages were scene setting and nothing more. 498 pages.

NYPD Red by James Patterson and Marshall Karp.  Another fast paced, action packed Patterson detective novel.  I didn’t like Kylie McDonald and I’m not really looking forward to reading about her again.  That said, I did enjoy this novel.  It was not as drawn out as some Patterson novels.  There weren’t as many twists and turns.  I think all that made it a better novel.  400 pages.

Last Night At the Ritz by Elizabeth Savage.  Wow!  What a great read.  It’s an older novel but I am glad that it has been reprinted and I hope a lot of people will discover it.  It is a different kind of story in that it is told through an unnamed narrator in a conversational style.  It’s as if she were sitting down telling the story of the last two days to a new friend and filling them in on all the background and history of the characters and places.  Truly wonderful.  212 pages.

The Closers by Michael Connelly.  This one was really good.  It had been some time since I had read a Connelly/Bosch novel.  I am actually reading them out of order so this one took me back to Harry coming back to LAPD after a three year retirement.  416 pages.

The Forgotten by David Baldacci.  This one is a John Puller, Jr. novel.  It takes us to Florida and horrible crimes.  Not my favorite Baldacci but a good one.  428 pages.

The Racketeer by John Grisham.  Very interesting.  Not sure if I liked the main character much after the first fifty or so pages.  Not a very nice person.  It was, however, interesting.  358 pages.

Goodbye Junie Moon by June Collins.  Eh.  I think she really had two books here, not one.  Because of that, both stories feel incomplete.  330 pages.

Come Fly With Me by Sandi Perry.  This one was so-so.  I was ready to put it down at first but was reminded to give it a good fifty pages to get going.  I did and it was better than I had thought it would be but still not great.  I didn’t like the characters.  I don’t think they were very well developed.  Not a total waste.  223 pages.

It Started With A House by Beth Prentice.  Interesting.  I think the author struggled with where this was going because what we ended up with was a novel that had one tone throughout most of the book but was then interrupted by a very dark tone that just didn’t fit into the story.  262 pages.

A Season Of Innocence by Barbara Buxton.  She had a good story but included everything, including the kitchen sink, into the novel which left it feeling like a bunch of mishmash.  I think she just tried to fit too much into the story and didn’t know what to leave out.  452 pages.

The Misremembered Man by Christina McKenna.  Excellent!  Set in 1970’s Ireland and includes wonderfully created characters and local flavor.  It is a not to be missed story filled with tears, laughter, and love.  307 pages.

American Nomad by Frank Pickard.  Good one.  Mostly, well written.  Interesting stories.  Story of a military family traveling by car from North Carolina to Los Angeles in the 1950’s where they are to catch a cruise ship to take them to Honolulu to a new post assignment.  186 pages.

Lucky Charm by Marie Astor.  Nice, quick read.  Annabel is busy planning her wedding to her boyfriend of 7 years who she has supported financially and emotionally as he stays home to write his novel.  Then one day, by chance, she encounters her fiance and his agent in a certain compromising position.  Her world is shattered.  Her best friend invites her to accompany her on a trip to Paris where the friend is to show her original dress line.  She goes along and we get a great story!  266 pages.

Nine Dragons by Michael Connelly.  Harry Bosch at his best.  I have read all of the Michael Connelly novels.  I read them out of order as I didn’t discover him until about 18 months ago then read everything I could find, as I found it.  This one is not the most recent he has written (The Black Box is) but it is the last one I read.  I’m a bit sad because now I have no more Connelly to read until the next one comes out in November, and that one is a Mickey Haller novel, not a Bosch novel although we may see Harry in that one, too.  In Nine Dragons, Harry’s involvement with a case in L.A. reaches across continents, dragging in his ex-wife who Harry has never stopped loving and his thirteen year old daughter who live in Hong Kong.  Harry follows the threats to Hong Kong where, in one 39 hour day, his life is turned upside down and irrevocably changed.  Excellent work.  Very fast paced.  385 pages.

The Storyteller by Jodi Picoult.  Another of Picoult’s tales which make us wonder what we would do if we were the Protagonist.  It rocks us from one side to the other of the controversy as we identify with different characters.  This is the story of a young woman with emotional problems of her own who is suddenly befriended by an unlikely person with an ulterior motive.  Highly recommended. 465 pages.

Blood Sisters by Melody Carlson.  A young widow is saved from her own hand when she receives an envelope which contains the newspaper clipping of her childhood friend’s obituary.  Although the two girls had lost touch with each other many years before, they had sworn a bond of sisterhood and sealed it by exchanging blood…they were blood sisters.  And so the widow goes off to find the reason for her friend’s death and uncovers a mystery that she won’t let go of until she has solved it.  454 pages.

Tea Leafing by Weezie Macdonald.  Interesting story set in a strip club.  It pulls the Reader into the lives of a group of people connected to the strip club who try to solve the murder of one of their own.  494 pages.

Firefly Lane by Kristin Hannah.  The story of two young girls whose lives become connected in middle school and remain so through their college lives, adult lives, and the death of one.  Highly recommended journey.  508 pages.

Live @ Five by Larry Brill.  Story set around a TV news station and the drama, both real and created, that drives the news.  Sarcastic.  Humorous.  Entertaining.  253 pages.

The Hanged Man by T.J. MacGregor. This was quite good. The plot was engaging. The characters were likable, and the villains were truly hateful! I particularly enjoyed the tarot and psychic references and research.  A psychic sees a murder in her mind and contacts the police to report it, telling them everything she can about the scene. She tries to forget about the vision but she can’t. It keeps bothering her. Soon, she is contacted by Wayne Sheppard, a local policeman working on a murder which turns out to be the same murder she witnessed in her vision. Reluctantly, she is persuaded to help the young and attractive policeman with the murder. What follows has the Reader eager to stay up all night long to find out what happens next. 384 pages

Looped by Andrew Winston. This is excellent. I just finished it a little while ago and am sitting here thinking about the characters, still. It is set in Chicago in the year 2000 and follows a diverse group of people (ethnically, socially, financially, age, sexual orientation) from January 1 to December 31. At the beginning it is a little bit difficult in that there are so many characters introduced all at once and out introductions to them are sometimes no more than a short paragraph. However, that changes very quickly as we are pulled into the lives of the characters and how they interact with each other. Excellent. Excellent. Excellent! 414 pages.

Destined, a Novel of the Tarot by Gail Cleare. Marginal, maybe 2.5 stars.  What is wrong with the book? It has a story and a vague plot but it has no conflict. It’s basically the linear story of a year in woman’s life in which she gets a new job, new friends, new boyfriend, and a new way of life. But there never seems to be any conflict that lasts more than a couple of pages and what little conflict there is, is quickly solved and tied up with a bow on it. 352 pages.

The Hit by David Baldacci.  I rarely give five stars to books but this one earned every one of them. This is another wonderfully crafted, suspense filled novel by David Baldacci which makes me want to read more with these characters, although judging from the end of this novel, perhaps this is the last Will Robie novel. I hope not.  The pace in this one was such that I never got bored with what was happening. We were kept riveted to the story at every turn, and there were many turns. This is what this type of novel should be like.  396 pages.

Seems Like the First Time by Shawn Inmon.  This story is just amazing. It is written straight from the heart of the author who is writing about true life events and people and by the way he has written it, you can tell it’s true. In fact, during the parts where he is the young teenager, it is written with such energy and honesty, that we can see him and hear him in our minds as he writes the events just as they happened. How many of us have fallen in love with that one person that is our soul mate just to lose them? Lots of us. In this book, we read about just this kind of couple who fall in love and lose each other then find one another by total accident thirty years later.  I highly recommend this story. It’s not only honestly written but I think each of us can find some inspiration in the words. As a bonus, we are treated to many memories associated with songs of the seventies and eighties. It all makes it hit so much closer to home! 223 pages.

Heat Rises by Richard Castle. Quite good, especially if you are a fan of the ABC show, Castle. This one is fast paced as it sets out to solve more than one murder. Along the road, we are treated to a romance story between Nikki and Jamie, as well as a lot of humor.  320 pages.

Shoot the Moon by Billie Letts. A rare book. I am so glad that I stumbled on to this one. It’s a complicated story, simply told. It has the feel of the author sitting down with a friend and telling the story.  It’s the story of Nicky Harjo who is ten months old when his mother, an unwed teen, is brutally murdered and Nicky goes missing. After days of searching, the baby is presumed dead. A suspect is arrested and although there is little, if any evidence against him, he kills himself before trial. And so the case is closed. However, 30 years later, Mark Albright, upon the death of both of his parents, discovers that he was adopted when he was ten months old. He travels from California to Oklahoma to confront his mother about why she didn’t want him. When he arrives in the small rural town, he finds out his mother was killed and her ten month old baby was taken, a most likely, murdered as well. What follows is the story of Mark/Nicky investigating not only the murder but who his mother really was and discovering who he is. Excellently written.  368 pages.

Maya’s Notebook by Isabel Allende.  The first three fourths were quite captivating then it just sort of dropped off a cliff and didn’t resurface until the very end. It was just “okay”.  387 pages.

Remember This by Shae Buggs.  This was a cute idea for a story. I was a little annoyed and distracted by the number of grammatical and spelling errors. It seems like the author didn’t use an apostrophe throughout the entire book, even when they were needed. There were also a number of words that do not exist in any dictionary I checked. She seemed to make up words to fit her sentences. However the story was enjoyable and quite humorous at times. I may look for this author again.  The story is about what happens when Lucy figures out that her husband, Mason, has cheated on her.  When he walks in the door just after she has realized what she thinks he did, she throws a bottle of wine at him and it hits him on the head.  He develops amnesia and the doctors say she should try to re-live their life as a couple to see if his memory returns.  Interesting results.  156 pages.

CURRENTLY READING:

Second Thoughts.

I’ve been so bad at updating this.  I’ll have to come back and finish because I have another dozen or so books to add to this.

 

Hot Chocolate by Dawn Greenfield Ireland.  477 pages.  Saving for another time.

Life of Pi by Yann Martel.  Not going to finish this one.  Very slow.  Put me to sleep more than once.