Tuesday, January 20, 2009

Runner by Thomas Perry

Jane Whitefield is back! She's an expert at helping people disappear and start new lives with a different identity, but she's been out of the game for awhile. She comes out of self-imposed retirement to help a young pregnant girl escape the sinister operatives hired by her ex-boyfriend. Jane is out of practice and a little out of touch with the many ways a person can be tracked in our high tech world. The book bogs down a bit when the author delves into the family history of the ex-boyfriend and his motives for wanting the girl (and her baby) back. I found some of Jane's one-woman heroics a bit difficult to swallow, but this is fiction after all. Jane Whitefield is a complex and fascinating character, and I'm happy that Thomas Perry decided to bring her back.

Saturday, January 17, 2009

Unaccustomed Earth by Jhumpa Lahiri

This is Lahiri's third book with a collection of eight stories about the lives of Bengali immigrants and their American born children.
Ruma's obligation and concerns for her recently widowed father prompted him to stay with her for a visit, but he was hiding a secret which she eventually discovered. She was unraveled by her father's behavior. This, in turn, made her reevaluate her own life.
Another story was about Suda dealing with her alcoholic brother Rahul, which evoked guilt and disappointment in both brother and sister.
The last trilogy of stories depicted the lives of Hema and Kaushik who had met briefly in their childhood. Years later their paths crossed again, and how fate brought them together and apart.
The stories in this novel are all linked by themes of love, loss, human struggle, cultural identity and conflicts, and the power of Mother Nature. I was looking forward to reading this book since I really enjoyed Lahiri's first one, The Interpreter of Maladies.

Monday, January 12, 2009

Three Weeks to Say Goodbye by C.J. Box

Jack and Melissa are the adoptive parents of a beautiful baby girl. After nine months, they are contacted by the family of the birth father, who never signed away his parental rights. Jack and Melissa fight to keep their little girl, but they are up against a rich, powerful and ruthless judge. Three Weeks to Say Goodbye is a solid suspense novel. The premise is nightmarish and the reader is drawn into the helpless rage of Jack, the main character. Still, this is not C.J. Box's best. The characters are flat and not particularly interesting. I found the ending a bit too tidy and not very believable. It's not a bad book, but definitely not up to the standard I expect from C.J. Box.

Friday, January 9, 2009

Plum Spooky by Janet Evanovich

I truly enjoyed this book. It goes right along with her other Stephanie Plum novels. It will have you laughing out loud. With this being a between the numbers novel Morelli and Ranger have a limited role. However Lula and now a monkey will be entertaining you once again.

Wednesday, January 7, 2009

The Road of Lost Innocence The True Story of a Cambodian Heroine

Hello all my library book loving friends. I have decided to share a book review in my blog. Now I actually thought about not writing about this book, not because it was that badly written, but because of the content of the subject. This book is a biography of a poor Cambodian girl who never really belonged to anyone. She was sold into slavery by her village to an abusive older man who made her call him Grandfather. As she got older, like 11 or 12, he found a way to use her to pay his bills. In other words he forced her to prostitute herself. He then sold her to an actual house where she eventually found a way to escape by marriage to one of her clients. She then took it upon herself to help other less fortunate girls to escape this horrible life. It is a very well written account of the atrocities of third world countries and how backwards the world can still be. Just a warning though. This is not a jolly go lucky book about how a girl is saved from something horrible and lives happily ever after. The book is very graphic and I actually felt ill to think of what these innocent young girls have to go through. I would probably put it on the same scale as a Holocaust book for shock and depression value. There is always hope and you do get that from this book. It also makes you want to fight for the innocent and stop such backward atrocities. It is a very eye opening book and I wish I could recommend it to all but, I know some will have problems with its content. That is perfectly fine. I would be worried if people didn't show uneasiness while reading this book. Still I will recommend this book as a should read. Just because you don't read it does not mean it doesn't exist.

Tuesday, January 6, 2009

Anchors Aweigh! by Kathleen Bacus

Another fun entry in the Calamity Jayne series! This time Tressa Jayne Turner is on a cruise to celebrate Grammy and Joe's wedding. But wait, what kind of cruise is this? Exercise classes, diet food... this must be someone's idea of a joke. While Tressa pines for cheeseburgers, she overhears what sounds like a murder plot. Of course, she has to investigate and the investigation doesn't go smoothly. Tressa is amazed to find herself courted by the devilishly handsome Ranger Rick AND fake fiance Manny DeMarco. How is a girl to choose? Especially when she's light-headed from a lack of food...

Fans of the series will enjoy this book. It's an easy read and lots of fun. Author Kathleen Bacus is from Knoxville.