Harvesting the Heart (~)

It took me long enough, but I've finished another book. And just in time too! I'm about to move back to school, so this might be my last post for a bit. I finished reading Harvesting the Heart by Jodi Picoult. I believe it's one of her older novels, and so I didn't find it quite as engaging as her others. It's not a court battle with thought provoking content, but rather it delves into the human emotions that encircle abandonment and whether that is a genetic trait. (well, it kinda goes into the genetic trait thing).

Basically, this novel is about a woman who was abandon by her mother and raised by her father. She runs away after high school and meets a med student, falls in love and marries him. When she has a son of her own, she proceeds to believe that she's not cut out to be a mother because her own mother had abandoned her, and so she runs away to find herself. Meanwhile her husband is left fuming and picking up the pieces (aka looking after their infant son).

I liked the end because it seemed that things were actually happening, but honestly, it's a pretty boring book, which makes me sad because it's by one of my favourite authors. Oh well, you win some you lose some. I find that with her later novels, they are more engaging and the I feel like I actually know the characters and feel for the characters, while with this book, it's not the same. I have another one of her books to read, but I believe this one will be more like the others (hopefully).

Anyway, until next time, happy reading!

Breaking the Silence (~)

I've finished another book. This one must've been better, you say. And I have to admit that it was. It had a good story-line with a few twists (not too many of course), but I have to admit that at times, some of the conversations that were written or the actions done were a little too fairytale (as in, people wouldn't actually act that way). All in all though, it was a good novel.

Breaking the Silence by Diane Chamberlain is about a woman, who after her father dies, is told to visit an elderly woman she knew nothing about in a nursing home. Her husband is against the idea, and while she is out, commits suicide. Her young daughter is home at the time, and is assumed to have witnessed it. She freaks out, and becomes mute. The therapist she took her daughter to suggests that she contact the child's biological father, and see if perhaps he can become involved in her life as a way to get her to talk again. Not only does this occur, but the woman also continues to visit the elderly woman in order to figure out how her father knew her. What she finds out changes everything she ever knew.

It won't really be a quick read, but it certainly will grasp your attention, so I will still recommend it to you. Until next time, Happy reading!

The Thirteenth Tale (~)

I finished another novel last night. I was too tired to write a blog then, hence why I am writing it right now. This book has a gothic and creepy feel to it. I never understood how an author can produce this feeling when writing, but this author can. I kept seeing this book everywhere a couple years ago, and decided I wanted to read it. I've read it, and I don't think it's all it's cracked up to be.

The Thirteenth Tale is written by Diane Setterfield. It's about a woman who gets asked to write the autobiography of a reclusive author who is dying. With her time there, she learns the deep dark secrets of the author's pasts. The whole book kind of sets you on edge, even though it's hard to see why. Maybe because it hints at incest, and just the thought of that kind of sets me on edge.

I can't say that this novel wasn't well written, because it was, but like a lot of novels, I couldn't wait for it to be finished. At least I continued to read it unlike some novels. I just wasn't interested in it I guess, so that's why I gave it a so-so rating.

Anyway, until next time, Happy Reading!

The Memory Keeper's Daughter (~)

I finished another book. More quickly this time, as you can see. It's The Memory Keeper's Daughter by Kim Edwards. I have to say, that probably the end of the novel was the best. And not just because it was ending, but because it had more to do with the girl. I guess the reason the rating isn't "↓" is because it is well written. I just didn't like how it was written. It's one of those award winning novels. I should really learn not to read those ones, mostly because they aren't what I think they will be, and I really don't enjoy them. But oh well.

This novel is about a doctor who delivers his own twins during a snow storm. He sees that the female twin has Down Syndrome, and he gives her to the nurse to take to a special institution for children like that (this novel is based in the 60's). She drives there and sees that it's not fit for people to live in, and instead runs away with the child and starts a new life in a different city. It follows the lives of the doctor and his family, along with the little girl and her 'mother'.

I have to say that I'm glad that things have improved for people with Down Syndrome, and how people actually see them as real people, and not just as being mentally retarded. I know having a child who is mentally retarded can be difficult, but it's the struggles in life that make life rewarding and fulfilling. If you always have it easy, then life isn't really worth living, is it?

Anyway, hopefully I like my next book better. Until then, Happy Reading!

The Tea Rose (↑)

I've finished The Tea Rose by Jennifer Donnelly. It's an excellent book! A little bit romance, a little bit thriller/mystery. The only issue I had with it was that it's a little too long, and seemed to draw things out, BUT I guess it had to tie up ALL the loose ends, so that's probably why it took so long.

Basically the book is about a young girl who lives in an impoverish part of London during the late 1800's. She loses everything except 1 family member because of murders or other deaths or sicknesses, and she wants to rise to the top. She immigrates to New York city where she makes her fortune, and decides to come back and face her past. Throughout the novel is a romantic tale of her love Joe, along with a tale of revenge.

I would recommend this to anyone who has a lot of time to read it (it's kind of unputdownable), but wants some romance with thriller twists.

Now I'm going to read The Memory Keeper's Daughter. Until next time, happy reading!

Roadside Crosses (~)

I've finished another book. This one is Roadside Crosses by Jeffery Deaver. It's a thriller-mystery novel, which I haven't really read in a long time, so it was a nice change of pace. It's a well written book, a little too long for my liking. After the mystery was solved, I thought it should've ended, but of course the author wanted to tie up other loose ends. He also started threads of another story which kind of fell through at the end (some of those loose ends) which I didn't really understand why he would've introduced them in the first place. Overall, it's a good story.

This novel is about a police officer investigating roadside crosses which are left with a date on them which is that day's date or the day after's date (an indication of a murder/attack that was about to occur). It follows through to a blogger's controversial blog, and then to a teenage gamer. Like most mystery novels, there are twists and turns, and things are never as it seems.

I don't really know who I would recommend this to, but it's still a good novel either way. I don't really know what I will be reading next, so until next time, Happy Reading!

Mercy (↓)

I must say, this is the first (and hopefully) only time I will be giving a bad review to a Jodi Picoult book. I don't know whether I just wasn't in the mood to read, or if the book didn't grab my interest like the others, but I really didn't enjoy it. Of course it's well written, I wouldn't expect anything different from her, but for me, it seemed to stray from the original story-line. Maybe I just wasn't reading deep enough and if I thought about it a little bit more, I could come up with some connection.

This novel is called Mercy by Jodi Picoult. It's about a man who smothers his wife and kills her because she is terminally ill and she asked him to do it. It's also about a police chief who has an affair. I don't really see the connection, but there might be one somewhere.

The one thing this novel did make me do was think about my own relationship with Andrew. If he and I were married, and he was terminally ill and would not get better, would I have the strength to kill him if he asked me to? Would he do the same for me? There was also a part in the novel which seemed to ring true. A relationship is never 50-50. There's always one person who loves or gives a bit more than the other. I believe this is true. I hate to admit it, but I almost think that A. gives more than I do for this relationship. It's certainly not fair, but what can you really do about it? I think that this is also what makes me think about whether I actually love him or not. But I must. I consider him in all of my decisions concerning my future, I think about how difficult things will be for us when I'm gone away to school, and how I will go about telling my parents that we will be living together...

This blog posting as turned a little more personal than I had hoped, but I think that's a good thing. Anyway, now I'm going to read a book of a different genre. More suspense/mystery. Until next time, Happy Reading!