Book 60- Irreplacable

This novel Irreplaceable was one I liked and hated all the way through. And now that I've finished the book, I'm still not sure if I liked it or not.

Archaeologist Alex and his scholarly researched wife Isabel have a young marriage and nice starting out life when tragedy strikes and Isabel is killed. She has signed her donor card and Alex grudgingly followed through, and donated her organs.

This novel then follows Alex in the year or so following Isabel's death; how he moved on, how he copes, his relationship with his mother-in-law, and more interestingly, the contact he starts receiving from Janet Corcoran, the woman who received Isabel's heart.

Janet wanted to thank her donor, wanted some contact and managed to do some research and found out who Alex was. She sent him letters and cards. She managed to connect with Isabel's mother and they emailed. Isabel's mother wanted the contact and valued it, while Alex was appalled and intrigued.

Also added to this interesting mix of people and storyline, is the man who was driving the car who killed Isabel. I felt the part of the story that involved him was sick, but, no pun intended, like a car wreck and as a reader you didn't dare skim or skip anything. It was mortifying and disturbing to read his interactions with these characters. I realize this was fiction, but I feel it was a strongly told story it was hard to remember these are fictional people and not voices of real humans. or many, the characters are so real, they could be anyone we know.

The story is also told, alternating chapters between the story of Alex, to the story of Janet and her family. It also oscillates between present day lives of Alex and Janet, to flashbacks the the days when Isabel was alive and before Janet received her heart and thought she was going to die.

I struggled with liking these people... well, characters. And maybe that's the problem. At some point in the story I was so wrapped up that I thought of these characters as people. And I didn't really like them very much. I think I liked Isabel the best and she was dead and only portrayed in flashback.

It doesn't become sappy. It's almost more the other direction, more harsh and maudlin. And maybe in that case, more real.

Book 59- The Girl Who Chased the Moon

When Emily's mother dies, Emily is sent to a small southern town to live with a grandfather she never knew existed in the book The Girl who Chased the Moon by Sarah Addison Allen.

This whimsical story takes place in a mysterious, sleepy little town where wallpaper can change patterns of its own accord, where gentle giants walk the streets, where hope is baked into cakes at the local diner, where the sweet and smoky scent of barbecue hangs in the air, and where a magical light dances in the night woods. Emily can't believe her eyes and ears as she wonders through this town her mother never spoke of.

And when Emily finds her mother was an evil, cruel teenager in this sleepy, little hallow, she feels she'll have to accept the magic of the place and accept any torment that comes her way because of her mother's mean past. Emily meets a boy, Win, and falls in love and can't figure out why since they only had a few chance encounters. There's her next door neighbor Julia who bakes magical cakes but she is hurting and wishing for more in her life, wishing for a past she could never have; therefore planning her future in detail. There's Stella, the woman who had and lost it all. There's Sawyer, who is sad and handsome, and wants Julia for more reasons than she can fathom.

This is a an irresistible story, sweet and simple, full of magic and serendipity and delight. A little of a modern day fairy tale, a little sweet, and just perfect, it's a great novel.

Book 58- Deliver Us From Evil

Deliver Us From Evil by David Baldacci is an excellent thriller, and apparently the second book about secret government operative Shaw.

In this outing, Shaw runs into a private group who is killing Nazi survivors. He meets Reggie and her crew while they are working and the plan goes wrong but he's there to help.

Now Shaw, Reggie and her crew are up against the name who was the actual real Butcher of Kiev and the meanest more despicable person on the earth. He is truly evil. And vile.

This is an excellent thriller and in some spots, it's a rough read with the violence and gruesome torture methods explained in the pages.

Book 57- Beachcombing for a Shipwrecked God

I loved this book, Beachcombing for a Shipwrecked God by Joe Coomer. I don't know what it specifically was that made me fall in love with this novel, but I certainly did. It was wonderful. It's the story of three women who are strangers. They end up living together, renting room on a house boat together.

Charlotte is a young 30 something newly widower archaeologist. Grace is a septuagenarian landlady of the lot. It's revealed she's suffering from Alzheimer Disease and within the story she loses her memory to a different medical ailment. Chloe is the over weight teenager who fled her home and is facing an uncertain life.

Told with grace and humor, this quirky story is engaging to the heart and soul. The three women go in a spiritual journey together as well as a real, physical journey aboard the boat in an effort to save themselves.

I loved the voices of the women and the way the characters all seem to just spill from the page. It was lyrical at times, and often humorous in that bumbling sort of way. I love the hunt the women were on, the tie to the past but the need to go into a future of some sort these ladies discovered. The fact that Charlotte is an archaeologist helps beautifully tie this theme to tangible elements of the story. I love the ebb and flow of the storyline, and setting it on the water in New England made this an extra special book for me, since I love that area.

I fell in love with this novel!

Book 56- Snuff

Hand to God the premise of this book is the that a porn star decides to participate in the largest gang-bang ever- she's going to have sex with 600 men on film, all at one time. And if she dies, then she'll leave her life insurance to the child she gave up for adoption.

This story is told in alternating chapters between 3 men who are waiting in line for their turn to be "with" the porn star, and her personal assistant.

This is a dark comedy by author Chuck Palahniuk. Oh yeah, it was gross but still so very funny, in a tongue in cheek way... no pun intended.

Book 55- Faithful Place

Another wonderful novel from Tana French is Faithful Place. This thriller brings Frank into the limelight. He's the head of the Dublin (Ireland) Undercover squad. And now he's involved in a cold case homicide in his own back yard. His high school girlfriend who vanished on the night he was to run away with her to elope suddenly turns up as a dead body back in his old neighborhood, a place, a faithful Place where he hasn't sent foot in 22 years. Until now.

French continue spinning a fabulous thriller, while not all that complex, is still compelling. Her in depth characterization Frank and those around him still astounds me with every novel of hers I devour. I like that she can take a popular medium like "thriller" and take it into the world of literature with detailed character analysis. This is an excellent story.

And while Frank is a secondary character in her previous two novels, he takes center stage in this one. I appreciate that French keeps her setting and tone consistent but brings out the different characters with every novel. I love the Dublin setting, one of my favorite cities ever. I also love that while these are similar in setting, character and context, these are stand alone novels- they aren't really a series nor do they have to be read in any sort of order to be enjoyed.

Excellent third outing from French and I'm eagerly await more!

Book 54- 61 Hours

This is a great Jack Reacher book. He's former Army and is now a loner with no belongings and travels the world, righting wrongs when he finds them and just taking in life.

Until he finds himself on a bus tour with a bunch of senior citizens. The bus crashes in the middle of a South Dakota winter. Reacher goes with the seniors into the nearest town and learns of some evil afoot. He's befriended by the assistant chief of police and Reacher decides to stay and help right some wrongs in this small town where a prison was recently built.

Excellent thriller. Lots of twists and turns. A good read!

Book 53- Private

Typical beach read from James Patterson...

Jack Morgan owns a private security company that does PI for the rich and famous. When his best friend's wife is killed, he sets out to find the murderer, even if it means breaking the rules.

Jack's hunt for her killer brings about harm and terror; revenge is good.

Good stuff, and a super fast read.

Book 52- Walking Dead

Walking Dead by Greg Rucka is part of the Atticus Kodiak series. Atticus is going after a missing girl who's been sold into prostitution as revenge for evil her father had wrought. Atticus finds himself going around the world, hunting her, in hopes to bring her back to some sort of safe life. While his girlfriend Alena disapproves because it might ruin their lives and ruin the cover they've developed over the years, he must still do it anyway to right a wrong.

Pretty exciting stuff, and it was nice to see a character appear from Atticus's body guarding days. Even though there was quite a bit of Russian "stuff" it was still easy to follow. Lots of action!

What was I thinking?

Okay in theory it seemed like a good idea to read a whole bunch of books with the same theme: memoirs written by women who turned to cooking careers. I checked out several of these from the library and started reading and... it's not the fun I thought it would be,

I read Julie and Julia last year and it was awesome, and I loved it. I also read I Loved I Lost I Made Spaghetti and loved it as well. Ditto the recently read The Sharper the Knife, the Less You Cry. I also read a few others so that's what nudged this project along for me. I thought since I tend to gravitate to these books and enjoy them, reading several for a theme month would be fun. I was wrong.

First, I screwed up because I ended up with books that weren't exactly what I was looking for. While Spaghetti, Knife and Julie were about just regular women doing cooking, the books I found were a bit different. I read Garlic and Sapphires which was about a woman who was a food critic for the NYTimes. While it was interesting, it wasn't what I wanted, exactly. I read The Recipe Club which was a fictional story of the friendship between two women told through letters and recipes. While it wasn't what I wanted, I did, however, REALLY enjoy it, and was glad I found it (thanks for the recommendation from a fellow blogger who pens Food for Thought!)

Then I found a book called Spoonfed about a woman who turned critic and something about her messed up life and blah blah blah. I have to admit I didn't even finish it! Spiced was about the alleged drama in the life of a new pastry chef. And it wasn't that dramatic as it claimed to be; I read it cover to cover waiting for the spiciness.

I wanted more of a feel like Julie, Knife and Spaghetti, I guess. Or maybe I read too many of the same genre all together. Whatever my problem, I just know it wasn't my best plan. So now, I'm back to mixing it up a bit. I'm got lots of good books in my stack:

• a new Greg Rucka book with the Atticus Kodiak character
• The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society
• Little Bee by Chris Cleave
• The Hotel at the Corner of Bitter and Sweet
• State Fair (a Bennie Harper mystery) by Earlene Fowler
• Beachcombers

So with that failed projected off my plate, I can turn to my waiting list of books, which is about 100 right now. Until I come up with another harebrained scheme!

Happy reading!
Mags

Book 51- Fly Away Home

When Sylvie Woodruff was in college and when she met Richard she was a wild bohemian girl. Now in her mid 50s she's a politicians wife: put together, elegant, perfect, and stand behind your man sort of woman. Who just found out, in a very public way, that her politician husband Richard screwed a woman.

Sylvie goes into hiding at her family summer home while she tries to decide what she wants to do with her life and her marriage.

Her daughters are as different as night and day. Dianna the doctor has it all but feels her life is terrible and in the midst of it all, she takes a leave of absence from work and goes to the beach house with her mother. The other daughter, Lizzie, is the family screw up who's been in and out of rehab. She's trying to get her life right this time, but she makes a new type of mistake and she too flees to the beach house to be with her mother.

None of these women were close to each other, but now they all come together, each with her own struggle, and try to find a way to survive, and they are all brought closer together.

This was a well written story (who could've used a better editor because I found 4 glaring errors) but it was predictable. It became a pretty traditional romance novel combined with chick lit. It's good for a beach read, but wait for it to come out in softcover. I was so disappointed because I wanted something more. I loved author Jennifer Weiner's In Her Shoes and felt it had a dash of the unpredictable and wish she would be more daring in her writing again.

Book 50- Garlic and Sapphires

Garlic and Sapphires: The Secret Life of a Critic in Disguise is about former New York Times restaurant critic's adventures in reviewing. It's also about her evolution as a reviewer and the great lengths she went to get get fair treatment rather than the royal treatment reserved for critics and kings. Though in one instance, she received better treatment than a king.

She donned disguises and took friends, family members, and colleagues to eat in the best of the best that NYC has to offer. During this time in her life as being the most important food person in... well, the world, she also went through a personal evolution and realized this wasn't the sort of writer she wanted to be. It also wasn't the sort of "eater" she wanted to be.

Author and former NYTimes critic Ruth Reichl is not the editor in chief of Gourmet magazine.

This is obviously a memoir and try as I might reviewing someone's life doesn't seem right. So basically I can say it was entertaining but still sort of sad. It's sad that such "fancy" and "exclusive" restaurants give crappy treatment and cheat the food to the poor and unknowns who visit their establishments. It was nice for someone like Reichl to go through what she did to give honest reviews. The anecdotes she shared about her son Nicky were some of my favorite parts of this non-fiction story.

I like that she enclosed recipes within her her book, of her favorite foods to fix, since she really loves to cook.

I still liked Julie and Julia and I Loved I Lost I Made Spaghetti better!