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photogfrogMORE BOOKS DONE!
Fly Away Home - by Jennifer Weiner
Summary - from Amazon. When Sylvie Serfer met Richard Woodruff in law school, she had wild curls, wide hips, and lots of opinions. Decades later, Sylvie has remade herself as the ideal politician’s wife—her hair dyed and straightened, her hippie-chick wardrobe replaced by tailored knit suits. At fifty-seven, she ruefully acknowledges that her job is staying twenty pounds thinner than she was in her twenties and tending to her husband, the senator.
Lizzie, the Woodruffs’ younger daughter, is at twenty-four a recovering addict, whose mantra HALT (Hungry? Angry? Lonely? Tired?) helps her keep her life under control. Still, trouble always seems to find her. Her older sister, Diana, an emergency room physician, has everything Lizzie failed to achieve—a husband, a young son, the perfect home—and yet she’s trapped in a loveless marriage. With temptation waiting in one of the ER’s exam rooms, she finds herself craving more.
After Richard’s extramarital affair makes headlines, the three women are drawn into the painful glare of the national spotlight. Once the press conference is over, each is forced to reconsider her life, who she is and who she is meant to be.
My thoughts: I liked this book but it was hard to read at times. I don't know why. It seemed predictable and yet not. I was a bit surprised by the ending, as I was expecting it to end as most chick lit books do, all neatly and tucked away nicely.
Worth a read, imho. 7/10
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo - Steig Larsson
Summary - Not mine :) - Henrik Vanger, an octogenarian industrialist, hires Mikael Blomkvist, a journalist who has just lost a libel case under murky circumstances, to investigate the disappearance of his great-niece, Harriet. Nearly 40 years earlier, Harriet vanished from a small island mostly owned by the Vanger family, and Henrik has never gotten over it.
Blomkvist takes on the case, despite serious misgivings, after Henrik promises him 2.4 million kronor (about $372,000 at the current exchange rate) for a year’s work. Henrik says he’s certain that someone in his family murdered Harriet. “I detest most of the members of my family,” he tells Blomkvist. “They are for the most part thieves, misers, bullies and incompetents” — a description that will prove to be, if anything, too kind.
The girl of the title isn’t Harriet but Lisbeth Salander, a 24-year-old computer hacker with a photographic memory, a violent temper and some serious intimacy issues. After a nasty plot detour involving a lawyer foolish enough to try to take advantage of her, Salander teams with Blomkvist to solve the mystery of Harriet’s disappearance.
The novel perks up as their investigation gains speed, though readers will need some time to sort through the various cousins and nephews and half-brothers and -sisters who populate the Vanger family. Harriet’s case turns out to be connected to a series of murders in the 1950s and ’60s. When a cat is killed and its tortured corpse is left outside the cottage where Blomkvist is living, he and Salander realize they may not be working on a cold case after all.
After having watched both movie versions, I had to read the book. G and I read it together. He beat me to the finish.
The movies left little out, which would explain why the movies were so gd long. However, the Swedish one did a better job with Lisbeth and the Yank one did a better job with some of the back story.
The book was good. It's hard to read a book when you know the ending, I find. And Larsson prattles on and on and on and on about some details. OMG SHUT UP!
8/10
10th Anniversary - James Patterson
Summary - from Amazon - For every secret
Detective Lindsay Boxer's long-awaited wedding celebration becomes a distant memory when she is called to investigate a horrendous crime: a badly injured teenage girl is left for dead, and her newborn baby is nowhere to be found. Lindsay discovers that not only is there no trace of the criminals--but that the victim may be keeping secrets as well.
For every lie
At the same time, Assistant District Attorney Yuki Castellano is prosecuting the biggest case of her life--a woman who has been accused of murdering her husband in front of her two young children. Yuki's career rests on a guilty verdict, so when Lindsay finds evidence that could save the defendant, she is forced to choose. Should she trust her best friend or follow her instinct?
There's a different way to die
Lindsay's every move is watched by her new boss, Lieutenant Jackson Brady, and when the pressure to find the baby begins interfering with her new marriage to Joe, she wonders if she'll ever be able to start a family. With James Patterson's white-hot speed and unquenchable action, 10th Anniversary is the most deliciously chilling Women's Murder Club book ever.
Typical Patterson book. Lots of action, lots going on, not much in way of character development if you don't know them from the previous 9 books. A nice light airplane read. 7/10
Before I go to Sleep - SJ Watson
Summary from Amazon - Memories define us.
So what if you lost yours every time you went to sleep?
Your name, your identity, your past, even the people you love—all forgotten overnight. And the one person you trust may be telling you only half the story.
Welcome to Christine’s life.
Thoughts: WOW. This book was weeeeeird. Christine loses her memory in an accident, so she is told. Her husband, Ben, fills her in daily on what she can't recall. Except, in her journal, on the front page, it reads "DO NOT TRUST BEN". O_O As the story unfolds, it's clear Ben's been withholding information from Christine, but maybe he's doing it out of love...or so I thought.
This book has ample twists and turns and the ending was good but a bit of a let down, as I has a different, more spectacular ending built up in my head.
A very good read though and one that makes one really reflect on the trust they have for their spouse.
8/10
Fly Away Home - by Jennifer Weiner
Summary - from Amazon. When Sylvie Serfer met Richard Woodruff in law school, she had wild curls, wide hips, and lots of opinions. Decades later, Sylvie has remade herself as the ideal politician’s wife—her hair dyed and straightened, her hippie-chick wardrobe replaced by tailored knit suits. At fifty-seven, she ruefully acknowledges that her job is staying twenty pounds thinner than she was in her twenties and tending to her husband, the senator.
Lizzie, the Woodruffs’ younger daughter, is at twenty-four a recovering addict, whose mantra HALT (Hungry? Angry? Lonely? Tired?) helps her keep her life under control. Still, trouble always seems to find her. Her older sister, Diana, an emergency room physician, has everything Lizzie failed to achieve—a husband, a young son, the perfect home—and yet she’s trapped in a loveless marriage. With temptation waiting in one of the ER’s exam rooms, she finds herself craving more.
After Richard’s extramarital affair makes headlines, the three women are drawn into the painful glare of the national spotlight. Once the press conference is over, each is forced to reconsider her life, who she is and who she is meant to be.
My thoughts: I liked this book but it was hard to read at times. I don't know why. It seemed predictable and yet not. I was a bit surprised by the ending, as I was expecting it to end as most chick lit books do, all neatly and tucked away nicely.
Worth a read, imho. 7/10
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo - Steig Larsson
Summary - Not mine :) - Henrik Vanger, an octogenarian industrialist, hires Mikael Blomkvist, a journalist who has just lost a libel case under murky circumstances, to investigate the disappearance of his great-niece, Harriet. Nearly 40 years earlier, Harriet vanished from a small island mostly owned by the Vanger family, and Henrik has never gotten over it.
Blomkvist takes on the case, despite serious misgivings, after Henrik promises him 2.4 million kronor (about $372,000 at the current exchange rate) for a year’s work. Henrik says he’s certain that someone in his family murdered Harriet. “I detest most of the members of my family,” he tells Blomkvist. “They are for the most part thieves, misers, bullies and incompetents” — a description that will prove to be, if anything, too kind.
The girl of the title isn’t Harriet but Lisbeth Salander, a 24-year-old computer hacker with a photographic memory, a violent temper and some serious intimacy issues. After a nasty plot detour involving a lawyer foolish enough to try to take advantage of her, Salander teams with Blomkvist to solve the mystery of Harriet’s disappearance.
The novel perks up as their investigation gains speed, though readers will need some time to sort through the various cousins and nephews and half-brothers and -sisters who populate the Vanger family. Harriet’s case turns out to be connected to a series of murders in the 1950s and ’60s. When a cat is killed and its tortured corpse is left outside the cottage where Blomkvist is living, he and Salander realize they may not be working on a cold case after all.
After having watched both movie versions, I had to read the book. G and I read it together. He beat me to the finish.
The movies left little out, which would explain why the movies were so gd long. However, the Swedish one did a better job with Lisbeth and the Yank one did a better job with some of the back story.
The book was good. It's hard to read a book when you know the ending, I find. And Larsson prattles on and on and on and on about some details. OMG SHUT UP!
8/10
10th Anniversary - James Patterson
Summary - from Amazon - For every secret
Detective Lindsay Boxer's long-awaited wedding celebration becomes a distant memory when she is called to investigate a horrendous crime: a badly injured teenage girl is left for dead, and her newborn baby is nowhere to be found. Lindsay discovers that not only is there no trace of the criminals--but that the victim may be keeping secrets as well.
For every lie
At the same time, Assistant District Attorney Yuki Castellano is prosecuting the biggest case of her life--a woman who has been accused of murdering her husband in front of her two young children. Yuki's career rests on a guilty verdict, so when Lindsay finds evidence that could save the defendant, she is forced to choose. Should she trust her best friend or follow her instinct?
There's a different way to die
Lindsay's every move is watched by her new boss, Lieutenant Jackson Brady, and when the pressure to find the baby begins interfering with her new marriage to Joe, she wonders if she'll ever be able to start a family. With James Patterson's white-hot speed and unquenchable action, 10th Anniversary is the most deliciously chilling Women's Murder Club book ever.
Typical Patterson book. Lots of action, lots going on, not much in way of character development if you don't know them from the previous 9 books. A nice light airplane read. 7/10
Before I go to Sleep - SJ Watson
Summary from Amazon - Memories define us.
So what if you lost yours every time you went to sleep?
Your name, your identity, your past, even the people you love—all forgotten overnight. And the one person you trust may be telling you only half the story.
Welcome to Christine’s life.
Thoughts: WOW. This book was weeeeeird. Christine loses her memory in an accident, so she is told. Her husband, Ben, fills her in daily on what she can't recall. Except, in her journal, on the front page, it reads "DO NOT TRUST BEN". O_O As the story unfolds, it's clear Ben's been withholding information from Christine, but maybe he's doing it out of love...or so I thought.
This book has ample twists and turns and the ending was good but a bit of a let down, as I has a different, more spectacular ending built up in my head.
A very good read though and one that makes one really reflect on the trust they have for their spouse.
8/10
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no subject
Date: 2012-01-23 04:11 am (UTC)Thanks for sharing your reviews, anyway. You intrigue me on some of these.
no subject
Date: 2012-01-23 06:13 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-01-23 06:34 am (UTC)