Lord of Hawkfell Island by Catherine Coulter

After finishing Doris Lessing's The Grass is Singing, I felt somewhat caught up in the dark mood of the book, and decided to read something more lighthearted next. Catherine Coulter's Lord of Hawkfell Island was the result of this decision.

This is one of those books I've had on my shelf for years, intending to read it but never quite getting to it. As a result, I no longer read this type of book — "this type" being romance.

(Note: The spine of my copy actually proclaims it a novel, but don't be fooled. This is a "smut book," as we used to call them when I was in high school. It just happens to have a good plot and a bestselling author's name on the cover.)

Lord of Hawkfell Island is definitely a fun, easy read, which is what I wanted. It is also suspenseful, as I seem to remember Coulter's books usually are. However, in reading my first "smut novel" in many years, I realized I'm not as entertained as these as I used to be. For one thing, my feminist sensibilities are more highly developed than they used to be — all the tying the women up, protecting them, etc., doesn't appeal to me, even in the slightest. (In fact, I can't imagine it ever having appealed to me!) The constant fighting between the hero and the heroine — pretty much a given in any romance novel — also fails to entertain. It makes me think of all the bad relationships I had when I was younger, all the fights and passionate make-up scenes. Hmmm, I wonder where I got the idea that that was normal, even expected...

Feminism aside, I think my tastes in literature have simply matured beyond the vapid, formula stories that romance novels provide. (I mean, really, how many romance novels feature a captive woman and her handsome captor falling in love? At least a third of them, I'm sure.) In college and in the years since graduation, I've read plenty of really good literature, and I've developed a taste for nonfiction as well. And while I'm not saying I'll never read another romance novel again, I doubt I'll be tempted very often.

The Grass is Singing by Doris Lessing

I recently finished Doris Lessing's The Grass is Singing, and it was easily one of the darkest and most depressing — and yet most riveting — books I've read lately.

Before Lessing received the Nobel Prize for Literature earlier this year, I don't think I'd even heard of her — a shame, considering my English degree and my appreciation for feminist literature.

I put library holds on several of Doris Lessing's books, and The Grass is Singing was the first I got. It took me a few weeks to get to it, but once I started reading I couldn't stop: I finished the book in just a couple of nights, despite all the holiday activity.

The Grass is Singing is one of those books that sweeps you along, until you find that what was initially not all that compelling suddenly won't let you go until you've seen it through to the end.

Here are my two strongest impressions:

* The book isn't really a love story as the NPR article suggests, rather one of despair. You know from the first paragraph of the first page that the main character, Mary, is murdered. Most of the book is about Mary's slow collapse, a breakdown caused by poverty, solitude, and the downright neglect of her mind. (There's something of the feminist writer in there, too, since it's the shift to confinement from a life of total independence that causes Mary's unhappiness and eventual madness.) It isn't until near the end that the "love affair" comes into play, and even then it doesn't seem like love. In fact, what it seems like is both manipulation and co-dependence existing at the same time, which cannot end except in tragedy — most likely a metaphor for the racist divisions in Rhodesia at the time, actually.

* I've never disliked a main character so much, yet still been so compelled by her story. Being a writer, I know that compelling main characters are flawed. This goes beyond simple flaws, though. Mary is downright distasteful: She is cruel to her native servants, snappish with her husband, and ill-suited for dealing with poverty. Yet at the same time, you are made to understand why she is like this, and to empathize — to a certain extent — with her: She gives up comfort and independence for a poor housewife's life, and then is forced to watch her husband's repeated failures to generate a respectable income. And when you realize you still don't like her, no matter why she is like she is, you also realize that you want to find out how, exactly, she got from this life of despair to being murdered.

This is not a happy or uplifting book. It is dark and somewhat depressing, and if you tend to immerse yourself in a book when you read, you will most definitely be affected by its mood. After finishing The Grass is Singing, I knew I had to read something lighthearted — which I will blog about next.

Annie on My Mind by Nancy Garden

Nancy Garden's Annie on My Mind is the fourth in a list of books I checked out of the library during Banned Books Week in October. The others were:

In Cold Blood by Truman Capote
Beloved by Toni Morrison
The Great Gilly Hopkins by Katherine Paterson

I found with some of these — such as Beloved — that simply being a banned book didn't mean I would find them meaningful or inspiring. However, I was really impressed with Annie on My Mind. It was beautifully written... But before I can say more, I need to explain what this book is about.

Annie on My Mind is a story of two high school-age girls who fall in love. As a result, in addition to the normal confusing and overwhelming feelings of first love, the book explores the difficulties of realizing you're gay at this age.

What I found so fascinating is how Nancy Garden made it all so believeable — or maybe "immediate" is a better word. Basically, she wrote the story in such a way that it is easy for a straight person to suspend disbelief, so to speak, and see things from the eyes of a young lesbian.

Which is no doubt why it has been challenged. Goodness knows, there are people out there who refuse to empathize with gays and lesbians, and who definitely don't want anyone else doing so, either.

Another reason I think Annie on My Mind is banned book material is the harsh way it illustrates the prejudices and discrimination gays and lesbians face. There are many appalling examples of discrimination in this book, but again, told in a way that makes the reader see it through the lesbian narrator's eyes. I'm sure right-wing anti-gays see that as very dangerous: Heck no, we don't want to make gays and lesbians seem human or — God forbid — normal!

The War of the Worlds by H.G. Wells

I read H.G. Wells's The War of the Worlds for a book review that is upcoming (I'll link to it when it's live). I'd read The Time Machine earlier this year, so I was eager to read another of his books.

Unfortunately, I found The War of the Worlds much less interesting in the beginning. The Time Machine hooks you early on, because the story is told to the narrator after the time traveler has already returned from his travels — in other words, you already know that he has an exciting story to tell, because of the condition he is in when he returns.

The War of the Worlds is told in a different manner: The narrator tells primarily of his own experiences, with a middle section of the book being about his brother's experiences (though not narrated by his brother). I personally thought the story started off rather slow, though it did pick up about halfway through. Still, there was something about it that always made me drowsy — and it isn't often that it takes me a full week to get through a book that short!

Interestingly, although many of the details of the book were changed in Hollywood's recent version of the movie &mash; for instance, the narrator's wife exchanged for two kids and a bad relationships with an ex — many other details were kept the same. An example that really stood out to me was the similarity of the endings and why the aliens failed in their invasion. The parts of Wells's book that formed the strongest basis for the movie were the meat of the story, which I think speaks highly of the author's ability to create believeable sci-fi.

The Great Gilly Hopkins by Katherine Paterson

I'm really behind on my book list, so over the next few days I'm going to try to catch up to where I am right now.

I readKatherine Paterson's The Great Gilly Hopkins way back in November, about a month and a half ago. (Yes, I'm that behind!!) Like In Cold Blood and Beloved, reading this book was my tribute to October's Banned Books Week.

The fact that Gilly Hopkins has been challenged both amuses me and makes me angry. Reading it, the only reason for banning it that I could discern was the fact that it tells the truth about what foster care is like for many kids — and as far as I can tell, Paterson does a pretty good job of getting into the head of a foster child and demonstrating where some of the discipline problems might come from.

But really, we can't have our nation's children — let alone the adults — knowing what foster care is really like. They might actually sympathize with foster children!

Second Glance by Jodi Picoult

I read this book a little more than a week ago: Second Glance, by Jodi Picoult. Being a ghost story, the book was quite worthy of the season.

I've always enjoyed novels about ghosts and the supernatural. The idea of the spirits of the dead coming back, on whatever mission, has always fascinated me. And Second Glance didn't disappoint at all. Jodi Picoult is as skilled at writing ghost stories as she is at creating courtroom suspense and compelling characters.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J.K. Rowling

The last Harry Potter book, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, is by far my favorite of the seven. I finished Book 6 — which I did end up liking much better than I had the first time, by the way — late Saturday night, and immediately started reading Book 7. By the same time Sunday night, I had finished Deathly Hallows — I just couldn't put it down! I figure I read the entire thing — all seven-hundred-some pages — in about nine hours, tops.

There are a lot of things I could say about Book 7...but knowing that a lot of people probably still haven't read it, I don't want to give too much away. Suffice it to say that it was a perfect ending for the series. J.K. Rowling tied up all the loose ends quite nicely. I especially like Snape's role in the book...though what that is, I won't tell you.

It's hard to put into words how I feel now that Harry Potter has ended. However, this cartoon by Debbie Ridpath Ohi says it better than words ever could.

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince by J.K. Rowling

When I posted last (about Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix), I stated that I had been less impressed with the sixth Harry Potter book, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, when I read it shortly after it came out. This time around, however, I'm liking it quite a lot.

...So much, in fact, that I'm already about halfway through the book. I expect I'll finish in another couple of days, after which I'll start book 7 at last!!!!

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix by J.K. Rowling

I'm back to reading J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter books, in the hopes of someday making it to Book 7. I'm sure most people just picked book 7 up and read it cold, without refreshing their memories on the first six. However, it had been six or seven years since I read the first four, and I don't remember 5 or 6 very well either.

In any case, I'm glad I decided to read the entire series before reading the newest (and final) book. I had forgotten how much I loved Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. I read this book shortly after it came out, finishing it in about a day and a half, as I remember. Of course, it was summer then, and I was still in college, which meant that I had a couple of days to devote primarily to reading.

I haven't seen the corresponding movie yet — we haven't seen many movies in the theater this year, and we had others (Bourne, Transformers, The Brave One) that were a bit higher on our list of must-sees. However, now that I'm almost finished with Order of the Phoenix, I'm really wanting to see the movie.

Next — and hopefully without any further interruption — I'll be reading Book 6. I seem to remember not being quite as impressed with it as I was with Book 5, so we'll see how they compare when they are read back-to-back.

Main Street: Welcome to Camden Falls by Ann M. Martin

I just finished reading the first book in Ann M. Martin's new Main Street series, Welcome to Camden Falls.

Michael laughed at me when he saw me checking this book out from the library. He knows that I read young adult and children's books from time to time -- in fact, some, such as Tuck Everlasting and The Giver, happen to be among my favorites -- but he said the cover of this particular book just looks so much like a kid's book.

I did read it, though, and I enjoyed it immensely. In some ways, it is very refreshing to see (and read) a children's series book that's not either about a fantasy world or teen drama (the Sweet Valley High series comes to mind). Instead, this book is an honest and sensitive portrayal of two girls, recently orphaned, who have been transplanted to their grandmother's small hometown.

I found out about Main Street through this story on NPR. Ann M. Martin is the author of The Babysitters' Club, a tween series that dates back to my own childhood. In fact, when I was diagnosed as diabetic, practically all I knew about the condition was from The Babysitters' Club. (Unfortunately, that information was also rather outdated, so for the first few days of my hospital visit I thought I'd never be able to eat ice cream again!)

Personally, I think Ms. Martin has outdone herself with Main Street. The characters and the story are much more enduring than those in The Babysitters' Club. In addition, I think the idea of writing a story about small town life -- and not only that, but small town life as seen through the eyes of two "city" girls -- is very appealing. I will probably be reading more of these as they come out!

The Amber Spyglass by Philip Pullman

Michael finally finished The Amber Spyglass, so I was able to finish reading Philip Pullman's "His Dark Materials" trilogy. And I have to say, the third book lived up to -- and perhaps even surpassed -- The Golden Compass and The Subtle Knife.

One of the things I like best about this trilogy is how original it is. It's not just a Lord of the Rings or Narnia knock-off. It is completely original fantasy at its finest.

I'm not going to say any more than that, because I don't want to spoil the third book for anyone. All I'm going to say is that I highly recommend reading this book. It is one of the best fantasy trilogies I have ever read, right up there with all-time favorites such as the Tolkien and Lewis's books.

Of course, I dare the Religious Right to find a way to spin this trilogy as a Christian analogy... Hahaha!

The Member of the Wedding, by Carson McCullers

I heard about Carson McCullers's The Member of the Wedding thanks to NPR: Another author I have read, Augusten Burroughs, reviewed the book on NPR's website.

The book was short and written in a very different style than I am used to, but it was quite good. The narrative is rather sinuous, almost like the stream-of-consciousness narrative style of Virginia Woolf's Mrs. Dalloway (but not as annoying, and with more of a plot!). The main events in The Member of the Wedding take place only over a couple of days, but the narrative is constantly meandering into the past and then returning to the present again, pulling in the back story as it goes along, and weaving it all into one seamless piece.

There is also a fair amount of foreshadowing and suspense regarding the main character, a 12-year-old girl named Frankie, and a soldier that she meets. The hints of what was to come surprised me, as did the outcome of her relationship with the soldier, as I didn't expect a novel published in the 1940s to be so explicit -- I usually think of literature from that period as being rather conservative.

The ending was somewhat startling, too, as it demonstrates the degree of change possible in the attitudes and beliefs of a girl that age. The Member of the Wedding is a pretty accurate and poignant story of what it is like for a girl to be on the verge of adolescence, but still a child all the same.

The Subtle Knife by Philip Pullman

I just finished reading The Subtle Knife, the second book in Philip Pullman's "His Dark Materials" trilogy. I only recently finished the first book, The Golden Compass, but the second book was shorter and a faster read.

Unfortunately, The Subtle Knife had a cliffhanger ending. The story is obviously waiting until the third book to come to any sort of resolution. I would normally be starting the fourth book right away, but Michael is only about halfway done with it right now.

I guess I'll have to find something else to read in the meantime.

The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman

As you may already know, Philip Pullman's The Golden Compass has been made into a movie, due out this December. Michael loves fantasy and is excited for the movie, so he decided to read the books, as well. Perhaps unsurprisingly, he also managed to rope me into reading them, too.

I used to read Philip Pullman as a teenager, so I'm interested to see if his writing is as good as I remember it to be. (So far it is.) I'm a third or half of the way through The Golden Compass, and so far I'm enjoying it immensely. The book is entirely different from the type of fantasy found in the Harry Potter books (which I've also been reading lately), so it is a nice change.

Essentially, the book is about a little girl, Lyra, who has discovered to be involved in a huge -- and most likely sinister -- mystery. Pullman does an excellent job of giving you only a few details at a time, keeping you wondering what is going on, so unfortunately there is little I can tell you about the premise of the novel.

However, I can tell you that The Golden Compass takes place in a fantasy world, but one that is similar to ours in many ways; that children are disappearing; and that Lyra has something to do with all of this (though she doesn't know what yet). Lyra is a delightful heroine, spunky and defiant and rather wild.

While I read The Golden Compass, Michael is reading The Subtle Knife, which is the second book in the "His Dark Materials" trilogy. We'll be picking up the third one -- The Amber Spyglass -- soon, as Michael is almost done with The Subtle Knife.

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by J.K. Rowling

I am now reading the fourth of J.K. Rowling's books, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. I was worried about not being able to get to the 7th book by the time it was due back at the library, but interestingly enough, the library made a mistake, and the book isn't registered as being checked out to me. In that case, I think I'll keep it out for a week or so longer than would usually be allowed, which should give me enough time to finish the entire series.

I have to admit, I had forgotten how long and involved these books started getting after a while. The Goblet of Fire is rather daunting, and I am an adult! How do kids feel with they see this 800-page doorstop?

It's just a good thing Rowling is so good at writing compelling, suspenseful stories -- otherwise, kids would joke about her books the same as they joke about books like War and Peace.

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban by J.K. Rowling

Moving right along in my quest to read the entire 7 books of Harry Potter! I am now on the third book, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban.

It's hard to know what to say when I've read all these before, except to comment about the things that are different about the movie. One thing I definitely have noticed, however, is that J.K. Rowling does an excellent job of dropping clues about what is going on -- except you don't notice it when you're reading the books for the first time.

*** Warning: I'm about to reveal something that may spoil the book (or movie) for you if you haven't read (or seen) it! ***

For instance, in the third book Hermione has enrolled in more classes than she could take in a normal 24-hour day, so she is using a time-travel device to attend them all -- but you don't find that out until the end. However, odd little things are constantly happening, like Hermione suddenly being in class when Ron and Harry didn't see her walk in, or Hermione carrying books for classes she doesn't have that day. If you already know what is going on, you really pick up on these things -- but if you don't know, some of them slip by you.

In other words, J.K. Rowling is a MASTER of subtlety!

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets by J.K. Rowling

I actually forgot to blog about Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets over the weekend, so I am almost done with it now. In fact, I would have finished it last night if I hadn't've been so tired.

Anyway, like with the first Harry Potter book, I am rereading this one to refresh my memory before I read #7. Once again, I am noticing differences between the book and the movie; they usually surprise me, because I have seen the movie several times but have only read the book once, and that was six years ago!

I'm struck again by what an amazing writer J.K. Rowling is. I've heard people criticize her for using ploys such as cliffhanger endings on paragraphs -- but hey, this is popular fiction, not the Dead White Male literary canon. (And if it were, it certainly would not be encouraging kids to read more.)

My reasons for thinking J.K. Rowling is a good writer include:

1) Strong characterization
2) Complicated plots
3) Believable dialogue (so many writers struggle with this!)
4) Great description
5) A great sense of humor, and an amazing ability to weave it into her writing so that it catches you off guard
6) An understanding of what makes kids tick (and read)

She may not be Shakespeare, but I think J.K. Rowling is just as important in our times as Shakespeare was in his. It might be an ambitious statement, but realistically, I don't think importance is judged by the moralizing content of your work -- after all, Shakespeare's plays were intended to entertain the people then as Harry Potter is now.

Harry Potter and the Sorceror's Stone by J.K. Rowling

With the newest (and last) Harry Potter book now out, I decided to re-read the first 6 before I start #7. With some of them, such as Sorceror's Stone, it has been as long as 6 years since I last read them.

I am amazed at how in many cases I remember the movie better than the book. In fact, several times I've noticed places where the action or the dialogue in the book differs significantly from the movie. For instance, when Harry is picking out his wand in the book, the wrong ones don't blow anything up as they do in the movie -- they just don't do anything at all.

Michael is reading the 7th Harry Potter right now, but the way I'm cruising through #1, he'd better hurry up. We got the new one out from the library -- I had put a hold on it more than a year ago, so I was one of the few who was able to get a copy right away -- so I have 3 weeks to read all 7.

Nineteen Minutes by Jodi Picoult

I am now reading Jodi Picoult's newest book, Nineteen Minutes. The basis for this story -- the Columbine shooting -- is close to my heart, as I attended Chatfield, Columbine's sister school. Although I had graduated nearly two years before, I still lived in the area, and my sister was at Chatfield at the time of the shooting. Also, as my dad later pointed out, had we lived in the first house my parents made on offer on when we moved to the area, my sister would have been at Columbine for that shooting.

Having known Columbine students, including members of the so-called Trenchcoat Mafia, and having lived in Littleton for most of my life (including the years following the massacre), I of course was closer to the incident than most people who heard about it on the news. However, my own experiences with bullying and my feeling about public schools -- that they are far too lenient in dealing with it -- has also made me feel more invested in the social outcome following Columbine.

Picoult does a good job of exploring what a crisis such as a school shooting does to a small town or suburb. Although Littleton was not the kind of place where everyone knew everyone else -- as the small town in Picoult's novel is -- it was a sleepy suburb. Our schools were some of the best in the state, certainly in the county. We had soccer moms and straight-A students. No one would ever have dreamed that something as horrible as a school shooting could happen, and therefore the impact of the event created waves that rippled through the community for years afterward.

In Picoult's fictional high school shooting, she makes the shooter someone who has been bullied and virtually friendless all of his life, just like the real shooters in many of these incidents. Although I haven't finished the book yet, so far I think she does a superb job of turning the antagonist into a sympathetic character. I love that about Picoult -- that she can take a crime and put a human face on it, make you see the many facets of the act and the character who committed it.

In Nineteen Minutes, Picoult literally picks you up and drops you into the head of a chronically bullied child. If you haven't dealt with severe bullying on a daily basis, or if you can't understand why school shootings always precipitate an outcry against bullying in schools, you need to read this book -- if only to make you understand what might go through the head of a child bullied past the point of human tolerance.

Perfect Match by Jodi Picoult

I just recently finished reading Perfect Match, by Jodi Picoult. As I've come to expect with her, it was a beautifully crafted novel, with a sudden surprise near the beginning to draw you in, just the right amount of suspense to keep you reading throughout, and several surprise twists along the way (with the biggest one at the end). It wasn't, however, an all-nighter type.

This one is about a lawyer who specializes in prosecuting child molesters, and then finds out that her five-year-old son has been sexually molested. What would you do -- or what would you want to do -- if it happened to you, and you knew firsthand how ineffective the system was at taking care of these things?

As the character, Nina, says herself in the book, she only did what every parents always wants to do in that situation -- but can't quite get up the guts to act on it.

Plain Truth by Jodi Picoult

The newest Jodi Picoult novel that I'm reading is Plain Truth. Although the subject matter and setting of this book is different than her other books, I am starting to notice a pattern.

First of all, Picoult's books almost always involve a crime, or at least a violation against someone's rights. And it almost always goes to trial (Picture Perfect being the only one I read that didn't include a trial). However, Picoult's books are different than most lawyer fiction because she gets to the heart of the issue -- she puts a human face on the crime. So although the court scenes are very suspenseful and do an excellent job of drawing the reader along, they are secondary to the emotional and psychological drama that is taking place both in and out of the courtroom.

But back to Plain Truth... Like I said, this one is a little different -- in a way. It is about an 18-year-old Amish girl who is being accused of neonatacide (killing a baby). The hospital determines that the dead premie in the barn is indeed hers, but the girl is having problems even admitting to herself that she was ever pregnant. Of course, eventually she is able to come to terms with her pregnancy (and the act that got her that way), but the question now is -- how did the baby die?

This book is shaping up to be quite good. It is definitely another book I would recommend -- but then, what Picoult book wouldn't I recommend?

Salem Falls by Jodi Picoult

Well, I did it again -- stayed up all night to finish a Jodi Picoult book. This time, though, I was already about 100 pages into Salem Falls when I got in bed to read around 1:30 am last night. I finished the book around 5:30 -- I think -- before finally going to bed.

Basically, Salem Falls is a modern version of The Crucible -- a play that fictionalizes the Salem witch trials, where a group of girls started a witch hunt by pretending to be bewitched and giving false evidence against the women in the community. Whereas the witch trials dealt with the worst crime the residents of Salem could imagine, however, Salem Falls deals with one of the worst crimes imaginable today: sexual assault on a minor.

Although Salem Falls didn't grab me from the first few pages, as My Sister's Keeper did, by the time I was a third of the way through it I couldn't put down. Like her other books, Picoult has a lot of seemingly unrelated side plots going on at the same time, but which all seem to come together in the end. Unlike her other books, Picoult doesn't drop a bombshell within the first ten pages, and then spend the rest of the book exploring the before and after of the crater it makes. Instead, the bombshell comes later in the book -- but that doesn't make it any less compelling, proving that Picoult's skill as a suspense writer comes not from parlor tricks but from pure talent.

Vanishing Acts by Jodi Picoult

The last book I read was My Sister's Keeper by Jodi Picoult. Since first discovering Picoult's books a couple of weeks ago, I'm devouring them one after another. The one I'm reading now is Vanishing Acts.

Although this one isn't quite as compelling as My Sister's Keeper, which kept me up all night, it's pretty darn good. Basically, the main character suddenly finds out that her supposedly widowed father, who she has lived with alone for as long as she can remember, kidnapped her when she was little.

Of course, this makes her father suddenly into the bad guy. But in her usual fashion, Picoult slowly starts to expose more and more of the story, until you realize that her father is also the good guy. I love how Picoult does that -- puts a human face on people that you would normally label just good or just bad, showing how complicated the truth of the matter usually is.

I expect that this is building up toward a surprise revelation at the very end, which is the way Jodi Picoult's books usually end. I don't have much left of it, so I'll probably go finish reading now -- I want to know what happens! While Vanishing Acts is very good, though, I wouldn't recommend it quite as highly as I would My Sister's Keeper. But I'd still recommend it, as I haven't yet met a Jodi Picoult book I haven't liked.

My Sister's Keeper by Jodi Picoult

In my last post, I said that I was going to catch up on books that I haven't posted. As it turns out, I have something more pressing to write about -- a good book that totally derailed my plans (not to mention my sleep schedule).

But first, a little background. I discovered Jodi Picoult while I was visiting my grandfather. I'll blog later about the first two books of hers that I read, but for the moment it's enough to say that I fell immediately in love with her characters, her writing style, and her amazing ability to get you into her character's heads and their complex lives. In short, Picoult writes the kinds of books I want to write someday.

I started My Sister's Keeper at about midnight tonight, and I finished it five and a half hours later. I literally read the book all in one sitting -- I couldn't put it down, couldn't slow down. I seriously think I only closed the book once, and for less than three minutes.

I loved the other two Picoult books that I read, but My Sister's Keeper is my favorite so far. Picoult takes challenging issues and writes books that closed-minded people would no doubt ban, if she weren't so good at forcing their minds open by making you see through her character's eyes. This particular novel takes a new spin on the stem cell debate by saying, "What if medical miracles were taken not from a lifeless, unwanted embryo, but a living, breathing child with her own life to live? How would it impact that child to know that she is alive for the primary purpose of saving her sister's life?"

Of course, as with all of Picoult's books, this is an extremely simplistic way of describing the story and the questions it poses. Picoult is a master of weaving multiple plotlines together, all of them unique yet irrevocably connected.

I think it's probably unnecessary to say that I highly recommend My Sister's Keeper, but I will anyway. Seriously, read this book. But don't start it unless you have a solid block of reading time -- I don't necessary recommend reading it all in one sitting (I'm tired!!!), but it will be hard to put down.

The Lost Madonna, by Kelly Jones

I just finished reading The Lost Madonna, by Kelly Jones. I didn't blog about it earlier because I wasn't sure what I wanted to say about it. Getting started was really rough, because I didn't feel like I was being drawn in as much as I could have been. The beginning of the book contained a lot of flashbacks, but they were all narrated in a "tell" style, rather than a "show" style. I don't know about you, but I have a hard time getting into a book that explains instead of dropping you right into the scene.

However, the story in The Lost Madonna was intriguing that I kept reading, despite my doubts as to Jones's writing style. I am glad I did -- and this goes to show how first impressions of books are not always accurate. As the story went on, and the flashbacks were fewer, the story became even more intense. In the end, it was a pretty good book, and I am glad I read it.

The moral of the story: If you read Kelly Jones's The Lost Madonna, be sure to keep going even if you don't feel compelled to. In the end, it's worth it!

The Tenant of Wildfell Hall, by Anne Bronte

For another book review, I am reading The Tenant of Wildfell Hall, by Anne Bronte. This is the second time I have read the book; the first time was for a Women's Literature class my senior year of college.

Having just recently read Charlotte Bronte's Shirley, I am struck by the difference in their writing styles, even more so than I was in college. Charlotte Bronte has a writing style that is much more "preacherly" than her younger sister's; whereas Charlotte takes a long time to get to the point, and often slips into a lecture in her own voice before returning to her character's narrative, Anne is straightforward and honest. Rather than taking "time out" from the story to express her views, Anne instead weaves them into her character's conversations, crafting dialogue that makes her point for her. She also addresses many issues more directly than Charlotte does: For instance, her main character, Helen Graham (the narrator, Gilbert, is primarily a vessel through which Helen's story is told), takes a strong stance against alcohol, and vehemently argues her reasons for teaching her son to dislike it.

In general, I also find that Anne's writing is more easily readable than Charlotte's is. Perhaps because it moves more quickly, or perhaps because of a subtle difference in the language, I find The Tenant of Wildfell Hall much more readable than Shirley, perhaps even than Jane Eyre.

Due to the easier readability of her writing, and the respect I have for the way she uses her fiction to argue a political view, I have to say that I like Anne Bronte's work better than that of her better-known sister, Charlotte.

NNNNN, by Carl Reiner

I just finished reading one of the weirdest books I've read in a long time. I seriously think NNNNN, by Carl Reiner, evolved out of writer's block. It reads like something that a foundering writer would come up with out of desperation, but it's pretty funny, too.

NNNNN breaks all the rules: Ridiculous coincidences, melodramatic plot devices, silly names, and bad dialogue makes this book a hoot to read. I wish I had had writer's block at the time I read this, as I imagine it would be a fun book to read when I'm having a hard time writing.

Bram Stoker's Dracula

Amazingly, with all of my literature background, and with all of my fascination with Anne Rice's vampire novels, I've never read Bram Stoker's Dracula. I'm now reading the book at last for a book review I'm writing for About.com's Classic Lit site.

I've been surprised by how interesting the book really is. Even though it was written during the height of the Victorian era, the book doesn't seem Victorian at all. The narrative style - the character's journal and letters used to piece together a story in the first person from multiple points of view - is pretty typical of the era, though. (Case in point - Frankenstein, Wuthering Heights, etc.)

Of course, the narration is a little wordy at times, but it's still an amazingly dark (and sexual, in parts!) story for the time period.

Anatomy of a Boyfriend, by Daria Snadowsky

This book is a perfect example why you should sometimes judge a book by its cover - or, from the publisher's perspective, create a cover that will entice judgment. Daria Snadowky's Anatomy of a Boyfriend has a cover that does just that.

Although by running a cover like that, a publisher risks running the risk of offending some people - notably those book-burners who like to scream and holler about what their children are exposed to - they are also going to generate a lot of interest in their book. Too many book covers look the same - or enough of the same that they all blur together as you walk through the aisles of a bookstore. Lucky is the author whose cover breaks through that trance of sameness and jumps out at the consumer.

Equally important is that the cover is accurate in indicating what the book is about. Just as its cover, title, and genre (YA) suggests, Anatomy of a Boyfriend is about what it's like to be a teen. Snadowsky narrates realistically from a 17-year-old girl's point of view what it's like to dream about, and eventually have, your first sexual experience. The book also demonstrates some of the less pleasant realities, such as how prevalent "hooking up" is among some teens.

I'm only partway through the book - they haven't even "done it" yet - but so far it's a fun read.

The novelization of Serenity by Keith R.A. DeCandido

I'm a big fan of Joss Whedon's series Firefly, and the movie conclusion Serenity. It's so disappointing that the series was canceled, because I could quite happily watch it nightly. In any case, thirsting for more Firefly led me to look into what was available in written form. The novelization of Serenity by Keith R.A. DeCandido is one of the items I decided to check out.

So far it's good. It's not one of those novelizations that differs from the movie in fundamental ways, such as plotline. (As a kid, I was horribly disappointed when I read the book Honey, I Shrunk the Kids and discovered it diverged from the movie in several places.) Also, the narration fits the feel of the series and the character dialogue, too - although it's third person omniscient (meaning it's third person but follows many different character's thoughts and feelings), the tone of the narration suits whichever character's point of view is being used at the moment.

In other words, the narration "talks" like the character it's following would in the show, and I really like that. I can literally hear Mal's, or Jayne's, or River's voice in my head as I read. It's definitely not easy for a writer to assume so many drastically different voices at different intervals throughout the book, not to mention to decide which voice is the most appropriate for a particular scene, but DeCandido has done admirably.

This is quite possibly the best novelization of a movie that I've seen (the exception being, naturally, books that were written first), and a definite must-read for any Firefly fan.

Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson

I am currently reading Robert Louis Stevenson's Treasure Island for the first time since probably middle school. I'd forgotten much of the story - most of what I knew about it was from Disney's Treasure Planet (one of my favorite Disney animated movies), as sad as that may seem.

I knew that Treasure Planet, despite being adapted for a futuristic setting, drew a lot of its characters and elements from Stevenson's novel. I hadn't remembered how much of it had come directly from the novel, though. In fact, most of the book is translated into movie form in some shape or form: the sailing ship becomes a space ship, the island becomes a planet, and the marooned sailor Ben Gunn becomes a crazy robot. The names and places stay the same: the Jim Hawkins and his mother, the Benbow, Billy Bones, Long John Silver, the mutiny, etc.

In other words, anyone who loved the action and adventure of Treasure Planet is bound to enjoy Treasure Island. Robert Louis Stevenson knew what he was doing when he crafted boys' adventure novels, that's for sure!