"Dreams of Joy" by Lisa See is the sequel to "Shanghai Girls", which I really enjoyed. I liked this one, too, even though I don't really like Joy. I guess because she's so young and so damn naive. Pearl follows Joy to China, where Joy has run off to in order to track down her real father. She's also got it into her head that Communist China is superior to America. Joy ends up living in a commune, married to an illiterate peasant, and nearly starves to death during the disaster known as China's Great Leap Forward. Pearl manages to find her and rescue her in time.
"The Little Bookstore of Big Stone Gap" by Wendy Welch was great fun. Wendy and her husband Jack moved to Big Stone Gap, Virginia (population 5,000) to start a used bookstore. Of course the locals don't believe they'll last long, and they almost don't, but they manage, mostly through sheer luck, to turn their little bookstore into a success and live the life of their dreams. Wendy is very funny and the book was heartwarming and charming. I haven't enjoyed one this much in a long time.
"Daddy Love" by Joyce Carol Oates was, as is typical of her, very difficult to read due to the subject matter. It was very good, but so heartbreakingly sad. Robbie is abducted from a mall by a sick-o pedophile who calls himself Daddy Love. He nearly kills poor Robbie's mother Dinah in the process. While Dinah is in the hospital recovering from her injuries and mourning the loss of her child, Robbie is given the new name of Gideon and taken to New Jersey, where he becomes Daddy Love's slave in every sense of the word. Seven years go by before he is able to escape and is taken back to his parents. So sad that things like this actually happen.
"Waiter Rant" by Steve Dublanica was pretty funny. Steve worked as a waiter for seven years at a New York restaurant called the Bistro. He tells of crazy, cracked out coworkers and rude, entitled customers, like the couple who tried to step over a woman having a stroke to get to the table they wanted. Having worked with the public, I swear you can't make this stuff up. I love to read about people behaving badly, so Steve's book was great.
"Ali's Pretty Little Lies" by Sara Shepard is the PLL prequel. While home from the mental hospital one weekend, Courtney slips into her sister Ali's life and Ali is carted off to the hospital. Courtney as Ali makes friends with Hanna, Spencer, Aria, and Emily. We get to see the things we already know from Ali's point of view, which was interesting. When real Ali ends up killing her, she wasn't alone. I have a feeling I should be able to figure out who the unknown assailant is, but I'm not that clever.
Wednesday, February 20, 2013
Friday, February 15, 2013
Ice Cream Girls; Kings of Cool; Dark Lord; Dwarf
I didn't really like "Ice Cream Girls" by Dorothy Koomson, and after I accidentally spilled a bowl of soup on it and ruined it, I liked it even less. What a klutz I am! Thirty some years of checking out library books (LOTS of library books) and I've never once lost or ruined one. I guess there's a first time for everything. So I had to pay for it. Anyway, the story: Poppy is being released from prison after serving nearly 20 years for killing her boyfriend. She knows she really didn't do it though, it was Serena, her co-defendant, who was also dating the much older and abusive Marcus. The girls were teenagers when Marcus seduced them and started abusing them, pitting them against each other. Serena didn't go to prison, though, instead she's married a wonderful man and has two great kids and Poppy is jealous of the wonderful life she has that she doesn't deserve. She's on a mission to make Serena confess. There's only one small problem: Serena says she didn't kill him, either. So who did? So who cares? Not me. Marcus was a creepy jerk pedophile. I'm not wasting too many tears for him.
"Kings of Cool" by Don Winslow is the prequel to "Savages", which I haven't read but I did see the film and liked it, so I decided to read the books. I started with this one, which tells the story of Chon and Ben, who have a lucrative marijuana growing business in Laguna Beach. Interspersed with their story in 2005 is the story of the previous generation: their parents, and how the drug business really took hold in the area. It was interesting and exciting and of course I love reading about familiar areas.
"Dark Lord" by Jamie Thompson was a cute kid's book about how a dark lord from another time and place is banished to Earth by his nemesis. Found in a parking lot, the paramedics and social workers decide to call him "Dirk Lloyd" (mishearing "Dark Lord" when they ask him what his name is). Since there's nothing physically wrong with him they find him a nice foster home and send him off to live with the Purejoies. They have a son, Christopher, who is the same age as Dirk, and slowly he acclimates himself to being stuck in a boy's body, making friends at school (or underlings and lickspittles, as he thinks of them) and trying to conjure up enough magic to return to his own time and place.
I'm not sure how I feel about "Dwarf" by Tiffanie DiDonato. She was born a dwarf, but was never told that, not until high school. Growing up, she just thought she was short. Her mother refused to let her think she was different or handicapped. Determined to have a normal life, Tiffanie decides to have a potentially dangerous bone lengthening surgery as a teen. Most doctors will only do about three or four inches, but Tiffanie talked hers into 14 total, bringing her height up to 4'10", which, while on the short side, is still tall enough to live a normal life. She's happy, married and a mom, living the life she always dreamed of, I just can't help feeling that if she'd been introduced to and a part of the Little People community as a child she might have realized being a little person isn't so awful. I just hope she doesn't end up having awful complications later in life from gaining so much height.
"Kings of Cool" by Don Winslow is the prequel to "Savages", which I haven't read but I did see the film and liked it, so I decided to read the books. I started with this one, which tells the story of Chon and Ben, who have a lucrative marijuana growing business in Laguna Beach. Interspersed with their story in 2005 is the story of the previous generation: their parents, and how the drug business really took hold in the area. It was interesting and exciting and of course I love reading about familiar areas.
"Dark Lord" by Jamie Thompson was a cute kid's book about how a dark lord from another time and place is banished to Earth by his nemesis. Found in a parking lot, the paramedics and social workers decide to call him "Dirk Lloyd" (mishearing "Dark Lord" when they ask him what his name is). Since there's nothing physically wrong with him they find him a nice foster home and send him off to live with the Purejoies. They have a son, Christopher, who is the same age as Dirk, and slowly he acclimates himself to being stuck in a boy's body, making friends at school (or underlings and lickspittles, as he thinks of them) and trying to conjure up enough magic to return to his own time and place.
I'm not sure how I feel about "Dwarf" by Tiffanie DiDonato. She was born a dwarf, but was never told that, not until high school. Growing up, she just thought she was short. Her mother refused to let her think she was different or handicapped. Determined to have a normal life, Tiffanie decides to have a potentially dangerous bone lengthening surgery as a teen. Most doctors will only do about three or four inches, but Tiffanie talked hers into 14 total, bringing her height up to 4'10", which, while on the short side, is still tall enough to live a normal life. She's happy, married and a mom, living the life she always dreamed of, I just can't help feeling that if she'd been introduced to and a part of the Little People community as a child she might have realized being a little person isn't so awful. I just hope she doesn't end up having awful complications later in life from gaining so much height.
Sunday, February 10, 2013
Shaghai Girls; Life Below Stairs; Mr. Penumbra's 24 Hour Bookstore: Wonder
I've wanted to read some of Lisa See for a long time now, I've heard such good things about her. My sister actually recommended "Shanghai Girls", and I really enjoyed it. Two sister live a charmed life as "beautiful girls" (models, basically) in Shanghai in the 1930s, until their father loses everything and promises them in marriage to erase his debts. Pearl and May are reluctant, but marry their intended spouses, but they have no intention of getting on the boat and following them back to Los Angeles when they leave. However, when their father runs off and soldiers and gangsters alike come after them, the girls manage to escape Shanghai and get on the boat. They arrive at Angel Island, where May confides to Pearl that she is pregnant and it's not her husband's baby. They stay at Angel Island long enough for Pearl to fake a pregnancy and May to deliver a girl, Joy, whom they pass off as Pearl's. They arrive in L.A. and move in with their in-laws and husbands and make a pretty decent life for themselves. It was touching and very sad. I wasn't happy about the ending until I found out her book "Dreams of Joy" is a sequel, so I'll have to read it to find out what happens next.
"Life Below Stairs" by Alison Maloney cashes in on the "Downton Abbey" craze. It was a decent primer to what life was like for the servants who waited on the family upstairs.
"Mr. Penumbra's 24 Hour Bookstore" by Robin Sloan was really cute and charming, I liked it a lot. Chase gets a job as a night clerk in Mr. Penumbra's 24 hour bookstore. He notices right away that they don't sell a lot of books, but people do come in to borrow books off of what he has dubbed the "Wayback List", books on the top shelves that are only accessible by ladder. He meets a smart girl named Kat who works at Google, and together with his friend Mat they figure out a pattern in the Wayback List: the books form a face, the face of the founder, Mr. Penumbra tells him after he reveals what he's learned. Chase has cracked to first code in the Unbroken Spines society, which is dedicated to decoding their dead founder's last work, which holds the key to immortality. The society has been working on the code for over 500 years. Of course Chase and Kat and Mat want in on trying to crack the code as well. It was funny and sweet.
"Wonder" by R. J. Palacio was also really amazing. It's a children's book about a young boy named August, who was born with an extremely rare birth defect that has caused his face to be very deformed. He's had surgeries his whole young life, and has never been able to attend school. But now he's 10, and he's going to Beecher Prep. Typically enough, some of the kids are really mean and a few are nice, and bad things happen to August. But as the year goes on and the kids get to really know him and discover how cool and fun he is, he makes lots of friends. I'm so used to reading adult books I kept waiting for something awful to happen to August, so I was pleasantly surprised by the happy ending. A great book about the importance of kindness.
"Life Below Stairs" by Alison Maloney cashes in on the "Downton Abbey" craze. It was a decent primer to what life was like for the servants who waited on the family upstairs.
"Mr. Penumbra's 24 Hour Bookstore" by Robin Sloan was really cute and charming, I liked it a lot. Chase gets a job as a night clerk in Mr. Penumbra's 24 hour bookstore. He notices right away that they don't sell a lot of books, but people do come in to borrow books off of what he has dubbed the "Wayback List", books on the top shelves that are only accessible by ladder. He meets a smart girl named Kat who works at Google, and together with his friend Mat they figure out a pattern in the Wayback List: the books form a face, the face of the founder, Mr. Penumbra tells him after he reveals what he's learned. Chase has cracked to first code in the Unbroken Spines society, which is dedicated to decoding their dead founder's last work, which holds the key to immortality. The society has been working on the code for over 500 years. Of course Chase and Kat and Mat want in on trying to crack the code as well. It was funny and sweet.
"Wonder" by R. J. Palacio was also really amazing. It's a children's book about a young boy named August, who was born with an extremely rare birth defect that has caused his face to be very deformed. He's had surgeries his whole young life, and has never been able to attend school. But now he's 10, and he's going to Beecher Prep. Typically enough, some of the kids are really mean and a few are nice, and bad things happen to August. But as the year goes on and the kids get to really know him and discover how cool and fun he is, he makes lots of friends. I'm so used to reading adult books I kept waiting for something awful to happen to August, so I was pleasantly surprised by the happy ending. A great book about the importance of kindness.
Tuesday, February 5, 2013
It Was a Very Bad Year; Feast for Crows; Walking Dead Vol. 17; Mistress of Mourning
Sorry, sorry! I was so sick in January, so sick I didn't even hardly read anything. Nine books total for the whole month, that's shameful. But I'm back so here we go!
"It Was a Very Bad Year" by Robert J. Randisi was a light Rat Pack mystery. 1963 was a very bad year for Frank Sinatra--first President Kennedy is killed, then his son, Frank Jr., is kidnapped. Of course good old Eddie G. from the Sands and his faithful sidekick Jerry are there to lend Frank a helping hand in his time of need.
"Feast for Crows" by George R. R. Martin is the fourth book in the Ice and Fire series, and oh my god did it disappoint me. No Dany, no Bran, no Tyrion. It was all King's Landing. Cersei was arrested and thrown in jail for trying to frame Margaery, which was great. I am so sick of Cersei. Poor Brianne is in bad shape after going looking for Sansa, who is, for the moment, somewhat safe with Peter Baelish. Arya is hiding out in Braavos, working for a fish monger, but when we left her she was blind. I'm not sure what's going on with her. Sam took Gilly and Maester Aemon to Braavos so he could learn to be a Maester, but poor old Aemon died. Oh, and Jaime ends the siege at Riverrun.
"Walking Dead Vol. 17" by Robert Kirkman picks up where 16 left off, and since I somehow missed 16, I was lost. Anyway, lots of bad things happened and Rick ends up capitulating to Negan's demands and doesn't want to fight anymore. Okay.
And finally, "Mistress of Mourning" by Karen Harper was so terribly dull. It was a medieval mystery involving the Princes in the Tower and where or not Prince Arthur was poisoned or died of natural causes. With the current news that the bones dug up in Leicester are indeed King Richard III (OMG!! Incredible!) I expect interest in the Princes mystery to gain new ground. It would be lovely if we could clear his good name. At least he will finally now have a decent burial place, and I'll get a chance to visit someday. Something to look forward to!
"It Was a Very Bad Year" by Robert J. Randisi was a light Rat Pack mystery. 1963 was a very bad year for Frank Sinatra--first President Kennedy is killed, then his son, Frank Jr., is kidnapped. Of course good old Eddie G. from the Sands and his faithful sidekick Jerry are there to lend Frank a helping hand in his time of need.
"Feast for Crows" by George R. R. Martin is the fourth book in the Ice and Fire series, and oh my god did it disappoint me. No Dany, no Bran, no Tyrion. It was all King's Landing. Cersei was arrested and thrown in jail for trying to frame Margaery, which was great. I am so sick of Cersei. Poor Brianne is in bad shape after going looking for Sansa, who is, for the moment, somewhat safe with Peter Baelish. Arya is hiding out in Braavos, working for a fish monger, but when we left her she was blind. I'm not sure what's going on with her. Sam took Gilly and Maester Aemon to Braavos so he could learn to be a Maester, but poor old Aemon died. Oh, and Jaime ends the siege at Riverrun.
"Walking Dead Vol. 17" by Robert Kirkman picks up where 16 left off, and since I somehow missed 16, I was lost. Anyway, lots of bad things happened and Rick ends up capitulating to Negan's demands and doesn't want to fight anymore. Okay.
And finally, "Mistress of Mourning" by Karen Harper was so terribly dull. It was a medieval mystery involving the Princes in the Tower and where or not Prince Arthur was poisoned or died of natural causes. With the current news that the bones dug up in Leicester are indeed King Richard III (OMG!! Incredible!) I expect interest in the Princes mystery to gain new ground. It would be lovely if we could clear his good name. At least he will finally now have a decent burial place, and I'll get a chance to visit someday. Something to look forward to!
Friday, January 18, 2013
Custer; Finding Ultra; Burned
"Custer" is Larry McMurtry's latest. It was, like all of his recent nonfiction (well, and to be honest, fiction too) kind of disappointing. Without all the pictures (which were lovely) there was maybe 30 pages of solid story. I just didn't feel like I learned anything new about George Custer at all, and I didn't know that much about him to begin with. I miss the Larry McMurtry of old, who really fleshed out characters and brought them to life.
"Finding Ultra" by Rich Roll was incredibly inspiring. On the eve of his 40th birthday, Rich finds himself out of shape, overweight, and winded walking up a flight of stairs. It's a wake up call for the former college athlete, who fears an early death. He completely turns his life around, goes vegan, and becomes an endurance athlete, training for and competing in Ultraman triathlons. All I can say after reading this book is WOW. What an inspiration.
"Burned" by Sara Shepard is the 12th Pretty Little Liars book and it was supposed to be the last one, but it looks like she's continuing. I'm kind of disappointed: I was looking forward to finally finding out who A is. At any rate, the girls are on Spring Break in Bermuda on a cruise ship, and it looks like A is also on board, causing problems. The girls are convinced A is actually a team, consisting of Graham, who was in love with Madison (the girl they killed the year before in Jamaica) and Naomi, who was real Ali's best friend before Courtney took over her life. The girls have to evacuate the cruise ship and narrowly escape death when their life raft sinks. Back in Rosewood, they've decided to turn themselves in to the authorities regarding Madison's death when they hear on the news that she actually died not from being pushed from the tower but from blunt force trauma to the head. Looks like A is trying to frame them for Madison's murder. Okay then!
"Finding Ultra" by Rich Roll was incredibly inspiring. On the eve of his 40th birthday, Rich finds himself out of shape, overweight, and winded walking up a flight of stairs. It's a wake up call for the former college athlete, who fears an early death. He completely turns his life around, goes vegan, and becomes an endurance athlete, training for and competing in Ultraman triathlons. All I can say after reading this book is WOW. What an inspiration.
"Burned" by Sara Shepard is the 12th Pretty Little Liars book and it was supposed to be the last one, but it looks like she's continuing. I'm kind of disappointed: I was looking forward to finally finding out who A is. At any rate, the girls are on Spring Break in Bermuda on a cruise ship, and it looks like A is also on board, causing problems. The girls are convinced A is actually a team, consisting of Graham, who was in love with Madison (the girl they killed the year before in Jamaica) and Naomi, who was real Ali's best friend before Courtney took over her life. The girls have to evacuate the cruise ship and narrowly escape death when their life raft sinks. Back in Rosewood, they've decided to turn themselves in to the authorities regarding Madison's death when they hear on the news that she actually died not from being pushed from the tower but from blunt force trauma to the head. Looks like A is trying to frame them for Madison's murder. Okay then!
Saturday, January 12, 2013
Storm of Swords; Longest Way Home; Where'd You Go, Bernadette?
Book three of George R. R. Martin's Ice and Fire series, "Storm of Swords" took a nasty turn. There were some deaths I wasn't happy about at all. And it looks bad for Tyrion, who has become my favorite character. First he was married to Sansa Stark, and then he was falsely accused of murder and sentenced to die. On the eve of his execution, Jaime rescues him and Tyrion kills his father before leaving town. Good for him! King Stannis made it to the Wall to lend his help with the Wildlings, and Jon Snow was named Commander of the Watch. Arya's been kidnapped by the Hound. Dany discovered Ser Jorah was a spy and sent him packing. And Bran has managed to make it past the Wall in search of the three eyed crow who will teach him about his skinwalking abilities.
"The Longest Way Home" by Andrew McCarthy was pretty lame. It recounted his pathetic attempts to avoid marriage and family by traveling. He really wants the solitary life, but tries to pretend he's okay with finally settling down with the woman he claims to love so much that he's been engaged to for four years. He calls "Pretty in Pink": "...a silly movie about a girl who wanted to go to a dance" (p. 12). EXCUSE ME? Whatever. This is why Andie should have ended up with Ducky. *Ducky* would never say "Pretty in Pink" is silly. Ducky knows better.
"Where'd You Go, Bernadette?" by Maria Semple has been pretty popular with good word of mouth, and I can see why. It was a very cute and very quick read, and the characters are great. Bernadette ran away from her life 20 years earlier, moving with her husband, Elgin, to Seattle, where she became a recluse. Now their 15 year old daughter, Bee, wants the family to go on a trip to Antarctica. A series of events lead up to Bernadette running away from life again, only this time Bee is determined to find her. It was really sweet.
"The Longest Way Home" by Andrew McCarthy was pretty lame. It recounted his pathetic attempts to avoid marriage and family by traveling. He really wants the solitary life, but tries to pretend he's okay with finally settling down with the woman he claims to love so much that he's been engaged to for four years. He calls "Pretty in Pink": "...a silly movie about a girl who wanted to go to a dance" (p. 12). EXCUSE ME? Whatever. This is why Andie should have ended up with Ducky. *Ducky* would never say "Pretty in Pink" is silly. Ducky knows better.
"Where'd You Go, Bernadette?" by Maria Semple has been pretty popular with good word of mouth, and I can see why. It was a very cute and very quick read, and the characters are great. Bernadette ran away from her life 20 years earlier, moving with her husband, Elgin, to Seattle, where she became a recluse. Now their 15 year old daughter, Bee, wants the family to go on a trip to Antarctica. A series of events lead up to Bernadette running away from life again, only this time Bee is determined to find her. It was really sweet.
Friday, January 4, 2013
Far From the Tree; How to Look Expensive; Cinderella: Fables are Forever; Victorian Undead: Sherlock Holmes vs. Zombies; Ten Big Ones; Clash of Kings; Cathy's Book: Lonesome Dove
"Far From the Tree" by Andrew Solomon was very interesting. It's an intense and in depth, well researched look at children who are different from their parents for a myriad number of reasons. He looked at deaf culture, dwarf culture, prodigies, other disabilities, children who become criminals, and more. He made a very interesting point early on in the book, about how as we mature and become teenagers and young adults we take pride in how different we are from our parents, but then as we become parents ourselves we mourn when our children aren't like us. It's amazing to me that despite all the things that could go wrong with pregnancy and childbirth, the human race keeps on procreating anyway.
"How to Look Expensive" by Andrea Pomerantz Lustig could have been called "How to look well put together", which was really more what I was interested in. It was very helpful, and she had a lot of good tips on hair, makeup, and facial care that I've tried to incorporate into my own routine.
"Cinderella: Fables Are Forever" by Bill Willingham was a fun graphic novel looking at the hidden life of Cinderella, Fabletown's most infamous spy. She's been in a decades long quest to best Dorothy Gale of Wizard of Oz fame, surprisingly enough.
"Victorian Undead: Sherlock Holmes vs. Zombies" by Ian Edginton is another graphic novel featuring Sherlock Holmes in Victorian England, fighting a herd of zombies created by none other than Moriarty.
"Ten Big Ones" by Janet Evanovich is a reread of a pretty decent Stephanie Plum book, where she stays at Ranger's safe house because the gang has hired a hit man to take her out. I like how Sally Sweet saves her in the end rather than Joe or Ranger, it was a nice change.
"Clash of Kings" by George R. R. Martin is the second in the Ice and Fire series. I really enjoyed the first one, and this one was just as good. I'm actually up to date on the HBO series now, too, taking advantage of HBO On Demand. The story continues in this book with Dany and her newly born dragons traveling to find a way to cross the sea so she can retake the Iron Throne. Jon Snow and the rest of the Night's Watch on the Wall are dealing with all kinds of ugliness, in the form of giants, wildlings, and free people who are out to take down the Wall. Tyrion is busy in his new role as the King's Hand hatching schemes and plots to save King's Landing for when Stannis Baratheon comes to claim the throne. Robb Stark is still unbeaten on the field, heading south for King's Landing when terrible news from north in Winterfell makes him pause to consider his options.
"Cathy's Book" by Sean Stuart was a YA book I've wanted to read for awhile now. I wasn't quite sure what to make of it, though, as it took an odd turn. It started out normally enough: Cathy is 17 and has been dumped by her much older boyfriend Victor without reason. Cathy and her friend Emma think he might have been cheating on her with a woman he worked with. Cathy sets out to find out why Victor left her, and resorts to some shady things, like stalking and spying. That's all normal enough, but then it turns out that the reason Victor left her is because he's immortal. Huh? So there's a guy after Victor trying to learn the secrets of immortality. And Victor worried for her safety. Okay. It was a neat book: it's styled like a journal, so there's drawings and artwork throughout, and there was an attached clear envelope in the front with all the "proof" Cathy has gathered against Victor. It's just the storyline that threw me for a loop.
And finally, I closed out 2012 with a reread of one of my favorites: "Lonesome Dove" by Larry McMurtry. I managed to make 200 this year--I ended up reading 219. On to 2013!
"How to Look Expensive" by Andrea Pomerantz Lustig could have been called "How to look well put together", which was really more what I was interested in. It was very helpful, and she had a lot of good tips on hair, makeup, and facial care that I've tried to incorporate into my own routine.
"Cinderella: Fables Are Forever" by Bill Willingham was a fun graphic novel looking at the hidden life of Cinderella, Fabletown's most infamous spy. She's been in a decades long quest to best Dorothy Gale of Wizard of Oz fame, surprisingly enough.
"Victorian Undead: Sherlock Holmes vs. Zombies" by Ian Edginton is another graphic novel featuring Sherlock Holmes in Victorian England, fighting a herd of zombies created by none other than Moriarty.
"Ten Big Ones" by Janet Evanovich is a reread of a pretty decent Stephanie Plum book, where she stays at Ranger's safe house because the gang has hired a hit man to take her out. I like how Sally Sweet saves her in the end rather than Joe or Ranger, it was a nice change.
"Clash of Kings" by George R. R. Martin is the second in the Ice and Fire series. I really enjoyed the first one, and this one was just as good. I'm actually up to date on the HBO series now, too, taking advantage of HBO On Demand. The story continues in this book with Dany and her newly born dragons traveling to find a way to cross the sea so she can retake the Iron Throne. Jon Snow and the rest of the Night's Watch on the Wall are dealing with all kinds of ugliness, in the form of giants, wildlings, and free people who are out to take down the Wall. Tyrion is busy in his new role as the King's Hand hatching schemes and plots to save King's Landing for when Stannis Baratheon comes to claim the throne. Robb Stark is still unbeaten on the field, heading south for King's Landing when terrible news from north in Winterfell makes him pause to consider his options.
"Cathy's Book" by Sean Stuart was a YA book I've wanted to read for awhile now. I wasn't quite sure what to make of it, though, as it took an odd turn. It started out normally enough: Cathy is 17 and has been dumped by her much older boyfriend Victor without reason. Cathy and her friend Emma think he might have been cheating on her with a woman he worked with. Cathy sets out to find out why Victor left her, and resorts to some shady things, like stalking and spying. That's all normal enough, but then it turns out that the reason Victor left her is because he's immortal. Huh? So there's a guy after Victor trying to learn the secrets of immortality. And Victor worried for her safety. Okay. It was a neat book: it's styled like a journal, so there's drawings and artwork throughout, and there was an attached clear envelope in the front with all the "proof" Cathy has gathered against Victor. It's just the storyline that threw me for a loop.
And finally, I closed out 2012 with a reread of one of my favorites: "Lonesome Dove" by Larry McMurtry. I managed to make 200 this year--I ended up reading 219. On to 2013!
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