Whiteout by Ken Follett

Rating: 5.0

What it's about:

Like no other suspense author in his genre, Follett reinvents the thriller with each new storyline. But nothing matches the intricate, knife-edge drama of Whiteout.

A missing canister of a deadly virus. A lab technician bleeding from the eyes. Toni Gallo, the security director of a Scottish medical research firm, knows she has problems, but she has no idea of the nightmare to come.

As a Christmas Eve blizzard whips out of the north, several people converge on a remote family house. Stanley Oxenford, the research company's director, has everything riding on the drug he is developing to fight the virus-but he isn't the only one: His grown children, who have come to spend Christmas, have their eyes on the money it will bring; Toni Gallo, forced to resign from the police department in disgrace, is betting her career on keeping the drug safe; a local television reporter, determined to move up, has sniffed the story, even if he has to bend the facts to tell it; and a violent trio of thugs is on its way to steal it for a client already waiting-though what the client really has in mind is something that will shock them all.

As the storm worsens, the emotional sparks-jealousies, distrust, sexual attraction, rivalries-crackle; desperate secrets are revealed; hidden traitors and unexpected heroes emerge. Filled with startling twists at every turn, Whiteout rockets Follett to a class by himself.

My thoughts:

Once I picked this book up I had a hard time putting it down! It's thrilling and suspenseful but it also has a great warm familial feel to it too. The director of a big research facility has his children and grandchildren to the family home in secluded Scotland for Christmas. On the same day, a deadly virus is stolen from his research facility by a band of 3 thugs and that's where the action is. They all converge at the directors home in the middle of a blizzard and everyone has to use their wits as well as strength to survive the night. A couple parts might have been slightly unbelievable but it really didn't detract from the story. The characters in Whiteout are diverse and authentic. Whiteout is a great atmospheric book for the Christmas season.

City of God by E.L. Doctorow

Rating: 2.5

What it's about:
In his workbook, a New York City novelist records the contents of his teeming brain--sketches for stories, accounts of his love affairs, riffs on the meanings of popular songs, ideas for movies, obsessions with cosmic processes. He is a virtual repository of the predominant ideas and historical disasters of the age.

My thoughts:
This novel was very hard to follow. It's supposed to be like a notebook filled with different ideas and thoughts of a NYC novelist. I had a hard time distinguishing the characters and who was saying what. The story was incoherent, unorganized and disjointed. I didn't have any feelings about any of the characters. The only segment that was interesting was the ghetto in WWII. I had a difficult time finishing this book and it turned out to be a disappointment.

A Great and Terrible Beauty by Libba Bray

Rating: 5.0

What it's about:
It’s 1895, and after the suicide of her mother, 16-year-old Gemma Doyle is shipped off from the life she knows in India to Spence, a proper boarding school in England. Lonely, guilt-ridden, and prone to visions of the future that have an uncomfortable habit of coming true, Gemma’s reception there is a chilly one. To make things worse, she’s been followed by a mysterious young Indian man, a man sent to watch her. But why? What is her destiny? And what will her entanglement with Spence’s most powerful girls—and their foray into the spiritual world—lead to?

My thoughts:
This book is magical! It's one of those stories to get lost in. At it's center is Gemma, a 16 year old girl at a boarding school in England. This novel has a hidden diary, magical realms, a secret Order, malevolent beings and much more that makes A Great and Terrible Beauty a very enjoyable read! The two main themes I found in this book are forgiveness and the choices we have to make. To quote Mrs. Moore (the girls' teacher) "There are no safe choices.....Only other choices. Every choice has a consequence."
A Great and Terrible Beauty is the first in a series of books meant for young adults. I am eager to continue the saga. Don't let the young adult label turn you off of these books if you are an adult. Libba Bray does a wonderful job making her books accessible to both adults and young adults.

A Redbird Christmas by Fannie Flagg

Rating: 4.5

What it's about:
Deep in the southernmost part of Alabama, along the banks of a lazy winding river, lies the sleepy little community known as Lost River, a place that time itself seems to have forgotten. After a startling diagnosis from his doctor, Oswald T. Campbell leaves behind the cold and damp of the oncoming Chicago winter to spend what he believes will be his last Christmas in the warm and welcoming town of Lost River. There he meets the postman who delivers mail by boat, the store owner who nurses a broken heart, the ladies of the Mystic Order of the Royal Polka Dots Secret Society, who do clandestine good works. And he meets a little redbird named Jack, who is at the center of this tale of a magical Christmas when something so amazing happened that those who witnessed it have never forgotten it. Once you experience the wonder, you too will never forget A Redbird Christmas. -taken from Barnes&Noble.com

My thoughts:
This is a charming story that's perfect for a light holiday read. Oswald leaves Chicago after his doctor tells him this will be his last Christmas. He ends up in a small southern town full of interesting and delightful characters. This town and the people in it help Oswald reverse his medical condition and he becomes part of the community. This book is a year in the life of Oswald and the small town of Lost River. The characters in this book are truly memorable and the story is heartwarming. This is a wonderful light-hearted holiday tale for all seasons.

Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf

Rating: 2.5

What it's about:
Heralded as Virginia Woolf's greatest novel, this is a vivid portrait of a single day in a woman's life. When we meet her, Mrs. Clarissa Dalloway is preoccupied with the last-minute details of party preparation while in her mind she is something much more than a perfect society hostess. As she readies her house, she is flooded with remembrances of faraway times. And, met with the realities of the present, Clarissa reexamines the choices that brought her there, hesitantly looking ahead to the unfamiliar work of growing old. -taken from Barnes&Noble.com

My thoughts:
Mrs. Dalloway chronicles a single day in the life of Clarissa Dalloway. The novel itself reveals the thoughts and ruminations of Clarissa and her friends. I found the book to be dull and lifeless. None of the characters were interesting with the exception of Sally Seton who is a very minor character. They seemed shallow and boring. The only thing that was at least mildly appealing was the language itself. At times the sentences ran on and were tedious but some of the time the language was very enjoyable. I do like the first sentence. It really draws the reader in. "Mrs. Dalloway said she would buy the flowers herself." Mostly I was relieved to be finished with Mrs. Dalloway!

Coldfire by Dean Koontz

Rating: 5.0

What it's about:
Reporter Holly Thorne is intrigued by Jim Ironheart, who has saved 12 lives in the past three months. Holly wants to know what kind of power drives him, why terrifying visions of a churning windmill haunt his dreams, and just what he means when he whispers in his sleep that an enemy who will kill everyone is coming. -taken from Barnes&Noble.com

My thoughts:
Throughout the whole novel we are kept guessing as to what drives Jim Ironheart to save certain lives. Jim seems like a very troubled fellow but likable. We root for him when he races across the continent to save some 10 year old boy. We root for him when he's wandering in the desert looking for himself. We root for him when the plane he is on is about to crash. And we root for him when he finally sees his past and his world comes tumbling down.

Coldfire is both a supernatural and psychological thriller. At parts it is downright terrifying! We wait to see what the horrifying nightmares of the windmill suffered by both Holly and Jim mean. There is a twist at the end that I never saw coming. I don't think I'll ever look at a windmill again without remembering this book.

The Phantom of the Opera by Gaston Leroux

Rating: 5.0

What it's about:
The actors, singers, and patrons of the Paris Opera House say that a ghost haunts the labyrinthine chambers beneath its stage. While there are those who laugh off such superstitions, they always do so nervously, in the bright light of day. Nearly everyone connected with the Opera House in any way has felt the phantom's vague, troubling presence. But beautiful, talented young singer Christine Daae will soon experience a terror far more acute than any vague feeling of unease. For she is about to learn the secret of why the man who has made the tunnels beneath Paris his private domain must forever hide his face behind a mask.

Part horror story, part historical romance, and part detective thriller, the timeless tale of a masked, disfigured musical genius who lives beneath the Paris Opera House is familiar to millions of readers, as well as to movie and theatre-goers. At the heart of the story's long-standing popularity lies its questioning of a universal theme: the relationship between outward appearance and the beauty of darkness of the human soul.

My thoughts:
This gothic novel does a wonderful job with crossing genre lines. It mixes elements of romance, horror and mystery into a fantastic piece of fiction. We, the reader, travel from the very roof of the Paris Opera House down to the lair of the "Angel of Music" beneath that same house of music. The Phantom of the Opera contains an underground lake, a torture chamber and a graveyard. And yet this novel is fundamentally a love story. A heartbreaking one at that!

This novel by Gaston Leroux has been adapted to the stage and film many times. It is considered to be a French classic of literature. It is very deserving.

The Hum Bug by Harold Schechter

Rating: 4.5

What it's about:

Having proved his deductive brilliance solving Baltimore's notorious "Nevermore Murders," Edgar Allan Poe turns his investigative eye to the streets of mid-nineteenth century New York City. A young beauty with a shadowy past has been savagely murdered; her hideous wounds mirror a gruesome tableau in P.T. Barnum's wax exhibit -- and it is in defense of his own innocence that America's greatest showman has come to Poe for help. But neither the writer nor the huckster has anticipated the jagged maze that is the soul of a madman....

Harold Schechter, whose historical fiction "keeps the finger of suspicion wandering until the very end" (The New York Times Book Review), adds a wry, pitch-perfect, and suspense-laced dimension to the fascinating life and times of the literary master of morbid, criminal motivation -- Edgar Allan Poe. -taken from Barnes&Noble.com

My thoughts:
This is the second of the Edgar Allen Poe mysteries written by Harold Schechter. They are such fun! In The Hum Bug, Edgar Allen Poe and P.T. Barnum work together to solve a gruesome murder. Some of Barnum's "Human Curiosities" make up part of the colorful cast. Some of my favorites are the bearded lady, the human skeleton, the alligator boy and the changeling baby. Schechter goes into great detail about P.T. Barnum's fascinating American Museum. It's as if the reader is actually there! The details of the mystery itself will keep the reader guessing as to who the perpetrator is and what the motives were for the murders. It all comes together in the end. The reader watches as everything slowly falls into place. Part of the charm of Schechter's Poe mysteries is the actual writing. He writes in the first person as Edgar Allan Poe and does a fantastic job of capturing the feel of Poe. The Hum Bug left me eager to read the next in the series!

The Cider House Rules by John Irving

Rating: 4.5

What it's about:

The Cider House Rules is set in rural Maine in the first half of this century. It tells the story of Homer Wells, an orphan who is raised and mentored by Wilbur Larch, the doctor at the orphanage. Dr. Larch teaches Homer everything about medicine. Yet though his capacity for kindness is saintly, Larch is also an ether addict. He and Homer come into conflict, which is typical of many father-son relationships, but in this case their conflict is intensified by their disagreement about abortion. The result is that Homer leaves the only family he has ever known.

Homer's new life provides more excitement than he could have imagined, especially when he falls in love for the first time. But, when forced to make decisions that will change the course of his future, Homer realizes that he can't escape his past. The Cider House Rules is ultimately about the choices we make and the rules that are meant to be broken.

My thoughts:
This is a heavy-hearted novel. The dreams and wishes go unfulfilled for most of the characters. The Cider House Rules takes place mostly between the 1930's and 1950's. It's about rules. It's about how society has rules for people but those rules aren't always the right rules.

This is a story about Dr. Wilbur Larch, the "saint" of St. Cloud's, the head of an orphanage and an abortionist in a time when abortions are illegal. But it's even more about Homer Wells, an orphan who is never adopted and becomes a sort of son to Dr. Larch. This novel touches on some delicate issues besides abortion: incest, interracial relationships, lesbianism, child and spousal abuse and ether addiction.

I really like the writing style which makes The Cider House Rules a good read. The content of the book is deep. The characters are believable and Irving provides a lot of background. I will absolutely be looking forward to reading other John Irving books in the near future!

The Know-It-All by A.J. Jacobs

Rating: 4.0

What it's about:
A hilarious, intelligent-trivia-packed story from a man who read the entire ENCYLOPEDIA BRITANNICA. Early in his career, A. J. Jacobs found himself putting his Ivy League education to work at ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY. After five years he learned which stars have fake boobs, which stars have toupees, which have both, and not much else. This unsettling realization led Jacobs on a life-changing quest: to read the entire contents of the ENCYCLOPEDIA BRITANNICA, all 33,000 pages, all 44 million words. Jacobs accumulates useful and less-so knowledge, and along the way finds a deep connection with his father (who attempted the same feat when Jacob's was a child), examines the nature of knowledge vs. intelligence, and learns how to be rather annoying at cocktail parties. Part memoir/part-education (or lack thereof), the chapters are organized by the letters of the alphabet.

My thoughts:
The Know-It-All is interesting, entertaining and funny. It's filled with tidbits of useful and not-so-useful information from the Encyclopedia Britannica. Some highlights for me are when A.J. interviews Alex Trebek from Jeopardy and when he gets to go on Who Wants To Be A Millionaire. Incidentally, A.J. couldn't be a participant on Jeopardy because he interviewed Alex Trebek at Trebek's home. Every few pages or so I would read something out of the Know-It-All and say to myself "wow! I didn't know that!" This is quite an enlightening book about knowledge and one man's quest to obtain it.

Book Lust by Nancy Pearl

Rating: 3.0

What it's about:
Seattle librarian Pearl lists and describes books she would recommend. The material is organized into some 175 thematic entries. Themes chosen are either arbitrary or whimsical, depending on one's point of view, with entries devoted to novels written by women named Alice, Cold War spy fiction, American history nonfiction, King Arthur, New York, and Zen Buddhism being a few examples. -taken from Barnes&Noble.com

My thoughts:
This is a good book for those readers who are looking for some recommendations on what to read. Nancy Pearl has her recommendations broken down into different categories according to topics, her favorite authors and moods. I have not read most of the books she suggests but I found a handful that I want to read in the near future. She doesn't go into detail on many of the books as to what the book is about. She may say it's about mother-daughter relationships or something vague. Needless to say, I was on the computer looking up a more detailed description of some of these books. I also noticed that I frequently ran across the same book title in several different places in Book Lust. Pearl might list the same book in Mexican Fiction and First Novels for example. It got a little redundant for me but I understand Book Lust is probably not meant to be read from cover to cover like I did. If you are looking for some ideas on what to read, Book Lust could be helpful.