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Let The Great World Spin
by Colum McCann
Amazingly entertaining book written by wonderful author. I guess the main character was about the man who walked a tight rope across the twin towers in New York and then all the people who either observed it, or were in the court room for arraignment together and their friend and foes. The book felt many times like it was all several small books within it, yet it all was woven together during and the end. There was a couple of prostitutes that were being helped by the truly main protagonist, a monk and his brother who were Irish. Then the monk fell in love with a woman and the brother had a lot of misgivings about the life his brother the monk was taking. I loved this book.
Bel Canto
by Ann Patchett
A wonderful story teller like. It is a the story of a group of people caught in the cross fires of a kid napping for the president, but the president stayed home that night to watch his soap opera. Then the group of people were held for months getting to know each other as well as the guards.
The Emperor of All Maladies
by Siddhartha Mukherjee
All very interesting of mainly the history of how all cancer treatments are experimental till the next plunder experiential treatments.
Now Is The Time To Open Your Heart
by Alice Walker
I got totally lost in trying to follow the story within this book. It was about an African American woman who is married several times and reflects on the those marriages and men. One beat her, one loves her, one I think leaves her. She ends up going to some kind of meditation retreat then ends up in another retreat in Hawaii. She speaks of her relationship with the others in the group and a relationship with a woman.
Of course Alice Walker is one of the greatest writers, the words and story were so wonderfully and descriptively written. More than lovely, more than beautifully written.
Riding Lessons
by Sara Gruen
Amazingly well written book with an interesting story of the dynamics and life's process of a divorce and going back to one old home. This old home is a training riding ranch. A story of this woman's daughter and mother relationship and the death of her father as well as her marriage. The entire book of her life was certainly captivating in each step of the book, but the woman was an idiot, a drama queen, a misfit in anything she did. She sabotaged her life as well as her family's with absolutely stupid moves and decisions while she chose to obsess on what she wanted to do so selfishly. She irritated me beyond end. She wrote Water for Elephants too. There is always something missing in her books, like reality?
Queen of The Night
by J.A. Jance
Very confusing in the beginning with the background of all the characters. A man after he is laid off from being a banker pops his wife, kids and then goes after his mother and her husband. The mother gets killed on an Indian Reservation along with another couple. The couple has a kid that eye witnesses her mother gets killed. She is the cousin of the doctor who's adopted father was a cop and his step-son is hurt finding the killer. I cannot believe I remembered all this and was actually able to follow all the stories. Obviously well written again and quite captivating.
Point Of Origin
by Patricia Cornwell
Now this one is a of a terrible fire that destroys a wealthy man's estate including his loved race horses. A woman is found dead among the ruins that had apparently been killed prior to the fire. The murder turns out to be the her niece's former lover and cop who is on a killing rampage to get back at protagonist even kills the boyfriend.
Me, Myself and Why?
by Mary Janice Davison
I have no idea why I continued to read this. This very last part was the only part that made any sense. It is when she sits down with the psychiatrist and all is explained as to how she came to have MPD. The protagonist has multiple personalities and they are all part of an FBI special team with other mentally disabled people that solved or investigated crimes. They made no sense though. It made no sense. Cadence jumping in and out of her personalities made the read far too jumping, erratic and confusing to me.
In A Strange City
by Laura Lippman
Alright, this may be the last book I read or listen to of Laura Lippman. The woman reading it sounds as though she may have emphysema or soon to have it. Defiantly a smoker voice; the a low throaty resonance in her voice that the enunciation all sounds like a monotone blur. Now I don't know the entire theme or plot of the story attempting to understand her at the same time being disgusted by her voice. Strangely the last person I think who read for Laura Lippman's book about this same detective, the voice was like 20 years younger.
Basically, there is a person killed at the anniversary of something to do with Edger Allan Poe and some thieves of antiques or they think are old from Poe.
I do not know what the main reason for the theft and killing was, nor who all these people really were. Just contrived dribble.
Read by Barbara Rosenblat.
Cruel Intent
by J.A. Jance
Very provocative. She is back home rebuilding her life and a house. Her contractor is now accused of murdering his wife. She helps him and herself rebuild her relationship with her family and son.
The Memory Palace - A Memoir
by Mira Bartok
A memoir indeed. An author's mediative memoir of her life with a dysfunctional family that can win a prize for the worst. Her father depressed leaves when she is a small child, her mother a schizophrenic attempts to warp Mira and her sister's minds while living with her anti-Semitic cruel abusive grandfather. Mira's grandmother is Jewish her grandfather is not. He eventually dies slowly eaten away with cancer.
Mira's mother goes on to live mainly on the street, a homeless distraught woman hiding away from gamma waves and people to talk to her. Mira has a brain injury and is almost homeless herself. In the end, her sister and her make some sort of peace with their mother after hiding away from her for 17 years.
Sad and educational about the state of our ill and homeless in this country under the dictatorship of several presidents - and us...
Sing You Home
by Jodi Picoult
A husband and wife trying desperately to have a baby finally conceive and at the last moment have a still birth. Life goes on, the divorce, he becomes born again and she becomes gay. Now they are fighting over the couple of zygotes they conceived invetro, in their marriage. It has become a moral story of gay verses christian. In the end all is worked out and most people live happily ever after.
Secrets of Longevity
by Maoshing Ni
His wonderful book of helpful hints on foods, health and longevity. A great leaning tool for a healthy and better life.
Cause of Death
by Patricia Cornwell
Interesting as always but I got lost with the conclusion of the death of this scuba diver. I guess he was just a reporter and the doctor's and her team including her niece attempt to figure it all out.
Songs for the Missing
by Stewart O'Nan
An 18 year teen is missing and her family is falling apart even more than they were when all was there. Rather aloof from each other. Also rather boring just listening to it all but we shall see as time goes by. No, still blah blah blah, their life as a daily grind, I was thinking that I would be interested. Falling asleep and eating dinner. It could have been nice if it was not that shallow. But it was shallow and the part about the father and mother and sister and a few friends were a bore. Never really knew what the secret these friends were keeping about the girl that went missing. But they found her body. Never knew what happened to her. It was just the lives of the parents and the sister.
Inside Of A Dog
by Alexandra Horowitz
So boring and the the information in the book is just this one woman's observation of her dog and some at a dog park. I found that she made a few mistakes and then I lost my interest. I spaced out most of the time and feel I had nothing to learn from it.
Think Twice
by Lisa Scottoline
Another good author I have now discovered. Good story about a successful attorney haunted and stalked by her twin sister she had never known. Her sister takes her identity and money and almost her boyfriend. Both sisters almost get killed in the process. The good sister wins and changes her life for the better with a different perspective on her life now since she almost lost it.
By A Spider's Thread
by Laura Lippman
I don't know where the title came from but this was certainly another provocative suspense mystery by her. The story was about an Orthodox Jewish man's missing wife who had been deceiving him for many years just waiting for her lover to be released from prison. Some the Jewish rules were wrong but the basic understandings were there. The man was a furrier with three children. His wife takes off with her lover and the kids almost ended up dead along with her husband. (Linda Emond, narrator)
Spiritual Partnership - The Journey to Authentic Power
by Gary Zukav
I really did not like his writing here, too much rambling and many very long sentences. His personal story telling was interesting, but when he explains something, I get lost with all the extra words.
"Using your creative power without knowing your intentions is like driving a car without the windshield painted black."
Spider Bones
by Kathy Reichs
She is a forensic anthropologist and is investigating the death of a solder presumed to be dead in Vietnam. Very slow moving and a bit drawn out discussing details of files. I can probably live without her books, but will try one again.
House Rules
by Jodi Picoult
Very long book but I was emerged the entire time. It was a mixture of a crime mystery, a family with interesting family dynamics with a autistic son, and was educational regarding autism.
This book was the best that I have read of hers. A couple I hated because I did not like the idiocy of the character that did not seem realistic. These characters were all more believable and were much like any other authentic typical family. I did not like the obsession of the mother, she I believe got carried away with her righteousness in regards to how the child should be raised. I think she contributed to her son being 'handicapped.' The other characters were great, especially the autistic son charged with murder and everyone's inability to even by directly questioning the kid without making a bunch of assumptions.
What The Dead Know
by Laura Lippman
Very interesting suspenseful story of a woman showing up for a mysterious history of death and kidnapping. A sister and herself, and her parents and their lives as well as that of a few policeman. Great story teller this Lippman is, I need to read more of her books, they are a very good.
Blue Shoe
by Anne Lamott
Just a nice story about a woman, her divorce, her affairs and her praying to what's his name. Set up as a Christian story, but it threw me when it fell into a romance novel and her life with infidelity.
