So Very Posh

Category: Books

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Decipher

I’ve read a lot of bad reviews about this book, but it’s become one of my favorites.  This book definitely requires a technical mind and a love for science, so if 500 pages of science and cultural history sound boring to you, I doubt you’d enjoy this as much as I did.

In 2012, the best scientists across the globe have been assembled to solve a mystery.  The earth is going through a traumatic time with many earthquakes, floods and odd weather.  The lost city of Atlantis may have been found and could either be causing these problems, or could be a cure for them.

All over the world, usually under an ancient pyramid of some sort, an interesting material, Carbon 60, is found inscribed with an unknown language.  This material is man-made and is something we can’t create in any significant quantity, so its discovery is puzzling.  Not only is the material inscribed, but it is digitally encoded.

The set of great minds come together to try to figure out how this material and the writings on them tie into the puzzle.

Let’s face it, I’m no good at summarizing.  I thought this book was not only educational, but exciting.  I found many of the scientific and historical facts discussed in the book are real, as I researched points that interested me.  It really makes you think and evaluate everything you’ve always assumed to be true.

If you like Stargate, you’ll notice many similar themes.

This book is perfect for those who don’t have a lot of time to read every day as it’s broken into many “stopping points” between chapters, so it’s easy to read for 10 minutes and then put the book down at a break.  The last 50 pages or so are truly boring, but I felt the ride was definitely worth it!

Filed Under: Books • 4.5 stars

Cove, The

I got this book a long time ago from PaperBackSwap and having no recollection what it was about, I put it in my bag as an option to read while I was in Texas.  As it turned out, I read frequently when I was in Texas.  I really miss reading a couple books a week and hope this will kick-start me on reading again.

The Cove is a small town Sally escapes to after the murder of her father.  She doesn’t remember what happened that night, but she very well may have killed him.  Or perhaps her mother killed him.  Either way, both she and her mother are safest if Sally runs away.  At least that’s what she thinks.  An FBI agent named James Quinlan easily tracks down Sally and begins to work his magic on her trying to put together the pieces of the puzzle leading up to her father’s murder.  In the meantime, strange things happen in The Cove which can’t easily be explained and James finds he has another mystery on his hands.

My description probably sounds boring, but this book was anything but.  The pace is quick, which I’ve discovered I prefer in books.  The mysteries are plentiful and kept me guessing.  Sometimes I had aspects of it figured out and other times I was shocked to discover the truth.  Overall, it was a pretty good suspense book with a little romance thrown in for good measure.

Filed Under: Books • 3.5 stars

Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince

I just love Harry Potter books.  Do not continue reading if you don’t want to be spoiled!

Continue reading »

Filed Under: Books • 4.5 stars

Starting From Square Two

I wanted to read this book because I really enjoyed her first novel, Carrie Pilby.  Right from the get-go though, this novel really irritated me in all its chick-lit stereotypical glory.

Gert is recently widowed and hangs around her two single friends, Hallie and Erika. Both are jaded to the world of dating, Hallie never having had a successful relationship and Erika constantly obsessing over her ex-boyfriend Ben. Gert seems like she’ll be the one to keep this book together. She even has the potential to be a strong, single woman. But no, right from the start she’s in a bar meeting guys because no woman can be complete without a man.

The only reason I didn’t chuck this book out of my second story window to be shred into a million pieces by the air conditioner unit below is because of the guy Gert ended up meeting at the bar. His name is Todd, he works as some sort of railroadenginieer and he’s about the greatest guy who’s ever graced the pages of a chick-lit novel. He’s kind, thoughtful and considerate and does just about everything right.

Gert doesn’t treat him as well as she should and both her and her friends agree that Todd does some things which are insensitive and warrant an apology. These things are SO SMALL I don’t understand how the woman was successfully married before. Maybe that husband of hers really killed himself to be rid of her and her childish expectations of men.

If you want a light and fluffy read, please by my guest and dive into this book. You’ll fall in love with Todd and the (honest to God) most serious problem in this book is that Todd is working long hours and is too tired to give Gert 100% of his attention.

Wow.

Todd, I salute you! You’re a great guy and don’t deserve to be picked apart so much by Gert, Hallie and Erika. Better luck next time.

Filed Under: Books • 3 stars

Eight, The

The Eight is about a powerful chess service of questionable origin.  Through the years, it was passed on as a gift to Charlemagne who felt a strong sense of evil when he played it.  He decided this service was too powerful to be kept around and had it buried at a monastery in Montglane.  From then on it was known as the Montglane Service.

During the beginning sparks of the French Revolution, all the monasteries were being turned upside down and the abess in charge of protecting the Service needed to uproot it and get it out of there, lest it fall into the wrong hands.  She dispersed the pieces among eight nuns, sending them off in all different directions, sworn to protect the pieces with their lives.  Two of these nuns are Mireille, a strong woman and Valentine, her more free-spirited cousin.  They live together in Paris, living the high life, until the Frech Revolution really gets swinging and threatens the lives of all too many Parisians.  People are being murdered on the street and Valentine’s life is taken because of the information she knows about the Service.  Mireille knows she has to get herself and the pieces out of there.

After Valentine’s death, Mireille vows to discover the secret killing her cousin.  She set off to distant lands and encountered historical figures along her way, including Napoleon - all of which are also somehow connected with the Service.  She quickly finds she’s not just trying to unveil a secret, she’s a player in an ongoing real life chess game!

Meanwhile, in 1972, Catherine Velis is a computer expert who has an upcoming business trip to Algiers.  First she receives a cryptic message from a fortune teller who seems to know her birthdate.  Shortly afterwards, her friend Lily, an expert at chess, drags her along to a chess match between two world known masters.  At the match, one of these men is killed.  As they try to leave the match, they are shot at and discover Lily’s chauffuer has gone missing!  Catherine soon finds herself sucked into the same real life game of chess that Mireille started playing two hundred years ago.  She traces along the same path as Mireille trying to put all the clues together and discover the importance of the Service.

If you liked The DaVinci Code or admire historical fiction, I highly recommend this book!  It does seem a little far fetched as it ties many of life’s mysteries together, dating all the way back to Adam and Eve.  The ride is fun though and it’s always great to think, “What if it were true?”

Filed Under: Books • 4.5 stars

Unthinkable Thoughts of Jacob Green, The

I have to admit, the only reason I picked up this book was because Zach Braff (of Scrubs) recommended it as his brother wrote it.  Jacob Green is a young man struggling with his father’s abuse and his Jewish faith.  Even though the issues are serious, the book doesn’t dig too deep and has some very comical moments.  I have a feeling I’d appreciate this book more if I had a better understanding of the Jewish religion, but Braff does a good job at describing the Jewish rituals, clothing or foods.

I really loved the book up until I got to the last page and read the ending.  I thought it was sort of a cop-out and didn’t really resolve anything.  It’s like he only had so much material, didn’t really know how to end it, so he just did.  Maybe the ending was too “deep” for me to get and held some sort of weird symbolism, I’m not sure.  It isn’t that I don’t understand the ending, I just feel like there should have been some sort of resolution - good or bad, especially with the subject matter of the last chapter.

It’s a great book, but the ending sucks.

Filed Under: Books • 3.5 stars

Other People’s Dirt

Louise Rafkin is a professional housecleaner.  She’s done it her whole life and has some rather interesting and touching stories to tell about the subject.  The last chapter details Louise’s visit to Kyoto, Japan.  She spends a week with a group of people who have given up everything to do humble services, such as cleaning, for other people.  The last chapter really made me want to read Memoirs of a Geisha again. 

Along with Louise’s personal housekeeping adventures, she seeks out others who have experience in the world of cleaning.  From exotic housecleaners to the people that clean the crime scene after something gruesome happens.  This was a really quick and fun read!

Filed Under: Books • 3.5 stars

In Her Shoes

As you all know, I don’t like chick-lit.  I usually can’t stand it.  It’s all about weak women who only find their strength in men.  Not only is it unrealistic, it’s boring!  I finished Jennifer Weiner‘s first book, Good in Bed and wasn’t disgusted with it, so I figured I’d try her second novel, the one everybody’s talking about: In Her Shoes.

In Her Shoes follows the lives of three related people: Rose, her sister Maggie and their estranged grandmother, Ella.

At the start of the book, Rose is an attorney starting an affair with a partner at her firm.  Rose is a strong willed woman, but insecure in her own imperfect appearance and uncomfortable around men.

Maggie is Rose’s little sister.  She’s dyslexic and basically grew up with people telling her she was stupid.  No one expects much of Maggie.  As a result, she’s lazy and greedy.  She uses people and steals their belongings and money.  I really hate Maggie through much of the book and wish more than once I could knock her upside the head with a heavy ceramic object.

Rose and Maggie’s mother, Caroline, died when they were little.  Their father, so in love with his wife, could no longer stand the thought of her if she wouldn’t be there for him.  He packed the girls up and moved and told the girls’ grandparents the girls would be better off without them.  He married a crazy bitch of a woman named Sydelle who made the girls lives hell at every opportunity. 

Ella lives in Florida, hundreds of miles away from the girls in Philadelphia.  She’s haunted by her grandchildren daily.  It’s a thought so painful she shies away from other seniors in the community since all they ever do is go on and on about their grandchildren.

Along the way, Rose finds true love and an appreciation for herself, Maggie finds a sense of responsibility and Ella finds her grandchildren and makes some friends along the way.  The journey is well worth the read.

Filed Under: Books • 3.5 stars

Good in Bed

I liked Good in Bed much better than I normally like chick-lit.  It was well on its way to being tossed aside as a typical chick-lit sort of book where the woman is all weepy about her lost love and needs a man to find peace with herself.  Then something interesting happened: Cannie got pregnant.  Although she was still pining away, she grew up a bit and realized she is a strong and independent woman on her own.  She finds her way with the help of her family and friends.  Finally, something a little different from all the other cookie-cutter chick-lit novels out there!

Filed Under: Books • 3.5 stars

Fear Nothing

Christopher Snow lives in the sleepy little town of Moonlight Bay.  He has a rare disease called XP which prevents him from getting any sunlight or being in bright light at all.  His body doesn’t repair ultra-violet damage the way most bodies do.  Therefore Christopher is resigned to live his life by the night and he knows just about every inch of Moonlight Bay.

His girlfriend Sasha and his boyhood friend Bobby are his closest companions and they both love him dearly and would do anything for him.

He lives with his dog, Orson, who almost seems to be able to understand what you’re saying and respond.

On this night, Christopher Snow’s father, who is afflicted with cancer, dies.  Chris makes a rare venture out into the world of light to go to the hospital to see his father one last time before he dies.  After he’s gone and the body is taken to be cremated, Chris remembers his father wants to be cremated with a picture of Chris’s mother who died two years ago in a car accident.  He rushes down to the basement to catch up with the men who took the body, but instead he finds an odd scene.  A man in a van brought another body of a dead hitchhiker to be swapped out with Chris’s dad.  Apparently someone wants to do more tests on Chris’s father.

This is the beginning of a strange night full of events for Chris Snow which leads him to discover a frightening military experiment has been going on in Moonlight Bay for years.  It’s the end of the world as we know it and it’s too late to stop what’s already happened.

What’s worse, Chris’s mother was involved in the whole thing and as it turns out, she may have been murdered or killed herself.

Chris tries to find the truth in amid all the lies and secrets.  He risks his life and his friends’ lives in this pursuit.

The ‘frightening experiment’ involves gene splicing which will allow superior intelligence.  It has been tested on a variety of animals and in the first batch, although they exhibited superior intelligence, they also exhibited massive violence and hatred.

This book reminded me too much of Watchers and it even refers to The Francis Project that was behind all the happenings in Watchers.  The difference is that this book didn’t have any of the heart that Watchers had.  It was well written and suspenseful, but in the end, I didn’t really care about any of the characters.  Orson didn’t win me over as much as Einstein.  And the violent creatures resulting in the experiment didn’t have the heart that The Outsider was known to have.

Overall, this was a big let down.  There’s another book with the same characters, but they didn’t win me over enough to want to read more about them.

Filed Under: Books • 3 stars

Phantoms

Dr. Jenny Paige returns to her small town home of Snowfield after picking up her sister Lisa.  Immidately they notice the town is quieter than normal.  When they enter Jenny’s home, they find the housekeeper dead with some strange affliction.  Something strange is going on in Snowfield.

When they’re finally able to call the sherrif of a local town into Snowfield, they find even more terrifying clues.  Severed hands and severed heads.  The entire town is either dead or missing.

More and more it’s looking like the Devil himself has visited Snowfield.  And he’s still there.  Playing with them like a cat plays with a mouse before he kills it.

A page-turner and not quite as horrific as it may seem.  Koontz always develops his characters extraordinarily well.  There’s some strong human emotions and even some humor found in this book.  I could barely put it down.

Filed Under: Books • 4 stars

Engaging Men

I figured I would give chick-lit another try, but it seems like the plain truth is that I just don’t like it.  All the books are the same and have absolutely no substance to them at all.

Angela DiFranco is 31 and dying to get married.  Her coworker, Michelle believes that men are like a jar of pickles.  Someone has to come along first and loosen the lid before you can get in there and pop it open.  Michelle devises a number of different ways to make Angie’s boyfriend Kirk pop wide open.  Of course he does, but he doesn’t love her as much as he should.

This book was boring and predictable.

I’m so finished with chick-lit this time.  I mean it.

Filed Under: Books • 2 stars

More Than You Know

This is a ghost story and love story all rolled into one.  A tale about life coming full circle on itself.  The chapters alternate between the storyteller, Hannah and the history of a family that touches Hannah’s life one summer in a small town in Maine.

The history starts in the early 1800s when Claris Osgood is 10 years old and already feels completely different than her close, loving family members.  She meets a boy named Danial Haskell and they fall in love.  They marry against the Osgood’s wishes.  Danial lives on the island and the Osgoods don’t want Claris taken so far away from them.  They question how well Danial will treat her.  They want what’s best for Claris, but she won’t hear any of it.

Claris soon finds out Danial isn’t the person she thought he was at all.  He is cold and heartless.  Claris loses her first two daughters in a miscarriage and when she finally has a son, Amos, he is her pride and joy.  Danial never cared much for Amos mostly because he reminded Danial of the Osgoods.  He was musically talented, but Danial would have no music in the house.  A few years later, Claris has another child, a girl named Sallie.  Sallie takes after her father’s side and it is apparent her mother doesn’t love her as much.

Hannah Gray tells the story of one summer spent in the small town in Maine where Claris once lived.  Her stepmother doesn’t care for her and her father is never around.  Hannah’s mother grew up in this town and everyone sees fit to tell her how much she looks like her mother.

Hannah begins to see a ghost in her summer home.  The ghost is always weeping, but it isn’t to be pitied.  It’s ugly with piercing eyes and Hannah is very clear that it is a THING, not a person.  She spends the summer investigating the origin of her house, which used to be the schoolhouse on the island.  She finds out about the Haskell’s and about the strange events that led to Danial Haskell’s murder.

On her journey, she comes across a young man named Conary Crocker.  They are immediately taken with one another and quickly fall in love.  Conary has run into the ghost before as well and is the only person Hannah can turn to with her findings.

This is their story, as it is the story of the Haskells.  What happened that summer and what happened long ago and how they are connected.  The book ended with me wanting more.  I wanted to know more about Hannah’s life after that summer and more about the motivation behind the Haskell’s.  A very quick read, not scary at all for a ghost story and highly recommended!

Filed Under: Books • 4 stars

Codex

Edward Wonzy is on the first vacation he’s taken since he could remember.  Normally a high profile stock broker, Edward is taking two weeks off to get his affairs in order before he leaves for a similar job in London.  His firm asks him to drop by on a client to do a favor, however.

It turns out the favor has been requested by the Duke and Duchess of Bowmry, England.  They want him to catalog their huge collection of books and keep an eye out for one book in particular.  Edward was sure this was some sort of mistake as the task is beneath him.  He thinks about excusing his way out of it, but as each day passes, he takes comfort in the chore.

He tries to find out more about this book, this codex he is looking for.  In his research he comes across Margaret Napier who just so happens to be an expert on the author: Gervase of Langford.  Margaret is unemotional and from what I can tell, barely human.  She’s robotic in almost every way.  She is convinced the codex is a fake.

Meanwhile, Edward gets sucked into a computer game called MOMUS which has striking similarities to his quest for the codex.

The first half of this book had me turning pages.  It was easy to read and interesting enough, but I suppose I was so eager to get to the next page because I was waiting for something to HAPPEN.  Anything at all.  No one actually does anything noteworthy in this book at all.  In fact, no one would even break a sweat if it weren’t for the fact that it was the middle of summer.

Most of the book is spent in libraries or in front of a computer screen, describing a game.  None of the characters are particularly interesting.  The ending came out of left field and had a dreamlike quality to it.

I didn’t hate the book, but I felt the storyline and characters were beyond weak.

Filed Under: Books • 3 stars

Probable Future, The

This was a beautifully written book about the Sparrow’s family history spanning 13 generations.  Rebecca Sparrow walked out of the woods one day when she was seven or eight and no one knew where she originated.  Named Rebecca by the washerwoman who took her in and Sparrow by the local boys who saw Sparrows flocking to her almost supernaturally, she lived a short life affecting the small town of Unity, Massachusettes for generations to come.

Each Sparrow woman kept her surname and bore only one child, a girl.  Upon the girl’s 13th birthday she would awake with a gift of some sort.  Sarah Sparrow, Rebecca’s child, was said to need no sleep.  Elinor can detect falsehood.  Her daughter Jenny can dream other people’s dreams.  And Jenny’s daughter, Stella, who just turned 13 can tell how some people are going to die.

Surprisingly, the book focuses little on the supernatural gifts of the Sparrow women and more on their unity and history.  Each of the remaining Sparrow women have something to learn from one another.  Each of them have made mistakes needing to be corrected.  The Sparrow women touch the lives of the people of Unity in a wonderful way and help them to realize what has been there all along is exactly what they need.

I felt the last third of the book had pacing problems.  Sometimes it was agonizingly slow.  Sometimes details were given so quickly and subplots were wrapped up so hastily I had to wonder if I missed something.  The last third of the book didn’t keep my interest the same way the first parts did.  In the end, everything falls into place exactly as you expect it would with few twists and turns.

Filed Under: Books • 4 stars

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