HeartSick by Chelsea Cain

This was a thriller and it reminded me a lot of the Hannibel Lector stuff written by Thomas Harris.

This is a story about some very twisted serial killers. Interestingly, one of the serial killers is a really beautiful woman. She tortured and killed her victims but her last victim, who was also the detective on her case, she decided to let live and she turned herself in. The last victim now visits her every Sunday in prison. He's also very messed up- on drugs, still obsessed with her, etc. But he's back on a new case trying to find out who is victimizing young, pretty, high school girls.

This is the kind of book I occasionally like to read and I don't know why. And I'm sort of embarrassed to read them. I feel like people might think I'm not a real reader. But I am! And sometimes, I like reading a good, twisted thriller.

If I Am Missing or Dead by Janine Latus

This is a true story- a memoir I guess- written by a woman who's sister was killed by her abusive boyfriend. Judging by the synopsis on the book jacket, I assumed this would be all about her sister. But actually it was so much about her own experience with abusive men.

Beginning with her father! And then on to pretty much every relationship she's had with a man through out her life.

I think the author of this book now hates men. If I was an alien and knew nothing about men and I read this book, I would think all men are evil and abuse and I might choose to stay far away from them if I believed this book.

But fortunately for me, all of the men in my life have been good and so I have a completely opposite perspective. I believe there are lots of good ones out there. I'm pretty sure this author thinks there are none.

But it's probably a very helpful book for someone to read if they are in an abusive relationship. The big, loud and clear message here is TELL SOMEONE. It's an embarrassing thing to talk about and too many people keep it to themselves.

The Devil, The Lovers, and ME

I'm on a roll of picking out good books lately. So many times, I go to the library and none of the books look all that great. But I check out about 5 of them anyway. But then, I bring them home and try to begin them, but none of them interest me.

But I've just read 3 pretty good ones right in a row. This is the first one of the bunch. I checked it out in part because the title makes reference to tarot cards, which I have an interest in. This book is actually a memoir of a woman who gets her tarot cards read. She tells her story so uniquely. She retells the story of her reading, but then there are stories within that story from her life that relate to each card.

We kind of get to eavesdrop on her whole journey to self-awareness. Lots of her little stories are laugh out loud funny.

Hidden by Paul Jaskunas

I loved the prose of this book. It was written beautifully.
But the story isn't beautiful. It's about a woman who was beaten and raped by her husband who then was sent to prison. But then years later, another man confesses to the crime. Did she see it wrong? Did she put away her husband for a crime he didn't commit?
I never felt like there was a conclusion even at the end of the book.
So, I started off with high hopes- But this wasn't the book for me.

Plain Truth by Jodi Picoult

I'd read a couple of other books by Jodi Picoult that were both good. This was an older one, but I saw a newish paperback copy of it in the library and it looked good for bathtub reading so I checked it out.

It's about a Amish girl who is accused of murdering her new born baby. First she denies that she was even pregnant at all even though it's clear that she was, so it's sort of hard to believe anything she says.

But since she's Amish, it's also hard to think she'd commit murder. Apparently Amish people very rarely, if ever, commit violent crimes.

This book was a murder-mystery, courtroom drama, love story, and a lesson about the Amish community all rolled into one. And it had a few unexpected twists near the end of the book.

Right Before Your Eyes by Ellen Shanman

This was the kind of light reading I was looking for! (See last post)
I read this book in just 2 days. It was funny and sweet, but definitely chick lit. Nothing heavy, nothing that will stick with me after I finished reading it, but great summer reading. Or rainy day reading. Which it was when I read it.

It's the story of a young playwright, Liz, who is struggling to get her big break and to find a decent man. And it all seemingly starts to happen...but of course, problems ensue and because all the chapters are so short, it's hard to put it down once you pick it up.

I'm a hopeless romantic and love reading these kinds of books. It's sort of the equivalent to watching a movie on the Lifetime channel...

The Boy Who Fell Out of the Sky by Ken Dornstein

This is a memoir written by the younger brother of a man who died in the Pan Am flight that was bombed by terrorist back in 1988 in Scotland. The man who died, David, was a struggling writer and through his journals, his brother not only is able piece together David's story, but as he researches David, he discovers his own story as well.

This book was good, but I did get bored. But I felt inclined to stick with it. Mainly because the memoirist, Ken, began dating his deceased brother's ex-girlfriend and I wanted to see how that turned out. And it turned out exactly as I thought it would.

The author did a good job of depicting the life of a stuggling author. And of a person who constantly questions, "Am I good enough?" (Who doesn't?)

It just wasn't super light reading, which I was in the mood for. But really, this book WAS good. My heart just wasn't in it during the week I read it... My fault, not the book's.

The Liar's Diary by Patry Francis

What was different about this book from other suspense novels I've read, was that the main event (the murder!) didn't happen until more than 1/2 way thru the book. That's not to say the first half was slow, or boring. It just caught me by surprise. I didn't know it was going to be suspenseful/thriller/mystery- I thought it was just an interesting novel about a bored house-wife becoming friends with the new wild lady in town.

But the "wild lady" ends up dead and the prime suspect is the 16-year old son of the bored house-wife, who is no longer bored I guess!

The person who ends up being the murderer isn't who I expected or wanted it to be. But at least who I wanted it to be got busted for his own horrible crime- All's well that ends well.

Body Surfing by Anita Shreve

Somehow I read this whole book while being pretty bored with it. The premise sounded exciting: a once divorced, once widowed 29-year old goes to live with a family to tutor the daugher. The uncles seem to both have the hots for her and so begins a love triangle.

But I wasn't even aware of any love triangle until the first relationship had already broken up. That's no triangle. That's just a less than/great than sign!

I guess I stuck with it because the book was short and it wasn't a big time investment. This author has written some good books. One was even on Oprah's list. Which means she can write a pretty sad story, I guess. However, I don't really recommend this one.

Still Life With Husband by Lauren Fox

This is fiction. But it's written so honestly, parts must be true!

It's the anatomy of an extramarital affair. Emily's not really unhappy with her marriage. But it's a marriage- not nearly the excitement you can get from a cute flirty stranger. And so it begins... Innocently at first. Well, not really, but innocent enough that you could get away with lying to yourself about it.

The telling of the story is funny. And insightful. And in the end, just sad. Where you just realize no one in the story can be happy with the way this whole thing is going down!

I felt so unsettled at the end of the book. If really left me hanging. WHAT is she going to do with the predicament and how is it going to turn out? But such is life... And it was yet another thing that made this book so honest.

The Last Van Gogh

What a cool book- It's "historical fiction" inspired by the last 70 days of Vincent van Gogh's life, and the 70 pieces of art he created during that time. He was staying in a French village and under the "care" of a homeopathic doctor.

The doctor has a 21 year old daugher, Marguerite, who is the subject of two of Vincent's last paintings. In the book, she and Vincent have a doomed love affair- and we know the tragic ending. Just like in real life, in the book Vincent shoots himself in the fields and dies in the hospital shortly afterwards.

The author obviously did lots of research to be able to write this book, so even tho she made a lot of the story up, some of it is accurate. I am so interested now more than ever to take a look at van Gogh's 2 paintings of Marguerite. He also paints one of the doctor with some symbolism of the "herbal remedies" the doctor was giving him- which come to find out can cause hallucinations if you take too much...

Margeurite was sort of a prisoner of her own home- being her brother and father's servant, so very little is known about her. I like to think she really did have an affair with Vincent. She deserved something exciting in life. Even if it ended tragically.