Book #54
Book Title: Suzanne's Diary for Nicholas
Author: James Patterson
Genre: fiction
# of pages: 266
My rating of the book, F- [worst] to A [best].: A+
Short description/summary of the book: (taken from amazon.com): Talk about a change of pace! Renowned suspense writer and Edgar Award winner James Patterson, author of such bestsellers-turned-blockbuster-movies as Along Came a Spider and Kiss the Girls, exposes his sensitive side in his new novel, Suzanne's Diary for Nicholas. Katie Wilkinson's boyfriend Matt dumps her; not a total cad, he leaves her a gift, a diary kept by Suzanne, his first wife, for their son Nicholas. Though it's not exactly the diamond ring Katie was hoping for, she's unable to make herself destroy the diary--against her better judgment, Katie begins to read.
Drawn against her will into the other woman's world, Katie learns of physician Suzanne's heart attack at age 35 and her decision to slow down, accomplished by a move to Martha's Vineyard and a new job as a simple country doctor. When love comes knocking, in the form of housepainter-cum-poet Matt Harrison, Suzanne is ready to listen to her newly repaired heart. Though painful for Katie, she begins to know and like Suzanne and her infant son Nicholas. Suzanne's devotion to Matt and their son shines through, as well as her plainspoken wisdom. While the journal helps Katie understand Matt, whether they can write a future together remains in question.

My Thoughts: OMG...this was an AMAZING read! It was so emotional for me, because I have such a soft spot for children. This has taught me to record and remember the wonderful moments that I will have when I have children. If you are a fan of Nicholas Sparks' type reads, DEFINITELY check this one out! Now, I must go and get a diary to record things for my future child(ren)...LOL!!!
Currently reading: I am about to start Alas, Babylon by Pat Frank.

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Book #53
Book Title: The Vile Village
Author: Daniel Handler
Genre: fiction
# of pages: 256
My rating of the book, F- [worst] to A [best].: B
Short description/summary of the book: (taken from amazon.com): The seventh book in Lemony Snicket's splendidly gloomy Series of Unfortunate Events shadows the three Baudelaire orphans as they plummet headlong into their next misadventure. Mr. Poe, their ineffective legal guardian, having exhausted all options for finding them a new home with relatives (including their 19th cousin), sadly entrusts his young charges' fate to a progressive guardian program formed with the premise "It takes a village to raise a child." Before they know it, the Baudelaires are being whisked off on a bus to a village (vile) named "V.F.D." Snicket fans who read The Austere Academy and The Ersatz Elevator will jump to see these three initials, as they provide a clue to the tragic disappearance of the Baudelaires' friends, the beloved, equally orphaned Quagmire triplets.
To the orphans' dismay, V.F.D. is covered in crows--so much so that the whole village is pitch-black and trembling. "The crows weren't squawking or cawing, which is what crows often do, or playing the trumpet, which crows practically never do, but the town was far from silent. The air was filled with the sounds the crows made as they moved around." Another disturbing element of the town is that the Council of Elders (who wear creepy crow hats) has thousands of rules, such as "don't hurt crows" and "don't build mechanical devices." Fortunately, the Baudelaires are taken in by a kindly handyman named Hector who cooks them delicious Mexican food and secretly breaks rules. Still, neither Hector nor an entire village can protect the orphans from the clutches of the money-grubbing Count Olaf, who has relentlessly pursued them (actually, just their fortune) since The Bad Beginning. Fans won't want to miss any of this marvelously morbid series!

My Thoughts: Again, this was a cute read, but it is not one of the best in the series. The "it's not cool" phrases and Olaf's new "look" were great though. I cannot wait to read the rest of the series!

Currently reading: I am about to start Suzanne's Diary for Nicholas by James Patterson.

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Book #38
Book Title: A Long Way Down
Author: Nick Hornby
Genre: fiction
# of pages: 333
Pages read this year: 10045/15000
My rating of the book, F- [worst] to A [best].: A-
Short description/summary of the book: (taken from amazon.com): Starred Review. If Camus had written a grown-up version of The Breakfast Club, the result might have had more than a little in common with Hornby's grimly comic, oddly moving fourth novel. The story opens in London on New Year's Eve, when four desperate people: Martin, a publicly disgraced TV personality; Maureen, a middle-aged woman with no life beyond caring for her severely disabled adult son; Jess, the unstable, punked-out daughter of a junior government minister; and JJ, an American rocker whose music career has just ended with a whimper—meet on the roof of a building known as Toppers' House, where they have all come to commit suicide. Bonded by their shared misery, the unlikely quartet spends the night together, telling their stories, getting on each others' nerves even as they save each others' lives. They part the following morning, aware of having formed a peculiar sort of gang. As Jess reflects: "When you're sad—like, really sad, Toppers' House sad—you only want to be with other people who are sad."It's a bold setup, perilously high-concept, but Hornby pulls it off with understated ease. What follows is predictable in the broadest sense—as the motley crew of misfits coalesces into a kind of surrogate family, each individual takes a halting first step toward creating a tolerable future—but rarely in its particulars. Allowing the four main characters to narrate in round-robin fashion, Hornby alternates deftly executed comic episodes—an absurd brush with tabloid fame, an ill-conceived group vacation in the Canary Islands, a book group focused on writers who have committed suicide, a disastrous attempt to save Martin's marriage—with interludes of quiet reflection, some of which are startlingly insightful. Here, for example, is JJ, talking about the burden of understanding that he no longer wants to kill himself: "In a way, it makes things worse, not better.... Telling yourself life is shit is like an anesthetic, and when you stop taking the Advil, then you really can tell how much it hurts, and where, and it's not like that kind of pain does anyone a whole lot of good."While the reader comes to know all four characters well by the end of the novel, it's Maureen who stands out. A prim, old-fashioned Catholic woman who objects to foul language, Maureen is, on the surface, the least Hornbyesque of characters. Unacquainted with pop culture, she has done nothing throughout her entire adult life except care for a child who doesn't even know she's there and attend mass. As she says, "You know that things aren't going well for you when you can't even tell people the simplest fact about your life, just because they'll presume you're asking them to feel sorry for you." Hornby takes a Dickensian risk in creating a character as saintly and pathetic as Maureen, but it pays off. In her own quiet way, she's an unforgettable figure, the moral and emotional center of the novel. This is a brave and absorbing book. It's a thrill to watch a writer as talented as Hornby take on the grimmest of subjects without flinching, and somehow make it funny and surprising at the same time. And if the characters occasionally seem a little more eloquent or self-aware than they have a right to be, or if the novel turns just the tiniest bit sentimental at the end, all you can really fault Hornby for is an act of excessive generosity, an authorial embrace bestowed upon some characters who are sorely in need of a hug.

My thoughts: I LOVED this book! It was so much different than anything else I have ever read. I thoroughly enjoyed his writing style. At first, the rambling on of some of the characters got a bit annoying, but I figured that it was more realistic sounding that way. I found myself actually liking all of the characters (which is odd because they're all losers and not great people), except for Maureen. It seemed to me that she was REALLY pathetic and it is sad that she had that attitude about her son. That really irked me that she was that selfish (not that the others were not, but she took the cake, in my opinion.) Anyways, as I was saying, I found the read to be VERY entertaining, and I cannot WAIT to read more of Hornby's works. If you like dark comedy, you will LOVE this book! :)

Currently Reading: I'm reading Emma and Me by Elizabeth Flock.

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