The Accursed; Crushed

"The Accursed" by Joyce Carol Oates was amazing but complex and a dense read. In Princeton, in the early 1900s, a curse is sweeping through town, affecting the elite members, including Princeton president Woodrow Winslow. People are killing each other, going crazy, kids are disappearing, all kinds of nutty stuff. It was written like it was a historical nonfiction, complete with footnotes, and I really enjoyed that.

"Crushed" by Sara Shepard is her latest PLL book. Sara, you're killing me!! Can we pretty please just find out who A is? Ah, but then the books will be over and I'll be sad. It was great, the girls think Aria's boyfriend, Noel, is in cahoots with A, only he's not. But A does admit she has a partner in crime. Now we have to figure out *two* suspects? ARGGG....

Bones of the Lost; Poisoned Pilgrim

I read an ARC of Kathy Reich's "Bones of the Lost" a few months ago, and it was published last month and I forgot about it. Oops. But it was really good, I enjoyed it. Tempe is investigating a hit and run murder of a young unidentified girl, a smugglers importing stolen artifacts, and a U.S. Marine accused of killing two Afghanistan locals in cold blood. Believe it or not, all the cases were connected and made sense, and I was able to keep track of everything that was going on. Solid win for me.

"Poisoned Pilgrim" by Oliver Potzsch is his fourth hangman book. Man, this guy writes a lot! Like the first three, I really enjoyed it. Magdalena and Simon are on a pilgrimage to a monastery in Andecho. There are of course a lot of mysterious things going on. When one of the monks is arrested for murder, Magdalena learns he is an old friend of her father's and she sends for his help. So of course Jakob comes to help clear his old friend's name. The ending on this one was really sad, but I liked it.

And on a totally unrelated note: today marks the anniversary of when the wonderful William Faulkner entered the world! Damn, I wish I had time to reread some of his books right now. Why do I always have a huge pile of books to catch up on? I guess there are much worse problems to have :)

Transmetropolitan V. 2; Richard and Elizabeth; Sassy Belles; Dexter's Last Cut

"Transmetropolitan V. 2" by Warren Ellis was great fun. The further depraved adventures of journalist Spider Jerusalem and his assistant. Someone has put a hit out on Spider, it was great to see him on the run.

"Richard and Elizabeth" by Lester David and Jhan Robbins was a delightful look at my all time favorite celebrity couple. Their decade together set the gold standard for true love and it's such a shame they couldn't have managed to stay together longer. But who knows if the world could have stood it :)

"Sassy Belles" by Beth Albright was a waste of time. Thank god it was short and quick. So boring and very, very cliched.

And finally, Jeff Lindsay's "Dexter's Final Cut". The show ends tomorrow night (cue hysterical weeping). Is this the last Dexter book? It seems as if it might be. Dexter and Deb are helping a film crew working in Miami shooting a TV pilot. Robert Chase, a well known actor, is supposed to shadow Dexter and learn how to be a forensics geek, while the beautiful Jackie Forrest is supposed to learn how to be a hard nosed detective from Deb. When a murder victim who resembles Jackie turns up and is linked to two other murders, one in New York and one in Las Vegas, and all the victims resemble Jackie, Deb and Dexter figure Jackie is in danger from a stalker. The ending totally blew me away, and makes me think this is the final book. I don't want to spoil it, but oh my god. Didn't see it coming. I'll be sad to see the books go away, I've enjoyed them.

And on a totally unrelated note: happy birthday Stephen King! Can't wait for "Doctor Sleep" next week!

The Light in the Ruins

I love Chris Bohjalian. His latest, "The Light in the Ruins", did not disappoint. During WW2, in Italy, an Italian nobleman's family is forced to play host to Nazis, who overrun their country estate. Ten year later, someone is killing off the remaining living members of the family. It was heartbreaking and beautifully told and really made me think about the idea of how much choice we really have in certain matters.

Room 1219; Street Dreams, The Whole Enchilada

"Room 1219" by Greg Merritt was a fascinating look at the Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle case of the early 1920s. Arbuckle was tried three times (the first two juries were hung) for the manslaughter of actress Virginia Rappe, who died of a ruptured bladder a few days after a party Arbuckle had over Labor Day weekend in San Francisco. The Arbuckle case changed Hollywood: up until that point in time, the studios controlled the press and the image of Hollywood was of golden men and women who never did anything wrong. After Arbuckle the media started printing Hollywood scandals and gossip, and the studios scrambled to clean up their image. Poor Arbuckle, although acquitted of any wrongdoing, never gained back the goodwill and fame he enjoyed before the scandal, and died young of a heart attack. Only two people really know what happened in that room that day, but the evidence leans towards Arbuckle not having done anything to hurt Virginia Rappe.

"Street Dreams" by Faye Kellerman was great, I can't wait to read more of her books. Cindy finds a newborn discarded in a dumpster and sets out to find out what happened to her parents. She finds the mother easily enough, a young woman with Down's Syndrome who witnessed her boyfriend being beat up six months early and she was raped by a gang of thugs. No one has seen her boyfriend, David, since. Cindy, with her dad's help, set out to get to the bottom of a horrible crime. It was well written and I really liked the characters, they seem like the kind of people I'd like to just hang out with.

"The Whole Enchilada" by Diane Mott Davidson is her 14th Goldy Schultz mystery. I honestly don't know why I keep reading them, I don't like them. I'm just dumb like that, I guess. Once again, I like the characters, and I think that's why I keep reading. They mysteries are always really hard to figure out and feature new characters I can't keep track of. And since I went vegan I can't really make any of her recipes anymore. But I like Goldy, and Marla, and Tom, and Julian, and Arch. So I keep reading :)

You Are Beautiful; Richard Burton, My Brother; Seven Minutes in Heaven; Save Yourself; And the Mountains Echoed; Any Empire; Beggar King

"You Are Beautiful" by Ken Paves was wonderful. Paves is hair stylist to the stars, and he thinks all women are beautiful, even without having fancy clothes, makeup, and hairdos, so he wrote the book to inspire and encourage all the everyday "normal" ladies out there. It was very inspirational, and he had a lot of great advice on how to be your best self everyday and enjoy what you have rather than fighting it and always being depressed about not being more or different. I'm trying really hard to take his great advice to heart and use it :)

"Richard Burton, My Brother" by Graham Jenkins was a touching memoir written by a devoted brother. Graham acknowledged Richard's faults, like excessive drinking, but also pointed out how kind and generous and loving he was. It was nicely done.

"Seven Minutes in Heaven" by Sara Shepard was a great ending to the Lying Game series, although I admit I will be incredibly sorry to see this series go. I have really enjoyed it. I didn't see the ending coming a mile away (I'm so dense like that) but it was great and really wrapped things up perfectly without being overly sappy or silly.

"Save Yourself" by Kelly Braffet was pretty good. Owen King's wife's third novel takes place in a small, nondescript working town in Pennsylvania. Patrick and Mike are clinging to a rough existence after their father is imprisoned for running down and killing a kid while drunk. It's hit Patrick hard, who quit his warehouse job and works the night shift at a convenience store. Mike is trying hard to have a normal life with his girlfriend, Caro. And then there's Layla, who is so disappointed by her parents trying to manipulate her that she's ended up in another terrible situation with a weird cult, and she's drug her younger sister Verna into it. It was well written and just heartbreaking. I felt for these people, who really tried to make better decisions in life but still ended up in the same bad spots.

"And the Mountains Echoed" by Khaled Hosseini was just brilliant. I love his books. As small children, Pari and Abdullah are inseparable. Abdullah will do anything for his little sister. When his family falls on hard times, their father sells Pari to a wealthy barren woman named Nali, hoping she'll have a better life. The novel what happens to Pari, Abdullah, Nali, and others touched by their story, spanning 60 years.

"Any Empire" by Nate Powell is a graphic novel protesting war that I wasn't terribly impressed with. It didn't make much sense, and I just couldn't get into it. I feel, in a graphic novel with so little text, the pictures really need to make the story pop, and these just didn't work for me.

And finally, the third hangman daughter's book by Oliver Potzsch, "Beggar King". It was pretty good: Jakob goes to the large city of Regensberg when he gets a notice that his little sister is ill. When he arrives he finds she and her husband have been murdered and he is being framed for the crime. While being tortured, he discovers a horrible conspiracy that runs much deeper than the murder of his sister.