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Tuesday, October 30, 2012

59. Murder at Pemberly

As much as I love Pride and Prejudice...this book was a disappointment.

It follows the Darcy's after their marriage to the eve of their annual ball. That rascally Wickham is accused of murder.

There was no real angst, no in depth character development, and no great conversations between characters.
So I have to give this one a thumbs down, sorry.


58. Cutting for Stone

My good friend, Kay Pearn, lent me this book to read. I really enjoyed it. It is one of those that you can't wait to find out what happens in the end. It takes place mostly in Ethiopia where the Stone twins are born. Their mom is an Indian nun/nurse and their dad a brilliant British surgeon.
Needless to say their birth was unexpected! This book follows the twins throughout their lives. They both become doctors.

Never really understood what the title means.

Wonderful book. Great human story with a culturally different background of India and Africa.


57. The Story Girl

Just another great little book by L.M. Montgomery. (author of Anne of Green Gables)


56. Great American Short Stories

I started this book about a year ago and just now picked it back up to finish it. I love a really great short story. There are 30 stories in this collection and I thought about 1/2 of them were good. None of them stopped me in my tracks as awesome.
My all time favorite short story is called "The Lottery" by Shirley Jackson (it is not in this collection). I have often wondered if the Hunger Games were based off of this story. That should give you some idea as to what it is about.

I recommend this book if you want a taste of some classic short stories.


Sunday, October 7, 2012

55. The Christmas Note

Been my lucky month! I love this book also.

I would like to read her other books as well.

It is about neighbors Gretchen & Melissa. They are about the same age but completely different. Gretchen is married to a soldier and  has 2 kids. Melissa is 39 & single and is a really grumpy and prickly person.

This story takes many unexpected turns about friendship, family, and faith. I highly recommend!


54. The House of Silk

Great book also. This is a new Sherlock Holmes and Watson book sanctioned by the Conan Doyle foundation.

Enough said. If you love Holmes/Watson, you will love this book.


53. I've Got Your Number

Another great surprise! Loved this book!!

Summary from Amazon:

Poppy Wyatt has never felt luckier. She is about to marry her ideal man, Magnus Tavish, but in one afternoon her “happily ever after” begins to fall apart. Not only has she lost her engagement ring in a hotel fire drill but in the panic that follows, her phone is stolen. As she paces shakily around the lobby, she spots an abandoned phone in a trash can. Finders keepers! Now she can leave a number for the hotel to contact her when they find her ring. Perfect!

Well, perfect except that the phone’s owner, businessman Sam Roxton, doesn’t agree. He wants his phone back and doesn’t appreciate Poppy reading his messages and wading into his personal life.

What ensues is a hilarious and unpredictable turn of events as Poppy and Sam increasingly upend each other’s lives through emails and text messages. 

Highly recommend :)


52. Home Front

Great story!! So I won't tell you much. It is about a couple, Jolene & Michael. After 12 year of marriage and 2 kids, things are a little rocky. Growing apart a bit. Then Jolene gets deployed to Iraq. I was really surprised at how much I liked this book. Highly recommend.


51. The House at Riverton

Ever see the movie The Legend of the Falls with Brad Pitt?? You know the one where pretty much everyone dies and no one gets to be with the one they love. Drama and pain!

Well, that is the same with this book. If that is your thing, then read it. No one ends up happily married, lots of people die, the end.


50. The Keeper of Lost Causes

This book is pretty much about one of your worst nightmares come true.

Here we go...this takes place in Sweden (or somewhere Scandanavian). This police department starts a new detective department "Q". And it has one detective and one assistant. They are in charge of cold cases. They choose one about the disappearance of Morada (more aid ah) Lundgren. You really don't want to be Morada!

Summary: When Morada is 14 and her brother Oofa is 12, they and their parents are taking a leisurely drive one day. They end up getting into an accident and both of their parents die and Oofa ends up somewhat  brain damaged. The family in the other car is on their way to the hospital because the mom is in labor with twins. Well their car ends up in a tree and catches on fire. The dad dies, the 11 year old sister dies, the mom starts to give birth to the twins as the fire is beginning. Her leg is of course caught and she can't get out of the car, so she gives birth. One of the twins dies and the other is burned but lives. The mom lives too. The only other survivor the the 14 year old brother.

I am only just getting started!

15 years or so later...Morada is successful as a political aide and she cares for her brother Oofa. One day they decide to go on a trip. While on the ferry, Morada is kidnapped and Oofa wanders around for days until someone finds him and puts him in a "home".

Let the nightmare begin.

Morada wakes up in the dark and finds herself in a  room about 10 x 10. Roughly 3 days pass and then a voice comes over a speaker system telling her that 2 buckets will be passed in to  her twice a day. One will have food and the other should be used as her toilet. She asks why she is here and the voice says she has 30 minutes to think of why she has been taken. Well, she doesn't know of course. She guesses because of something in politics because she works on government. Wrong answer. The voice tells her that she has one year to think of the right answer................what??

So she lives in complete darkness for one year with the buckets coming and going. One year later the lights come on full blast. Same question and she still doesn't have an answer. So her punishment is that she has to live with the lights on 24/7 for the next year. Oh yeah, she is in some sort of hyperbolic  chamber and they are increasing her "atmosphere" by 2 times. So it is like she is diving under the ocean permanently.

Repeat on years 3 & 4 & 5 with each year the "atmosphere" increasing until it is 6 times normal.

Meanwhile the detectives in dept. Q. are working on finding out what happened to her. They end up finding her and saving her through a series of good detective work.

Who kidnapped her? The surviving family of the twins. The 14 year old son, the mom, and the burned twin. They blame her for the accident because they say she was goofing off with her brother Oofa and distracted her dad, who then caused the accident.

We get a happy ending but who would ever be normal after being kept for over 5 years in a small room, never taking a shower, never changing clothes, brushing her hair or teeth, being TOTALLY ALONE etc...........

Who thinks of these things??????