Defending Jacob

Defending Jacob by William Landay

Landay’s critically acclaimed novel is a fast paced thriller. While it is full of courtroom drama, it also delves deeply into family dynamics.

A young boy is found murdered near school in a small New England town. The community is shaken. Andy Barber, ADA, leads the homicide investigation. His 14 year old son, Jacob, goes to the school and Andy is determined to find the killer and make the world safer for his son.

However, in a turn of events, Andy is thrown off the case and Jacob is arrested for murder. Andy and his wife Laurie adamantly defend their beloved son. As his guilt becomes more and more evident, everything in their life is tested: their marriage, their identity, friendships, belief in their son, and belief in the court system.

What do you do when you discover someone you love so intensely is capable of unimaginable horrors? How far would you go to protect your child?

A recommend for the legal drama, mystery and thriller reader.

The Know It All

The Know It All: One Man’s Humble Quest to Become the Smartest Person in the World by AJ Jacobs

A.J. Jacobs pledges to read the entire Encyclopedia Britannica in just one year. Part memoir and part trivia, this book is delightful! Quirky and sometimes introspective--I recommend this to all the other book nerds out there.

A few pages in and I was happy to find  a fellow book geek…be still my heart! I would like to tell Mr. Jacobs that I, too, read the entire Encyclopedia. It was the 1978 version (the year I was born). I read it while I was in high school, although it was super out of date. Being the nerd that I am, I highlighted interesting points to do further research. There might have been some alphabetized file folders involved. Research in those days was a little daunting, pre-internet and all. I did not own a computer, so everything that I wanted to document had to be done via typewriter or good old pen. The file folders were my things before Excel was invented. This should not be surprising to anyone aware of my obsessive personality.

Jacobs touches on thoughts of being educated vs. remaining blissfully unaware. This is a subject I often ponder.

On one side, I often feel overwhelmed by all the things I do not know, but want to know. For example, my 15 year book list frustrates me because I genuinely cannot read any faster. Or when someone brings up an obscure point, I hate it when I don't know what they are talking of. I was born with a brain geared toward learning.

On the flip side, I feel overwhelmed by things that I DO know. For example, does studying the Holocaust truly make me a better person? Or does it make me more fearful and anxious? Maybe both. I have a hunger to learn about it, and I do think I'm a better person because I'm aware, but...what you don't know doesn't hurt you, right? And does being politically aware and active actually do anything except frustrate me? Probably not. Most people are blissfully oblivious in this category.

It’s a conundrum, really. Some days I wish I could regress and become dumber. Could it be true that ignorance is bliss? Sometimes I feel like I should strive to be a little dumber…maybe I’ll work on that.

Anyway, this book made me want to re-read the Encyclopedia! I think I will add it to my list…

Hissy Fit

Hissy Fit by Mary Kay Andrews

I would like to start today’s post with a pet peeve…why do many authors allow “A Novel” to be placed after the title of their book? Really…I thought I was reading an essay on global warming...Sheesh.

Aside from that nonsense, I am unsure how to categorize this one. I thought chick lit, then I thought romance; I’m not really sure what it is. Maybe closer to chick lit, if it is supposed to be romantic it missed the mark by a mile.

Keeley finds her fiancé doing the naughty with her best friend at their rehearsal dinner. She throws a fit, hence the title. From there I hoped for a romance with Will, the mysterious male introduced in the parking lot. But no, he turns into a really strange character. He is basically stalking another lady and there is zero chemistry between he and Keeley.  I was actually rooting for the cheater to be taken back, instead of reading about this guy.

While I really liked Keeley’s character the rest of the book was a bit of a bore. The ending is horrible. Read only if you have nothing else on your list.

Bloom

Bloom: Finding Beauty in the Unexpected by Kelle Hampton

Inspiring and beautiful, Hampton's memoir is very touching. She shares her birth experience as her baby is born with Downs Syndrome. The shock of the unexpected was difficult to overcome, but she quickly put things into proper perspective. 
Overall, this memoir shows the power of positivity. It is important to live the life you are given to the fullest. I fell in love with this family through the heartfelt prose and gorgeous photography. You can also follow Hampton's blog.

Explosive Eighteen

Explosive Eighteen by Janet Evanovich

When will this series end?? Enough already--I’m done. Someone let me know, when she finally wraps this up, how it ends.

Daisy's Back in Town

Daisy's Back in Town by Rachel Gibson

If you're looking for a simple and quick romance, this is a decent read.

The plot is pretty ridiculous, but hey, there's a happy ending!

Fifty Shades Freed

Fifty Shades Freed by E.L James

I finished the series, finally. Book three was exactly as I expected--which isn’t necessarily a good thing. More of the same from the preceding books.

I’m still a bit baffled as to how these became so popular!  

The World According to Garp

The World According to Garp by John Irving

In my opinion John Irving resides among the very best contemporary authors. He writes with an innate elegance; in vivid and realistic detail. The reader finds herself in the story, right alongside the characters. The way he can create a multi-dimensional story is a rare talent. This particular novel is tragic, comedic, dramatic and moving. It can’t really be categorized, except as a classic.

Irving forces one to think; this is no mindless read. There are deep, complex characters facing regular issues in life. Some of the points intermingling include: feminism, sex, writing, insanity, love, adultery, marriage, and parenting. There is so much substance here that one reading will not suffice.

In this particular work, two things impact me the most--the fear of a parent and the fear of a writer.
There is a strong focus on the parent/child relationship. Garp’s story begins before his conception. The beginning focuses on how Jenny Fields chose to conceive and raise her son. Then the focus shifts to how Garp parents his own children.

The way a parent feels about a child cannot be explained, but I could poignantly feel it in Irving’s words; the worry, the fear, the overwhelming feeling that a child is a part of your very being. I don’t want to spoil the story for those who haven’t read it, but the tragedy that occurs overwhelmed me. Irving is quoted as saying “In my imagination, I lose my children every day.” Isn’t that the truth? I try not to, but my mind always goes there.

The feelings of a writer are portrayed through Garp. A writer’s own experiences are a base for every work. Imagination takes over to fill out the story, but at the root it is your life. This is an intimate feeling that is hard to describe. Personally, I often feel naked when I share my work. I have several pieces that I’ve not been able to share for that very reason. Garp’s character touched on many of my feelings about my own talent.

“In the World According to Garp we are all terminal cases.” Yes, yes we are.

Simply amazing.

Generation T

Generation T: 108 Ways to Transform a T-Shirt by Megan Nicolay

Amazon Description:

"This inspirational guide with DIY attitude has everything you need to know about the world’s great T-shirt: how to cut it, sew it, deconstruct it, reconstruct it, and best of all, transform it. • Features more than 100 projects (plus 200 variations) for customized tees, tank tops, tube tops, T-skirts—even handbags, a patchwork blanket, iPod cozies, leg warmers, and more. • Not a DIY expert? Not to worry. More than one third of the projects are no sew, meaning anyone who can wield a pair of scissors can put a personal stamp on her wardrobe. But the sewing basics are here too: backstitch and whipstitch, gather and ruche, appliqué and drawstrings. • And the mission statement for Generation T: Ask not what your T-shirt can do for you; ask what you can do for your T-shirt. And then Do-It-Yourself!"
My thoughts:
This is an entertaining book. My daughter and I tried several variations. Great ideas for the hipster who wants to make a fashion statement, or for keeping crafty children busy.

Lover Awakened

Lover Awakened by J.R. Ward

I feel like I need to start off by saying (again) that I'm not usually a fan of the vampire/romance genre. That being said, when I picked up the first in the Black Dagger Brotherhood series I was determined not to like it. However, Ward is very talented. As you read, you almost forget that vampires are a fantasy. Her character development is simply amazing. So...now I'm hooked.

Book three of the series tells Zsadist's story. I knew, as soon as he was introduced in book one, that he would become my favorite of the brothers. He is a very complex character, recovering from life as an abused slave. He seethes with emotion. I fell further in love with him in book two, and that continued here. He tries so hard to remain aloof and emotionless. Seeing that change with his love for Bella had me in tears. Absolutely wrenching.

I recommend this series to all romance genre readers, even if you don't usually read fantasy, give it a try!

Sushi for Beginners

Sushi for Beginners by Marian Keyes


First of all I thought this was a cookbook, as it was in the "cooking" section of my "to-read" list. So, I started off a little discombobulated.

Aside from the error in categorization, this was incredibly hard to get into. The story starts out jumping from character to character, and I couldn't keep them all straight. I ended up giving up after several chapters and just reading the end. I didn't like the end any better than the beginning.

This is the second Keyes novel that I've read. I enjoyed "Watermelon" a bit more than this one. The female character was very intriguing, but the male was strangely constructed. I liked it, but didn't love it.

I like the writing style and I get glimpses of a great story, but so far I'm not a Keyes fan. Any recommendations of her best work?

Full Service

Full Service by Scotty Bowers

This memoir is quite disturbing. Bowers recounts his life in Hollywood, basically as a pimp/prostitute. He clearly has some issues that he should have explored long before now.

I don't recommend this to anyone.

Animal, Vegetable, Miracle

Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver

Kingsolver's first nonfiction book is a gem. Beautifully written, it is part memoir and part research. Her family decides to move to a farm, grow their own food and shop locally. If they cannot grow it or buy it from local neighbors they don't eat it. I enjoyed the viewpoint from Kingsolver and also her daughter's contributions at the end of each chapter. Many facts are also included on today's food industry.

I admire this family for their decisions and dedication. They have found a way to enjoy the truly important things in life. Food preparation can be the center of a family. Kingsolver reminds the reader to focus on what is going into your body and how those items came to be.

Quote: "This is the story of a year in which we made every attempt to feed ourselves animals and vegetables whose provenance we really knew . . . and of how our family was changed by our first year of deliberately eating food produced from the same place where we worked, went to school, loved our neighbors, drank the water, and breathed the air."

A definite recommend.

A Small Furry Prayer

A Small Furry Prayer by Steven Kotler

A recommend for the dog lover, or for the reader who is passionate about living life to their own standards. Kotler tells his personal story of leaving his routine life in L.A. to grow a dog rescue program in remote New Mexico. They spend their savings on a place where they can live freely and take in homeless dogs. Kotler stirs emotion with tales of abused, injured and damaged dogs. They take these animals in and treat them with respect, dignity and love.

 

Beyond the tale of how he became involved in dog rescue, Kotler explores the humanity of growth, love and change.  

Nothing to Envy

Nothing to Envy: Real Lives in North Korea by Barbara Demick

Demick offers a rare view inside of North Korea. She relates the lives of six North Koreans through changes in country leadership and a devastating famine that killed an estimated 20% of the population.

The reader glimpses life in the most totalitarian country in the world. North Koreans have no access to the outside world. Hard to imagine--no Internet, very limited radio and television (government run), and basically no electricity or what is commonly seen as modern convenience. You are not free to travel, you are not free to create relationships, you are not free to live your life as you wish. One misstep can send a citizen to prison (re-education camps or the gulag). And since the country is so tightly controlled, the citizen don't realize that this is not typical.

I tried to put myself in the place of each of these six people. Extremely hard for me to imagine, but I could feel sympathy and excitement for them as they realized that their life could be different.

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot

Amazon Description:

“Her name was Henrietta Lacks, but scientists know her as HeLa. She was a poor Southern tobacco farmer who worked the same land as her slave ancestors, yet her cells—taken without her knowledge—became one of the most important tools in medicine. The first “immortal” human cells grown in culture, they are still alive today, though she has been dead for more than sixty years. If you could pile all HeLa cells ever grown onto a scale, they’d weigh more than 50 million metric tons—as much as a hundred Empire State Buildings. HeLa cells were vital for developing the polio vaccine; uncovered secrets of cancer, viruses, and the atom bomb’s effects; helped lead to important advances like in vitro fertilization, cloning, and gene mapping; and have been bought and sold by the billions. Yet Henrietta Lacks remains virtually unknown, buried in an unmarked grave.Now Rebecca Skloot takes us on an extraordinary journey, from the “colored” ward of Johns Hopkins Hospital in the 1950s to stark white laboratories with freezers full of HeLa cells; from Henrietta’s small, dying hometown of Clover, Virginia—a land of wooden slave quarters, faith healings, and voodoo—to East Baltimore today, where her children and grandchildren live and struggle with the legacy of her cells. Henrietta’s family did not learn of her “immortality” until more than twenty years after her death, when scientists investigating HeLa began using her husband and children in research without informed consent. And though the cells had launched a multimillion-dollar industry that sells human biological materials, her family never saw any of the profits. As Rebecca Skloot so brilliantly shows, the story of the Lacks family—past and present—is inextricably connected to the dark history of experimentation on African Americans, the birth of bioethics, and the legal battles over whether we control the stuff we are made of. Over the decade it took to uncover this story, Rebecca became enmeshed in the lives of the Lacks family—especially Henrietta’s daughter Deborah, who was devastated to learn about her mother’s cells. She was consumed with questions: Had scientists cloned her mother? Did it hurt her when researchers infected her cells with viruses and shot them into space? What happened to her sister, Elsie, who died in a mental institution at the age of fifteen? And if her mother was so important to medicine, why couldn’t her children afford health insurance? Intimate in feeling, astonishing in scope, and impossible to put down, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks captures the beauty and drama of scientific discovery, as well as its human consequences.”

My thoughts:

This book is fascinating and informative. I had no idea that HeLa cells existed, let alone that they have been responsible for so many scientific break throughs. Skloot is a talented research author. She followed her heart in writing this book. She urges the reader to be more informed about science and also to think about the ethics surrounding research.

A definite recommend.