Book 52 - The Bourne Ultimatum

Title: The Bourne Ultimatum
Author: Robert Ludlum
Pages: 662
Grade: A-/B+

Summary: (From the back of the book)
At a small-town carnival two men, each mysteriously summoned by telegram, witness a bizarre killing. The telegrams were signed 'Jason Bourne.' Only they know Bourne's true identity and understand that the telegrams are really a message from Bourne's mortal enemy, Carlos, known as the the Jackal, the world's deadliest and most elusive terrorist. And furthermore, they know what the Jackal wants: a final confrontation with Bourne. Now David Webb, professor of Oriental studies, husband, and father, must do what he hoped never to do again -- assume the terrible identity of Jason Bourne. His plan is simple: to infiltrate the politically and economically omnipotent Medusan group and use himself as bait to lure the cunning Jackal into a deadly trap -- a trap from which only one of them will escape.

My thoughts: This is not the best of the series, which is slightly sad considering it is the end of the trilogy, but I don't think it's a completely inappropriate send off. I didn't finish this one as quickly as I did the other two, and that was sadly largely due to a few failings. This book was just not nearly as exciting for me. Saying that though, I really thought David/Jason came across really well...even in all his slip ups. He's struggling to be two different people at the same time without killing one in order to make use of the skills of the other. And he's not young anymore. He's 50, with a family, and is more than a touch mentally unhinged. A lot of people found fault with Jason's inability to take down Carlos when he should have, I'm not disagreeing completely but I still felt it as oddly in character. However....I do find it an incredible let down to not end it with one killing the other. It just feels wrong in some way. In the same way that those helping him constantly died to save him. Which just leads back to my theory. By the end...I think David was just acting off of Jason's remembered skill than actually acting as Jason...which I feel explains his lack of well complete skill. And it was just slowly driving him mad, which if anything is completely clear in the epilogue. The Bourne series did come full circle in the fact that in the manner David had to be broken down to become Jason...Jason had to be dismantled completely in order to return David. So again, not the best of the series but I did enjoy it on various levels....and I felt comfortable with the characters and I liked coming back to them. And a small part of me still wishes the movies...love them as I do...had stuck a bit closer to the books in some ways. If only so I could keep Marie around.

Up next: I'm thinking The Good German or The Ruins....

Book 51 - Ruffian: Burning from the Start

Title: Ruffian: Burning from the Start
Author: Jane Schwartz
Pages: 322
Grade: A+

Summary: (From Library Journal)
Ruffian: the name stands out among a handful of great racehorses. Ruffian: the name conjures memories of a tough competitor, a tomboy. Ruffian: the name synonymous with the pinnacle of glory and the nadir of tragedy. Schwartz ( Caught , Ballantine, 1987) eloquently captures the spirit and style of this undefeated filly who beat all comers save death. In the 1975 match race against the colt Foolish Pleasure, viewed by a televised audience of 18 million, Ruffian broke down while leading and later had to be destroyed. Schwartz tells Ruffian's story from her birth, breaking, training, and racing, to the day of the ill-fated "battle of the sexes" through the eyes of her handlers, grooms, jockeys, and trainer.

My thoughts: This book broke my heart. I knew what was coming. I knew it was real. And with every page, a small tiny part of me still hoped it wouldn't. Ruffian was a miracle horse...everything she did was magic. And then it just ended, abruptly, for reasons I still think are ridiculous in retrospect but it's an 'if only'. Ruffian was not a horse who had anything to prove. She was and undoubtedly always will be, one of the most amazing fillies to grace horse racing. And I think the book more than did tribute to her and those who cared for her.

Book 50 - A Beautiful Mind

Title: A Beautiful Mind
Author: Sylvia Nasar
Pages: 390
Grade: B+

Summary: (From Publishers Weekly)
Nasar has written a notable biography of mathematical genius John Forbes Nash (b. 1928), a founder of game theory, a RAND Cold War strategist and winner of a 1994 Nobel Prize in economics. She charts his plunge into paranoid schizophrenia beginning at age 30 and his spontaneous recovery in the early 1990s after decades of torment. He attributes his remission to will power; he stopped taking antipsychotic drugs in 1970 but underwent a half-dozen involuntary hospitalizations. Born in West Virginia, the flamboyant mathematical wizard rubbed elbows at Princeton and MIT with Einstein, John von Neumann and Norbert Wiener. He compartmentalized his secret personal life, shows Nasar, hiding his homosexual affairs with colleagues from his mistress, a nurse who bore him a son out of wedlock, while he also courted Alicia Larde, an MIT physics student whom he married in 1957. Their son, John, born in 1959, became a mathematician and suffers from episodic schizophrenia. Alicia divorced Nash in 1963, but they began living together again as a couple around 1970. Today Nash, whose mathematical contributions span cosmology, geometry, computer architecture and international trade, devotes himself to caring for his son. Nasar, an economics correspondent for the New York Times, is equally adept at probing the puzzle of schizophrenia and giving a nontechnical context for Nash's mathematical and scientific ideas.

My thoughts: This enthralled me in a way I didn't actually think that it would. I picked it up out of pure curiosity, I knew vaguely what it was about, but was not biased by the film which I still haven't seen. But the portrait of John Nash's life was well done. I knew the scene...the state of the world and the state of John himself...which always makes a biography more complete. The motivations and actions of the person more understandable and easier in which to relate. The mathematics was neatly woven throughout and while not a particular fan...I could understand at least vaguely most all that was talked of in that respect..or at least connect it to something I could understand. I think the author did a wonderful job. I thoroughly recommend it.

Up Next: Ruffian: Burning from the Start by Jane Schwartz

Book 49 - Cursor's Fury

Title: Cursor's Fury
Author: Jim Butcher
Pages: 442
Grade: A+

Summary: (From Jim Butcher's website)
Since the Second Battle of Calderon, only the courage, determination and sacrifice of loyal subjects of the realm of Alera have prevented the unthinkable—a civil war that could leave Alera in ruins, devestated and vulernable to its enemies. Loyal Alerans have given their blood and lives to preserve the realm.

It was not enough. Though the insurrection of the High Lords against the First Lord, Gaius Sextus, has been delayed for several years, it has only been the calm before the storm.

Civil war shatters the realm.

Now, the power-hungry High Lord of Kalare has launched a merciless, devastating rebellion against Gaius. Caught off guard by the sheer power of Kalare's attack, Gaius Primus and the loyal forces of Alera must fight for the survival of the realm, beside the most dangerous of allies—the equally rebellious and power-hungry High Lord and Lady of Aquitaine.

Trapped in the besieged city of Ceres, Isana of Calderon survives the attack of Kalare's assassins, and must fight to save the life of the wounded slave, Fade, poisoned while defending Isana from her attackers. The secrets of her past loom large in deed and memory, as she at last confronts the dark truths of her own past.

Countess Amara, Cursor to the First Lord, must carry out a desperate rescue operation, freeing hostages taken by Kalare and held against the military neutrality of loyal High Lords. The survival of the realm could hinge on the success of her mission: but is her ally, Lady Aquitaine, sincere in her efforts to assist—or will she betray the young Cursor and the First Lord she serves?

Sent away from the theater of the civil war by a protective First Lord, young Tavi of Calderon joins the newly formed First Aleran Legion as its juniormost officer under an assumed name as a spy for the First Lord—but when civil war erupts, Tavi's captain learns that Kalare has done the unthinkable; allied himself to the Canim, a merciless, terrifying enemy of the realm, who have arrived in numbers more vast than any in history. When treachery from within its ranks destroys the command structure of the First Aleran, the young Cursor finds himself in command. The First Aleran is friable, undertrained, poorly equipped; and it is the only force standing between the Canim horde and the heart of war-torn Alera.

My thoughts:

When I look at my favorite authors list, I can understand how many can wonder. But with every book, I'm more confident that Jim Butcher's place there is well deserved. His books won't be classics...or likely be read 100 years from now... but his voice is distinct. The worlds he creates are fleshed out....and with each book, more information is given. The world gets larger. I love his writing style. His books always make me feel comfortable. I don't know if it's just that I'm getting used to his style or if its the fact his writing in some way reminds me of my own. Or if it's some odd mixture of the two. But Jim always makes me laugh. The books make me laugh, they grasp my attention. I will stay up until the wee hours of the morning to finish one. If you enjoy fantasy-like books. He has two distinct series that I think at least one will appeal to everyone. Please go out and pick one up! (This turned a bit more into Jim pimping than Codex Alera pimping...let's just say. This book is possibly my favorite in the series yet. I did stay up until almost 4am finishing it because I couldn't put it down. And my love of Tavi and his back story just continues to grow.)

Up Next: I think.... A Beautiful Mind by Sylvia Nasar.... but we shall see.

Book 48 - Under the Black Flag: The Romance and Reality of Life Among the Pirates

Title: Under the Black Flag: The Romance and Reality of Life Among the Pirates
Author: David Cordingly
Pages: 244
Grade: B

Summary: (From Publisher's Weekly)
Widespread piracy began in the Western world in 1650 and ended abruptly around 1725. Cordingly, formerly on the staff of the National Maritime Museum in England, describes who became pirates (mainly volunteers who joined up when their ships were captured); what they wore (scarves or handkerchiefs around their head, just like in the movies); and how they were armed (literally, to the teeth). Pirates, says the author, were "attracted by the lure of plunder and the desire for an easy life." They were not the clean-cut heroes of the Errol Flynn films either, but cutthroat murderers. Some of the famous pirates are portrayed: Sir Francis Drake made his name by plundering silver on the Spanish Main; Sir Harry Morgan is famous for his ransom of Portobello to the President of Panama for 250,000 pesos; and Captain Kidd remains mysterious because of his buried gold and silver on Gardiners Island, near New York City. Fictitious pirates are also surveyed, such as Long John Silver and Captain Hook, and the allure they still have over us is explored. Even if you don't know a corsair (a Mediterranean-based pirate) from a buccaneer (a Caribbean pirate), this book will delight and inform.

My thoughts: It was a nice informative read. I appreciated the background given on what was behind many famous piratical novels and movies. And I enjoyed a taste of the factual past of pirates. It's short enough that it is not over bearing in information but at the same time I felt I was indeed learning things.

Up Next: We shall move away from the non-fictional take on pirates and delve into the best example of fiction possible - fantasy. I'm thinking Cursor's Fury by Jim Butcher.

Book 47 - The Locket

Title: The Locket
Author: Richard Paul Evans
Pages: 361
Grade: B+

Summary: (From the author's website)

After the death of his mother, Michael Keddington finds employment at the Arcadia nursing home, where he befriends Esther, a reclusive beautiful elderly woman who lives in mourning for her youth and lost love. Michael faces his own challenges when he loses his greatest love, Faye. When Michael is falsely accused of abusing one of the Arcadia's residents, he learns important lessons about faith and forgiveness from Esther, and her gift to him of a locket, once symbolic of one person's missed opportunities, becomes another's second chance.

My thoughts: I've had this book in my to read pile for ages. My mother bought it for me at a garage sale...and it just didn't look that appealing. But my mother is typically so good at picking out books that I enjoy that I left it. Thinking one day I would get to it. Well, that one day was today. And with the exception of the 30 pages I read last night before bed, I read the entire novel in one sitting. The story is right out of a hallmark movie, which it's been made into one, but it broke my heart. I cried. I laughed. It's oddly empowering and hopeful, even if the overall message is a mixed one. When Esther asks Michael if he thinks life gives second chances. He replies that we would probably just make the same mistakes over again. And in the end, that is probably exactly true. Because your reasons would still be your reasons. But Esther believes life gave her a second chance...to fix her wrongs. Sadly, not in her own life, but in Michael's life. It's sweet. It's sappy. It's a quick, easy read. And it made me smile.

Up Next: Under the Black Flag by David Cordingly or possibly that thing on the 21st...it's getting closer.

Book 46 - Portrait in Sepia

Title: Portrait in Sepia
Author: Isabel Allende
Pages: 304
Grade: B

Summary: (From the back of the book, typed by my loving, caring hands)

In nineteenth-century Chile, Aurora del Valle suffers a brutal trauma that erases all recollections of the first five years of her life. Raised by her regal and ambitious grandmother Paulina del Valle, Aurora grows up in a privileged environment, but is tormented by horrible nightmares. When she is forced to recognize her betrayal at the hands of the man she loves, and to cope with the resulting solitude, she explores the mystery of her past.

My thoughts: The summary built it up for me as something it wasn't, but in the end I still liked the read. The writing style was something I really appreciated. As well as use of the title to portray the way we see memories. Very little to give this time but I shall leave with the end quote that I think captures this novel effectively.

"Each of us chooses the tone for telling his or her own story; I would like to choose the durable clarity of a platinum print, but nothing in my destiny possesses that luminosity. I live among diffuse shadings, veiled mysteries, uncertainties; the tone for telling my life is closer to that of a portrait in sepia."

Up Next: Either The Locket, something of a fantasy nature that I already own...or I'll hold out for that silly book that's supposedly 'leaked' and comes out on the 21st.

Book 45 - The Queen of the South

Title: The Queen of the South
Author: Arturo Pérez-Reverte
Pages: 436
Grade: A

Summary: (From Publisher's Weekly)
Readers of Pérez-Reverte's sixth thriller won't be able to turn the pages fast enough: the author of The Club Dumas, The Seville Communion and other literary adventure novels now tackles the gritty world of drug trafficking in Mexico, southern Spain and Morocco, offering a frightening, fascinating look at the international business of transporting cocaine and hashish as well as a portrait of a smart, fast, daring and lucky woman, Teresa Mendoza. As the novel opens, Teresa's phone rings. She doesn't have to answer it: the phone is a special one given to her by her boyfriend, drug runner and expert Cessna pilot Güero Dávila. He has warned her that if a call ever came, it meant he was dead, and that she had to run for her own life. On the lam, Teresa leaves Mexico for Morocco, where she keeps a low profile transporting drug shipments with her new lover. But after a terrible accident and a brief stint in prison, Teresa's on her own again. She manages to find her way, but Teresa is no mere survivor: gaining knowledge in every endeavor she becomes involved in and using her own head for numbers and brilliant intuition, she eventually winds up heading one of the biggest drug traffic rings in the Mediterranean. Spanning 12 years and introducing a host of intriguing, scary characters, from Teresa's drug-addicted prison comrade to her former assassin turned bodyguard, the novel tells the gripping tale of "a woman thriving in a world of dangerous men."

My thoughts: This is probably one of best books I've read in a really long time. It might even manage to go up there as one of my favorites. And what's sad is I didn't understand why until the author himself revealed it to me over 150 pages in. It is, on many levels, a retelling of 'The Count of Monte Cristo,' my favorite book of all time. It's modernized. It revolves around a woman. And she isn't wrongly imprisoned. She doesn't escape prison by pretending to be dead. But she goes from a naive, innocent girl. To a hardened, intelligent, powerful woman. Who in the end, takes revenge upon those who forced her to become just that. I don't think I can come close to placing all the praise this book deserves in this little paragraph, but I loved it. I adored it. And it's a hardcover I found by chance that only cost me $4, new. It was completely and utterly worth every penny and more.

Up Next: Oh so very unknown...

Book 44 - In America

Title: In America
Author: Susan Sontag
Pages: 387
Grade: B

Summary: (From the Publisher)
In 1876 a group of Poles led by Maryna Zalewska, Poland's greatest actress, travel to California to found a "utopian" commune. Maryna, who has renounced her career, is accompanied by her small son and husband; in her entourage is a rising young writer who is in love with her. The novel portrays a West that is still largely empty, where white settlers confront native Californians and Asian coolies. The image of America, and of California-as fantasy, as escape, as radical simplification-constantly meets a more complex reality. The commune fails and most of the émigrés go home, but Maryna stays and triumphs on the American stage.

My thoughts: While not a page turner, the summary really does it little to no justice. The writing was superb. Because while I don't know that the story really thrilled me...the writing kept me reading. The use of words, the flow. The sometimes poetic nature of it. The ease with which it switched point of view. I adored that. And I also loved a bit near the end...which spoke of an American actor of the theatre compared to a European one...at the same. It spoke of how in Europe...acting was still an art. While in America, it had become an interest story. What actress is throwing a fit over what? Who is sleeping with whom? And I realize the American fascination with celebrities has almost always existed. And it is largely just here...even now...that it really occurs. I mean sure the need to know has branched out...hello internet..but nonetheless. The point remains...that as Americans...we do tend to need and want a bit more than most.

Up Next: Something of a pirate nature or something from the contemporary pile, I suppose.

Trying to kill him and failing ... just pisses him off!

That is all.

Book 43 - Sister of the Dead

Title: Sister of the Dead
Author: Barb and J. C. Hendee
Pages: 405
Grade: A-/B+

Summary: (From Booklist)
Magiere and her half-elf friend, Leesil, have finally given in to their feelings for each other and started a relationship. But they don't have much time to revel in their newfound bliss. They've decided to undertake a journey to find out the truth about Magiere's parentage and to try to find Leesil's mother. Accompanied by elfin scholar Wynn and her dog, Chap, who is actually a fay in a dog's body, Magiere and Leesil set out, unaware that they are being tracked by Welsteil, Magiere's would-be mentor, who betrayed her, and Chane, a vampire who harbors a passion for Wynn. Upon arriving in the village where she was raised, Magiere encounters hostility from some of the locals, but she presses on to the castle where her mother was taken by a corrupt nobleman, his son, and an otherworldly creature who possesses the answers Magiere is seeking.

My thoughts: This one I actually thought would be my least favorite in the series thus far. It might still in some way be. But I do have to give it credit. The last 100 pages pretty much managed to redeem well characters. But let's start at the beginning. Magiere and Leesil are about the only thing that made the book enjoyable at all for the first 300 pages. I don't much like Westiel and I detest Chane and Wynn. But when they finally gave me Magiere's backstory... it was well done. It answered everything I really cared about and it didn't take over 600 pages to do. Yes, JK I'm talking to you. It even made me genuinely respect in some manner Westiel's actions when prior to this I had merely not cared for him. I now know there is a bit more depth there and I am satisfied. I am even a tiny bit more satisied with Chane. Largely because I really am beginning to feel that he actually cares enough for Wynn...that maybe just maybe...he could do something awesome. However Wynn is just a whiny bitch. I can't stand her. Wah Wah Woe is her! Oh and Chap....totally awesome! If only because telling off the others of your kind and then basically forcing them to still do what you want....always perfection. I'd love to get a little more on that. Really a whole prologue to the series dealing solely with Chap would be amazing!

Up Next: I actually have no clue whatsoever! This should be fun!

Book 42 - The Zombie Survival Guide

Originally posted 06-02-07!

Title: The Zombie Survival Guide
Author: Max Brooks
Pages: 247
Grade: B

Summary: (Book Description)

Top 10 Lessons for Surviving a Zombie Attack

1. Organize before they rise!
2. They feel no fear, why should you?
3. Use your head: cut off theirs.
4. Blades don’t need reloading.
5. Ideal protection = tight clothes, short hair.
6. Get up the staircase, then destroy it.
7. Get out of the car, get onto the bike.
8. Keep moving, keep low, keep quiet, keep alert!
9. No place is safe, only safer.
10. The zombie may be gone, but the threat lives on.

Don’t be carefree and foolish with your most precious asset—life. This book is your key to survival against the hordes of undead who may be stalking you right now without your even knowing it. The Zombie Survival Guide offers complete protection through trusted, proven tips for safeguarding yourself and your loved ones against the living dead. It is a book that can save your life.

My thoughts: When the Zombies come...I'm prepared. Are you? *cackles* It was pointless, but it amused. Which is exactly what it was meant to do.

Up Next: Sister of the Dead, already started.

Book 41 - Four to Score

Originally posted 05-25-07!

Title: Four to Score
Author: Janet Evanovich
Pages: 313
Grade: A

Summary: (From Publisher's Weekly)
There's no such thing as a simple assignment for Stephanie Plum. When Maxine Nowicki, charged with stealing her boyfriend's car, skips her court appearance, she's fair game to be hauled in. No big challenge, thinks Stephanie. Wrong. Before the case is over, Stephanie will invade an Atlantic City casino with her intrepid allies: sneaker-shod Grandma Mazur; her colleague Lula, "a two-hundred pound black woman with blond baloney curls all dressed up like Cher on a bad day"; and Sally, a seven-foot transvestite rock singer. Although Stephanie is the bounty hunter, she's the only one of the quartet who isn't armed. She also loses another car and her apartment, moves in with handsome cop and longtime love interest, Joe Morelli (causing a stir in his family and hers), has several memorable run-ins with arch rival Joyce Barnhardt, discovers a corpse and, finally, catches her quarry.

My thoughts: I've begun to realize...these books really are my bad crack. They aren't masterpieces of literature and the main mystery isn't all that thrilling....but I love these characters. And I never fail to laugh. And sometimes that is exactly what a book should be for.

Book 40 - Survivor

Originally posted 05-24-07!

Title: Survivor
Author: Chuck Palahniuk
Pages: 289
Grade: A

Summary: (From Publisher's Weekly)
The rise and fall of a media-made messiah is the subject of Palahniuk's impressive second novel (after the well-received Fight Club), a wryly mannered commentary on the excesses of pop culture that tracks the 15 minutes of fame of the lone living member of a suicide cult. Tender Branson, aged 33, has commandeered a Boeing 747, emptied of passengers, in order to tell his story to the "black box" while flying randomly until the plane runs out of gas and crashes. Branson relates in his long flashback the vicissitudes of his life: a member of the repressive Creedish Death Cult, supposedly founded by a splinter group of Millerites in 1860, he is hired out as a domestic servant who must dedicate his earnings to the cult. Despite his humble beginnings, Branson finds himself on the edge of fame and fortune when the cult members begin their suicide binge, and he keeps himself on the media radar by using the psychic dreams of his potential romantic interest, Fertility Hollis, in which the girl accurately predicts a series of strange disasters. After a brief period at the top of the freak-show heap, Branson succumbs to the excesses of his trade when his agent mysteriously dies at the Super Bowl as Branson predicts the outcome of the game at half-time, simultaneously triggering a riot and turning him into a murder suspect. Branson's spookily matter of fact account of his bizarre experiences does not excite tension until the narrative is well under way, but the novel picks up momentum during the homestretch when Branson goes on the lam with Fertility and his murderous brother Adam, and the story steamrolls toward its nightmarish climax.

My thoughts: Like every other Chuck novel I've read, once more the satire and general commentary on society as a whole leaves me loving it. It's slightly disjointed...almost surreal at times. Lending to that is the set up of the novel. The pages and chapters slowly countdown...continually reminding you that the main character is on a plane that will be crashing by the time you reach the end.

Book 39 - A Simple Plan

Originally posted 05-24-07!

Title: A Simple Plan
Author: Scott Smith
Pages: 416
Grade: B+

Summary: (From Publisher's Weekly)
Once one accepts the bizarre premise of Smith's astonishingly adept, ingeniously plotted debut thriller, the book fulfills every expectation of a novel of suspense, leading the reader on a wild exploration of the banality of evil. Indeed, it is difficult to believe that a tyro writer could have produced so controlled and assured a narrative. When Hank Mitchell, his obese, feckless brother Jacob and Jacob's smarmy friend Lou accidentally find a wrecked small plane and its dead pilot in the woods near their small Ohio town, they decide not to tell the authorities about the $4.4 million stuffed into a duffel bag. Instead, they agree to hide the money and later divide it among themselves. The "simple plan" sets in motion a spiral of blackmail, betrayal and multiple murder which Smith manipulates with consummate skill, increasing the tension exponentially with plot twists that are inevitable and unpredictable at the same time. In choosing to make his protagonist an ordinary middle-class man--Hank is an accountant in a feed and grain store--Smith demonstrates the eerie ease with which the mundane can descend to the unthinkable. Hank commits the first murder to protect his brother and their secret; he eerily rationalizes the ensuing coldblooded deeds while remaining outwardly normal, hardly an obvious psychopath.

My thoughts: Quick, easy read. Wasn't truly monumental...I didn't really love it. But something about it kept me attached. I'll steal from the review from the Chicago Tribune. "[It was] like watching a train wreck. There is nothing to be done, but it is impossible to turn away."

Book 38 - Forever

Originally posted 05-23-07!

Title: Forever
Author: Pete Hamill
Pages: 608
Grade: A-/B+

Summary: (Publisher's Note)

Moving from Ireland to New York City in 1741, Cormac O'Connor witnesses the city's transformation into a thriving metropolis while he explores the mysteries of time, loss, and love.

My thoughts: It's a smart tale...that was really at its best, for me.... when Cormac was really living a life. I loved the beginning. The small boy growing up in Ireland. I loved his encounter with the Countess. And I loved the ending. The pace was nice at these points and I was completely enthralled. But this story, though revolving around Cormac becomes so much more once he reaches New York. It becomes in even more ways a tale about Manhattan. And even knowing that it was going to reach the year 2001...there is something about reading something like that...in a book...that just pulls you back to where you were at that moment. The description is raw, frightful, everything that you know it was. Hmm, sometimes books you find for three dollars are more than worth it. =)

Book 37 - Prozac Nation

Originally posted 05-18-07!

Title: Prozac Nation
Author: Elizabeth Wurtzel
Pages: 362
Grade: -

Summary: (From Publisher's Weekly) Twenty-six-year-old Wurtzel, a former critic of popular music for New York and the New Yorker, recounts in this luridly intimate memoir the 10 years of chronic, debilitating depression that preceded her treatment with Prozac in 1990. After her parents' acrimonious divorce, Wurtzel was raised by her mother on Manhattan's Upper West Side. The onset of puberty, she recalls, also marked the onset of recurrent bouts of acute depression, sending her spiraling into episodes of catatonic despair, masochism and hysterical crying. Here she unsparingly details her therapists, hospitalizations, binges of sex and drug use and the paralyzing spells of depression which afflicted her in high school and as a Harvard undergraduate and culminated in a suicide attempt and ultimate diagnosis of atypical depression, a severe, episodic psychological disorder.

My thoughts: "..I don't want to die. I don't want to live either..." It's a quote from the book... that sums up depression in about the best way possible I think. I don't know....I'm left feeling a bit raw after reading. Like I just was forced to stare at myself....while at the same time reading about someone I'm very much not. But the 'full of promise' lines...they just strike something.... *shakes head* This was just an intense reading experience. I just don't know what to say.

Book 36 - American Gods

Originally posted 05-18-07!

Title: American Gods
Author: Neil Gaiman
Pages: 588
Grade: A-/B+

Summary: (From Publisher's Weekly)
Titans clash, but with more fuss than fury in this fantasy demi-epic from the author of Neverwhere. The intriguing premise of Gaiman's tale is that the gods of European yore, who came to North America with their immigrant believers, are squaring off for a rumble with new indigenous deities: "gods of credit card and freeway, of Internet and telephone, of radio and hospital and television, gods of plastic and of beeper and of neon." They all walk around in mufti, disguised as ordinary people, which causes no end of trouble for 32-year-old protagonist Shadow Moon, who can't turn around without bumping into a minor divinity. Released from prison the day after his beloved wife dies in a car accident, Shadow takes a job as emissary for Mr. Wednesday, avatar of the Norse god Grimnir, unaware that his boss's recruiting trip across the American heartland will subject him to repeat visits from the reanimated corpse of his dead wife and brutal roughing up by the goons of Wednesday's adversary, Mr. World. At last Shadow must reevaluate his own deeply held beliefs in order to determine his crucial role in the final showdown.

My thoughts: I'm not very eloquent today....and there is so much about this book that deserves more praise then I'll get out here, but nonetheless I shall try. First off...the use of the word nonsensical! But the thing I really loved and enjoyed about this novel...was the small quaint little town...that you know is seeped in something strange but I loved every character there. I adored the mythology. The mere almost shades of the Gods of their original countries trying to thrive here...where there has never been much room for them. And I loved the side stories...they were possibly my favorite parts. So, you know....if you have any love of the myth/lore of old and an appreciation for the fantastical...I totally recommend.

Book 35 - The Deed

Originally posted 05-11-07!

Title: The Deed
Author: Keith Blanchard
Pages: 302
Grade: C+/B-

Summary: (From Booklist)
Jason Hansvoort lives an all-too-common 20-something existence: he has an unfulfilling job at an uncaring corporation, too many evenings spent in bars with friends, and a string of one-night stands to his credit, but very little direction in life. Then the beautiful Amanda, a Native American law student, finds him and tells him he may stand to inherit Manhattan Island if a 350-year-old deed can be found. Suddenly Jason finds himself with two goals worthy of pursuing.

My thoughts: Um, a fairly quick and easy read. However, it is quite anti-climatic. And the lead characters just don't seem fully fleshed out as characters. I think really while the basic storyline is well paced...and the story was complete...details were missing, which kept it from being a good novel. But again, quick read, mildly entertaining, and only cost me a $1.