The Pact

Almost a week ago I finished The Pact by Jodi Picoult.  I was much happier with the ending of this book.  There were still no winners, but it didn’t end with the outright tragedies as the other two books I’ve read by her.  I am giving this one a 7.5.  I guess at some point I am going to have to start telling why I rate something the way I do instead of just arbitrarily assigning numbers, but for now, arbitration works for me.  I would have to clearly define a list of things I look for in a book to have a rating system, but as you know, I read for enjoyment only.

I am getting ready to start the book suggested by Buck George a few weeks ago.  I’ll let you know how I like it…

Handle With Care

Okay, I finished Handle With Care by Jodi Picoult Friday night.  I have to say that I was not surprised by the ending as the way the story was written, I kind of expected it.  I have rated this book a 7 on the 10-point scale since it was so well written and the WHN bug bit me.  However, I am wondering if there is a trend to the writings of Ms. Picoult.  I am not the kind of person who wants a happy ending all the time, but I am also not the kind of person who doesn’t want a happy ending either.  Based on the two books I have read by her, her subject matters are serious, the books are wrought with tragedy of some kind, and there are no happy endings – just bittersweet closures.  Since this appears to be a trend, I have started another book by her to see if that is the case.  The book I am reading now is The Pact, and I can tell you right now that it is a tragic story also.

Now, don’t get me wrong about what I just said, her stories might be tragic, but they are well written, and I have been bitten by the “What Happens Next” bug which is always good.  But I must say (SPOILER ALERT for Handle With Care)  that I was incredibly unhappy that the story focused on a lawsuit about wrongful birth, tore the whole family apart, they win the freaking suit and then the child that was the subject of the lawsuit dies???  I mean, the scene where she dies is a well written and well thought out scene, but I was incredibly disappointed all the same.

So, I have promised Buck George that I will read a book he has highly recommended, and I will be starting that book as soon as I am finished with The Pact.  I am sure it will be a great book since Buck recommended it to me.  I’ll let you know when I know!

Until next time…

Julie and Julia and Other Books…

So, I finished Julie and Julia a day or two after my last post.  Overall, I liked the book.  On a scale of 1 to 10, I’d give it a 6.  I was kind of disappointed in the ending overall.  The story just fizzled out.  There was no real climax.  She had no revelation at the end of the year of cooking that helped with the situation in which she decided to start the year of cooking in the first place.  I did like the main character.  She reminded me of myself with the cussing…  However, I would never let my house get as bad as she indicated in her story…  LOL!

The book that followed was Water Witches by Christopher Bohjalian.  I enjoyed this book.  On the scale, it gets a 7.5.  The story is centered around a man who married into a family of females that have the ability to divine water from the ground.  He is a lawyer for the ski resort in the town of Vermont in which the story takes place.  The opening lines of the book are:  “Some people say that my wife’s sister is a witch.  My father, for one.  My brother, for another. “  I really like the opening page on this book.  It intrigued me from the beginning.

Then I read The Last Child by John Hart.  This was also a good book.  On the scale, it gets a 8.  The story is centered around a little boy whose twin sister has been kidnapped and whose father left months before to try to find her.  His determination in finding her and bringing her home is riveting.  This book held my interest until I finished it.  I am interested in reading the other two books he has written.  I think I will request them from the library in the near future…after I read all the other books I have borrowed!

Currently I am in the middle of Handle With Care by Jodi Picoult.  The story is interesting… I can’t give it a scale number yet, but I will say that this is the first book I can remember reading in which every main character in the book is telling the story to the person the story centers around in the second person voice.  It’s really interesting to read from a technical standpoint.  The story is really good so far.  The subject matter is difficult too, which gives me my own personal conflict at different places in the story…and that is always a good thing from the perspective of a writer…

I am really going to try to be more consistent on this blog…so, don’t give up hope, dear reader (I know there’s only one…  and I know who it is…).  I’ll be back in a day or two to scale my current read…

Books

I am trying to work books back in my life again, and wanted to share some of my more recent reads.  I will try to let you know of the good ones as I read them.  Besides Water for Elephants that I spoke about in my previous post, here are some of the books I have read in the last few weeks:

The Time Traveler’s Wife by Audrey Niffenegger – Different, but interesting.  If you are looking for a book to read, give it a try.  I thought it was okay.

My Sister’s Keeper by Jodi Picoult – OMG, it was so good, and of course I cried.  It didn’t end at ALL like I expected.

The Weight of Silence by Heather Gudenkauf – This was a good read too.  Not as gripping as others I have read, but it had some good twists and turns.  I guessed who the “villain” was before it was revealed to me… which isn’t all that surprising!

I tried to read Little Bird of Heaven by Joyce Carol Oates, gave it 95 pages before I gave up, but I just could not read it.  I have read two other books by Joyce Carol Oates, We Were the Mulvaneys and The Gravedigger’s Daughter, which I liked, but I had a lot of trouble getting in to Little Bird of Heaven. Guess that book just isn’t for me.

Right now I am reading Julie & Julia: My Year of Cooking Dangerously by Julie Powell.  I can tell you right now that I like this book.  I’ll give my final blessing when I’m finished.

Notice that even though I have read books that were turned into movies, I have not watched any of the movies at this time.  I may check them out eventually, but I find that I would much rather read the books than to watch the movies.

“Water for Elephants” by Sara Gruen

Yesterday I finished Water for Elephants.  It was a very quick and satisfying read.  The story opened up with the main character, Jacob, in a nursing home with flashbacks to his days in a train circus.  I was especially satisfied with the ending.  It didn’t end exactly as I expected, but it was a very pleasant and appropriate ending to the story.  I would suggest this book to anyone looking for a good book to read.

Head Cold from Hell

I have been suffering a week now from this horrible head cold.  I have had a sinus infection, sore throat, and a lot of pressure on my ears.  You would think that a week after symptoms presented I would be better… but no.  The doctor said my ears may have pressure for a couple of weeks!  A couple of weeks?  Shouldn’t there be some kind of shot or something to clear out that pressure?  As smart as our scientists are, why haven’t they created a magic cure-all pill yet???  They can grow bladders for Christ’s sake!

I went to the doctor’s office on Monday and was prescribed an antibiotic and some pain pills.  The pain pills were a necessity too, let me tell you!  My ears have been causing me a tremendous amount of pain since the onset of this cold.  I ruptured one of my eardrums Saturday night.  Every night since I have re-ruptured it and all this fluid leaks out.  Now, you would think that if the fluid leaked out, then the pressure would be gone, right?  WRONG!  By the end of the day my head feels like it is about to EXPLODE!  A constant ringing occurs in my head, which annoys the hell out of me.

Today I feel better than I have all week… each day is better than the day before… Thank GOD!  My right ear cleared up yesterday, but my left ear is still killing me.  I am hoping that I get back to 100% by Monday morning…

Cell Phones and Alzheimer’s

Cell Phone Radiation Can Prevent, Reverse Alzheimer’s…in Mice

Quite an interesting article…  Especially since no more than 10 years ago, everyone was worried about cell phones creating brain tumors.  One question I have, though.  With the ratio of cell phone to brain size, would humans need a cell phone bigger than our bodies to get the same ratio of radiation dosage as the mice currently get with the current cell phone?  And the mice are exposed only 1 hour a day…  How long does the average person have their cell phone attached to their heads???

Really? Having Sex during Church???

BERLIN —  Police in southern Germany say an officer has been suspended from duty after allegedly having sex in a Catholic church during a service.

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I honestly cannot understand why anyone would want to have sex in a Church during church service…  especially since they weren’t teenagers…  This might be the action of a rebellious teenager, but grown people with jobs?  Really?

I also find it interesting that he was a policeman.  Shouldn’t he be responding to calls about this instead of being the person who the call is about?  And now he faces up to three years in prison.  Why in the world didn’t he go to a hotel???