How to Eat Fried Worms by Thomas Rockwell (***)

My kids love the movie, and it had been a while since I had read the book, so I thought I would have a listen. Besides that they have the same theme, the book and the movie are not really alike. In the book, he eats one worm a day instead of all in one day. And it's not a bully he's trying to beat, it's his own friend. The part I think is disgusting is that in the end, he develops a taste for worms, so he keeps on eating them! Yuck!

Enna Burning by Shannon Hale (****)

This is the second book in the series that started with The Goose Girl. I loved the Goose Girl. I don't think that this one was quite as good as that one, but it was still really good. I listened to another full-cast audio on this one and that makes it very enjoyable, especially with the same voices for the characters. I am told there will be a third in the series, but it isn't out on audiobook yet.

In the first book, Anidori-Kiladra Talianna Isilee, Crown Princess of Kildenree is the heroine (quite a mouthful, pretty as it may be). Her friends called her Isi (pronounced "Izzy"). In this book, the heroine is Isi's friend Enna. The country of Bayern is at war and Enna's brother has learned how to burn--to draw heat into himself and send it out to create fire. But, he burns himself to death in the process. Now, Enna wants to learn, but at the same time, she is afraid of it. She wants to serve Bayern and she is high-spirited and wants to be in the thick of things. At the same time, Isi is struggling with her gift of wind-speaking. She feels constantly bombarded with the wind and is exhausted by it and very distracted. She longs to find some balance. And she and her newly-kinged husband long for an heir.

There was something about this book that made it not a juvenile book. I can't place my finger on what it was. There was an allusion to rape, though nothing happened and the word was not used. I think there was one bad word in it. But, there was just an element about it that made me think it was for an even older audience than Goose Girl, which was, to me, not a book for young children, either.

The thing that struck me most about the book was that is really had me sucked in. I was sitting at work after the book ended and I started to feel heat around me, touching my skin and I shuddered, shook myself, and forced myself to redirect my thoughts, lest I learn to burn too! Ha, ha.

The Witch's Boy by Michael Gruber (***)

I know, it's been a while since I have posted a review and I am still reading, but I am in the middle of a series of 18 books! But, I did take a break from the series a couple of times and these are the reviews for those I broke the series for!

The Witch's Boy was interesting because it told the "other side of the story" for all of the fairy tales you've ever heard that include witches. That was kind of humorous. You've heard the stories all your life and how horribly evil the witches are and then in this story, you hear the "true" story and how it isn't as it's been told, that the witches aren't evil. All too often it's humans that are evil. Which is very true!

This story is about an ugly baby that was left for a witch to raise. I think the thing that really bugged me about the story is that the kids is a spoiled, bratty, selfish thing and he causes trouble and his witch "mom" pays terrible prices for it, but he never even acknowledges it, let alone thank her for it or even try to be good in the future. His selfish, spoiled attitude caused him to chase after an openly shallow and cruel girl as though she were the sun and moon and to neglect his nursemaid who actually dies! Then later in the story, he marries a nice girl and lives a happy life, so it just kind of ticked me off.

Black Cross by Greg Iles (***)

I didn't realize it, but this was another abridged version. It really wasn't bad though. And the narrator was the actor Jay O. Sanders and he did great accents (Scottish, Brittish, German), though he did mispronounce the German name Sabine (I knew a German girl named Sabine once, so that's how I know). It's the story of a secret mission during World War II. I was drawn in because I have always been interested in World War II. I have never been a big history person or been interested in any war stuff, but I have always felt a sadness at the brutality and violence of the concentration camps. One of my favorite movies is Schindler's List. I am always appalled and angry that no one stepped in sooner to save the people that were being tortured and killed. Which makes me stop and think when I show disgust for wars or "military action" in places like Bosnia or Iraq. They are trying to save people from the same inhumanity that Hitler displayed. But, I digress.

There was one of those things that when it gets dropped into a story, you just groan. You liked it all the way up to that, then they ruin it for you. The American has an affair with a German girl. It's not just that he cheated on his wife. It's also the stupidity of worrying about sex and at time like that. There are people being brutalized at a nearby camp, they are in hiding and fear for their lives, and are hours away from an attack on this camp, but, hey, why shouldn't they be feeling a little frisky, right? Dumb, dumb, dumb. So, what's the excuse--we might die tomorrow, so lets have one last pleasurable night? I'm sorry, I don't think I'd be in the mood when just down the road, children are being used as medical testing subjects! Please!

Anyways, the other thing that surprised me a little was that the person telling this story was a Rabbi and I was sure that he had been there when all of this happened, but nothing to that effect was ever said. I wonder if there is more in the unabridged version. Also, I thought maybe the German woman would have had the American's kid and the narrator would meet a half-brother or sister, but that didn't happen either. But, all in all, it was a good book and really held my attention.

A Cry in the Night by Mary Higgins Clark (***)

I didn't realize at first that this audiobook was the abridged version. I hate abridged versions. This book was okay, interesting. Likely the full version is even better. But the main character got on my nerves. She was so stupid! When you are the mother of two young children, and you actually CARE about your children, you don't run off and marry someone that you know absolutely nothing about after only knowing him a month (and only seeing him on weekends of that month at that!) and you don't allow him to adopt your children either (giving him just as much custody right over them as you have)! Not only that, but when she moves in with her new husband, it's right away apparent that he is nuts and possessive. We would have been talking annulment right away--I mean, after all, she's only known him a month, it's not like she's too attached to him! When he insists that she wear his dead mother's nightgown (and that's the only time he has "marital relations" with her), that should be a BIG red flag. That's just sick and why she goes along with it, is beyond me! Then she even goes further on my bad side, when she has a new baby, by saying that she will devote all her time and attention to this baby. What about her other kids? Though she seems like a nice person and a caring mother, she is really a picture of what NOT to do! If you can get past her ignorance and near neglect at putting her children in harm's way, it's a pretty good book. Ha, ha.

Death Qualified by Kate Wilhelm (0)

Okay, another stinker. The thing that really got me here was that I got confused in this book by too much talk of mathematics and science. I have never liked either subject, so that turned me off immediately. Too much was over my head: chaos theory, butterfly effect, and this new research involving Mandelbrot images (which I had never heard of and had to look up--although because of the book, I was almost afraid to look at them!). Somehow looking at these computer images did something to people's minds. It was like they had discovered a whole other realm, but it drove some mad and caused several various deaths. They said it was like trying to describe beautiful music to someone who had never heard or a beautiful painting to someone who has never seen. It was incredibly strange and beyond my grasp. It was also a murder mystery, where a lawyer is trying to defend a woman accused of killing her husband who had been MIA for 7 years and then showed up only to be killed. Another thing that bothered me was that the main character, the lawyer Barbara, had a horrid "woe is me" attitude. The world is a mess, the legal system is a mess, nothing makes sense, I wish for utopia and since I can't have it, I'll run away and bury my head in the sand, yet whine about how everything is so unfair. Give me a break. We all live in the same unfair world, but we don't all run from everything and bury our heads in the sand. And she was convinced that God just sets everyone up. The narrator in the audiobook was the one I dislike the most, Anna Fields, so that made it even worse. Also, I don't know what was wrong with the audiobook, but it kept repeating multiple lines. It was very annoying. This book is the first in a series, but from what I gather from the descriptions, the main character is the only repeating character, so I assume the mysteries left unknown will not be revealed in future novels. WARNING: the next lines contain spoilers! The end was very frustrating. The killer and the main character's boyfriend apparently go off a cliff in a struggle, but we don't know if they are ever found. We are left to assume that they both die. The boyfriend has apparently received some weird "power" from viewing these disks, but it is still so unclear and confusing as to what is happening to him. The other thing left hanging, which is something I saw coming a mile away, is that two children of main characters in the story view the disks and are now behaving in a similarly strange manner. So what happens to them? Who knows.

Absolute Fear by Lisa Jackson (0) (WARNING: contains spoilers!)

Okay, this book was so cluttered and overcomplicated that it was VERY hard to follow.

First off, I will say that the narrator of the audiobook annoyed me by mispronouncing simple words and phrases such as "winding" or "short-lived."

The next thing that got on my nerves: the main character (Eve) believes that she was shot by her boyfriend. She found her friend dead in his cabin and in a flash saw her boyfriend firing a gun. The bullet ricocheted, striking her in the temple and nearly killing her. She tells the police, they arrest Cole, she is prepared to testify against him, but her testimony was unreliable, so after 3 months, he is set free. The first thing he does is try to get to her and she wants to confront him as well. Though she has a restraining order against him, he shows up on her doorstep in the middle of the night. She does confront him with a gun (unloaded) and after some heated discussion, allows him in the house! He has just come from the scene of her father's murder and has blood on him, but the next thing you know, they are falling back into a relationship. Suddenly she isn't sure what she saw that night. I'm sorry, if there was an inkling that the man had shot me, I would have nothing to do with him and would call the cops if he came anywhere near me! What kind of idiot falls back in love with someone that she thinks COULD be a murderer? Eventually you find out that her memory was correct. He was there, he was just shooting at the actual killer and hit her by mistake, but he never tells anyone this until she remembers. He called 911 and stayed with her until he hears the sirens coming, then runs away to save his own rear end because he thinks the cops have it in for him. What kind of a relationship can they ever have after he accidentally shot her, then left her to save his own rear end and after she accuses him of being a murderer, for which he is locked up for 3 months, loses his career, his credibility, his home, his car, his money to pay for his defense?

Another thing that annoyed me was that the day after Eve's father's murder, there are moments when she and Cole are flirting and when she is joking with her cat, etc. She said that she had been distant with her father lately, but I don't care how distant you are, you will probably be a lot more upset than that if you found out your dad was brutally murdered. And Cole, who found him, ought to be more shaken up, instead of flirting. Eve grieves at the beginning, but seems to bounce back very quickly.

Okay, the thing that really made me hate this book was that it was confusing and overcomplicated. There were too many twists and too much information. I see now that this is in the middle of a series of books, revolving around the homicide detectives Bentz and Montoya, so I decided that all of this violence that nearly every character has suffered in their past (that originally seemed like too much coincidence) goes back to the fact that this is about HOMICIDE detectives. There WILL be violence. It seems a strange link for the characters though.

Originally, I thought Cole WAS the killer and was having trouble separating scenes and points of view. It just seemed like the readers are constantly being bombarded with new information and new scenarios and it was hard to digest. I ended up making a chart to try to understand how in the world it could be possible that all these people are related. I tried to describe it to a friend and she said I lost her and that was exactly how I felt as I was trying to figure it all out and keep it straight in my mind. It was again too much coincidence and really far-fetched. I put the chart above so you can see how confusing it all got. I tried to show parentages and relationships and how it all seemed to intersect.

The thing that finally got me was that all along the killer that we have been following, not knowing who he is, is not the actual mastermind. The mastermind is the twin brother of the main character. Coincidental that he found a lunatic that had been at the mental hospital at the same time as everyone else in his sick game, who was obsessed with his twin sister Eve, and was able to control him. He somehow made it onto the police force where he was able to tamper with evidence, keep track of where this guy was and when he was released so he could set his plan in motion, and put speakers in the guys bed and spoke to him as if he were the voice of God, instructing him who to kill and how. It was just all too much.

Here's another thing that sickened me. There was way too much sexual stuff, incest, etc., going on in this book. While the twin brother is blaming his adopted mother for molesting him and ruining him and how wrong that was, he turns around and talks about wanting to rape his sisters. How do you arrive at the conclusion that it was wrong for someone to do that to you, but it's okay if you do it to someone else? Same way with the crazy guy he was controlling. He says Eve is a whore and yet he wants to rape her. He condemns her for her sexual sin (mostly imagined), but he wants her for himself and that's okay, I guess....? Sick, sick double standards.

The final thing that made me hate this book was that the author was vulgar. I mean, it's obvious from what I have said heretofore that the book was pretty sick anyways. But, the thing that I found was that the the author used vulgarities, not in dialogue of the chracters (you might expect vulgar slang from the characters), but in her descriptions as a narrator. That, to me, shows a lack of vocabulary. If the only thing you can use to describe body parts is a crass vulgarity, that tells me you aren't a very good writer. Maybe some people like that, but my taste is a little higher.

The Deepest Water by Kate Wilhelm (***)

I knew I would like this book before it started because the narrator on the audiobook version is my favorite, Marguerite Gavin. This is the story of a young woman who has just lost her writer father by murder. Though it was a good story, I had the killer figured out based on the synopsis before the book even began! They do tell you who the killer is pretty early in the book--a little less than 2/3 through, but then it becomes a race against time--to prove it and to stop it from happening again. It was poignant for me because even though my father wasn't murdered, his death was traumatic and I empathized with the main character, though I think she was much stronger. Her husband was really a jerk and got on my nerves. I wanted to scream at him. The resolution is so simple, yet fitting. I don't think I have ever read a suspense novel that had such a quiet conclusion. But it works. Maybe not the way I would have done it, but it's clean, neat, and deserving. Even if I did figure it out before I even heard the first words of the first chapter, I still enjoyed it.

Book Review Archive 2

Heaven Better By Far by J. Oswald Sanders (***)

This book belonged to my dad and I read it a few months after he died because I wanted to know what dad was experiencing. I really wanted a real sense that dad was still real, if that makes any sense at all. I guess I wanted a peek into heaven. Anyways, the book is good, but it really didn't tell me anything that I didn't already know.


Bridge to Terabithia by Katharine Paterson (****)

This book came out again when the movie came out. I had read it as a child and remembered liking it, so I bought it and read it again. It is still good, but very sad. Arm yourself with Kleenex. I don't think I liked the movie near as much as the book.


Room of Marvels by James Bryan Smith (*****)

This book was given to us by a friend who has since passed away. This is a great book. I keep asking myself if this book is really true! It is listed as fiction, but the facts are straight from the author's life. The author is the friend of Rich Mullins, the Christian singer/songwriter, and the character of Wayne is clearly a portrayal of Rich Mullins. The author lives here in our hometown and I would love to meet him and ask him if it really happened. I believe the story is true and if it is, it is such a glorious story and fills me with such peace and joy and hope and makes me wish I could have such an experience! The main character (whom I believe is the author) is burnt out from tragedies that have filled his life. He goes away to a retreat and has a dream...


The Husband by Dean Koontz (***)

This is a fairly good story and the outcome is pretty unexpected. But, the thing that irked me about it is that at the end, after the climax, it cuts to four years later when everything is wrapped up all nice and neat. There is no description of how things got that way. That always annoys me. I like to walk the steps with the characters. Anyways, it is a story about an average man who gets a call that his wife has been kidnapped for a ransom that he doesn't have.


On Blue Falls Pond by Susan Crandall (***)

This is about a woman who returns to her hometown years after losing her husband and unborn child, and nearly her life, in a fire that remains unsolved. The mystery surrounding the fire is interesting, as are the family ties. It wasn't as good as I had hoped it would be, though.


Black Silk by Metsy Hingle (***)

When I used to deliver newspapers, I delivered to an apartment building. There was a ledge where people put things that they didn't want for other people to have, such as coupons, magazines, etc. This book was out there one day and I'd never heard of the author, so I grabbed it and decided to read it. The story itself was good, but there was too much sex in it. It's about a female detective who is investigating the death of a woman the night before she was to wed a rich, powerful man. There is a connection to her own sister's murder so she is obsessed with the search.


Rose Madder by Stephen King (****)

Very scary, the story of a woman who has run away from her abusive cop husband. It is disturbing to think what a cop can do and how he can escape detection and the access he has to information that the average person does not. A friend recommended this book to me and it was very good.


Gerald's Game by Stephen King (****)

It starts off a little alarming--a married couple having sex with the woman bound by her wrists to the bed posts. But, it also touches on a deep fear--what if something happens when you are in a compromising situation? What would you do if you were cuffed to a bed in the middle of nowhere alone and naked? What would you do if the situation escalated with a fierce animal entering the room or a frightful dream/hallucination (or is it real?) of someone else being in the shadows watching you?


Misery by Stephen King (****)

Okay, so it's been years since I read this book, but I liked it and since I was on Stephen King.... The movie is okay, but it doesn't do the book justice. There is more that happened to Paul Sheldon. Paul Sheldon, for anyone who has missed the book and the movie, is a popular novel writer. He has a car accident during a blizzard and is "rescued" by Annie Wilkes, his number one fan. She is unhinged, for lack of a better word. Paul Sheldon, injured in the accident, is at the mercy of this crazy, infatuated woman.


Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll (***)

I had never read the book, but I loved the Disney movie as a child, so I decided I should read it. I thought it would be a nice blast from the past. I was a little disappointed. The book is good, but the Disney version is so ingrained in my head that I was disappointed to find things slightly different. When I was a kids, my mom had made me curtains with Disney's Alice in Wonderland on them, I had a Disney's Alice pillow doll, and the three movies we loved to watch after getting the Disney Channel were Robin Hood, Sword in the Stone, and Alice and Wonderland. I think the Disney version is wrapped up in too much of my childhood for me to be able to tolerate the original version. Sorry Mr. Carroll.


Shall We Tell the President? by Jeffrey Archer (**)

The reviews said that this book was the talk of Washington when it was released and that everyone was reading it. Then I guess everyone was bored! It's about another Kennedy being elected to be President and an uncovered assassination plot. I think the thing that bored me most was that there seemed to be too much detail. I am sure that must have been necessary when working with the FBI, but it became tedious to me.


The Wedding Album Series by Marian Wells (****)

This is the story of a young girl back in the prairie days who falls in love with a man and marries him only to find out that he is a Mormon and adds many more wives and children. She struggles between compliance and the desire to have a traditional marriage. It's been a while since I read these, but I remember that I liked them a lot.


Angels Fall by Nora Roberts (***)

Okay, my only real complaint about this novel is that there were too many sex scenes. I can accept (even if I don't like it) one sex scene in a book, but this book described about three between the same couple. Isn't one enough? Why do we need to hear it three times? The plot was pretty good even if the main character offended me a bit by criticizing macaroni and cheese from a box and hothouse tomatoes. She is a gourmet chef, but she is working in a greasy spoon diner, trying to convert it to a gourmet restaurant. I guess since she is single and lives above the diner and uses little gasoline, she can afford to cook gourmet, but for those of us with husbands, kids, high gas prices, etc., we can only afford boxed mac and cheese! But, I digress. She survived a brutal shooting spree and has been on the move. She lands in this small town and witnesses a murder. No one believes her because she had a mental breakdown and still shows some of the effects of that. Every man in town is a suspect, but the killer ended up being third on my suspicion list.


The Memory Keeper's Daughter by Kim Edwards (**)

I saw a TV movie based on this book advertised. I hadn't watched the movie, but when I ran across the audiobook, I decided to give it a try. The story spans about 25 years and you keep thinking that eventually there will be a point, but I never found one. It didn't seem to have much plot at all. It's about a doctor who delivers his wife's twins. The boy is healthy, but the girl has Down's Syndrome. In a moment, he makes a decision. He'd had a sister that had died at an early age and it had destroyed his family. He didn't want to go through that again and he didn't want to put his wife and new son through that either, so he hands the baby girl to his nurse and tells her to take the baby to a home in another city where they care for people with disabilities. The nurse ends up taking off and raising the child on her own. The doctor tells his wife that the baby died. For the next 25 years, the lie poisons all of them, ruining all their relationships. I was so angry at the doctor for what he was turning his family into. I was mad at the mom for some of the things she was doing. WARNING: THE NEXT LINES MAY CONTAIN A SPOILER! Then the couple get a divorce, so you think he is finally going to tell them because one of the reasons he has kept it a secret is because he is afraid he will lose his wife. Well, six years after the divorce, he finally decides to tell his ex-wife, but she is out of the country and then he dies of a heart attack! They find out a different way, but he never got to meet his daughter, she never got to meet him.


On the Street Where You Live by Mary Higgins Clark (**)

It's been a while since I read this one. It's about a woman who buys the house that her family had owned for generations and then remains are found in the back yard. I don't remember much about this, but I do have the impression that I wasn't all that impressed with Mary Higgins Clark.


Two Little Girls in Blue by Mary Higgins Clark (**)

To be fair, apparently I ended up listening to the abridged version, so maybe the full version would have been better, but I really didn't like this one much. Maybe part of it too was that I really didn't like the narrator. The idea of the story is good. It's about twin toddlers (age 3) that are kidnapped. When they put up the ransom and go to retrieve the children, only one is there and the suicide note of the captor says that he accidentally killed the other twin. But, the remaining twin keeps saying that her sister is alive and her mother believes they are communicating telepathically.


Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton (**)

I read this book in a high school English class and I remembered liking it. I saw the movie years ago and liked it. But when I read it this time, I didn't like it. It seemed choppier than I remembered it. It seems very depressing. It's about a man who falls in love with his wife's cousin.


The Phantom of the Opera by Gaston Leroux (****)

Now anyone who knows me, knows that my favorite movie is the Phantom of the Opera. The book is quite different from the story we have come to accept on screen and stage. I love the movie, but I love the book for different reasons. The book also clears up a couple of mysteries from the movie, like what it means when Madame Giry says, "Keep your hand at the level of your eyes." In the movie, you feel sorry for the Phantom and his disfiguration doesn't detract enough from the handsome actor to repulse you. The book is quite different. The Phantom is a horribly ugly man. He has traveled extensively and is very smart, but has done some evil things. It has given me an itch to know if this story is true. From what I gather, the French try to cover it up and I have heard that they don't take kindly to you asking about him if you visit the Paris Opera House. I would love to see an expose' of some kind on the Discovery Channel or something like that, proving or disproving the story. The author, Gaston Leroux, lived during this time period and he tells of his research and interviews and of actually finding remains in the underground tunnels below the Opera House. Whether this is said as part of the storytelling or if it is in fact, a fact, I don't know, but I would love to find out. It is categorized as fiction, which makes me wonder how they determine what is fiction or nonfiction.

Book Review Archive 1

The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis (*****)

I never read these books as a child, but thoroughly enjoyed them. I was very sad when it was all over and ended up reading them a second time. I could listen to them over and over again and not tire of it. I felt strangely drawn to the movie and the books. I can't explain why. I saw The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe movie before I read the books, but this was not one of those times when you hate the movie after reading the book. It made me love it more and I could watch it again and again (& have). I am really looking forward to the Prince Caspian movie. I had long wished they had created more movies, but I assume the reason that they didn't create the first one (The Magician's Nephew) is that it wasn't as action-packed as the others, though by leaving it out, it does leave holes, such as where the witch came from and who the old man in The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe is. I hope that they continue making them. I am really impressed that they left the cast the same--that would have ruined it for me because I have come to picture those actors as the Pevensie children. The Final Battle made me cry. I know it was a happy ending, but I didn't expect it to end like that and I was also confused about Susan. Also, in the audio books, they have an all-star cast reading the books, such as Alex Jennings, Patrick Stewart, Lynn Redgrave, Michael York, Kenneth Branagh.


Heritage of Lancaster County Series by Beverly Lewis (**)

I love Beverly Lewis, but I really didn't like this series. I don't think I ever really liked the main character, Katie Lapp. I think she just annoyed me because she was never satisfied and I didn't like the decisions she made. I think the other thing that I didn't like was how the series ended. Close to the end, things were going one direction and you think it's going to end in a far different way. Then it suddenly shifts and ends the way it OUGHT to, but it's such a sudden switch that you're left feeling even more wary of Katie Lapp.


Abram's Daughters Series by Beverly Lewis (*****)

I really loved this series. Leah is such a beloved character and you really feel sorrow when she suffers and joy when something good happens to her. I felt such anguish at how years seemed to slip by and Leah just kept on sacrificing for her family. It follows a number of years in her life and you just start to wonder how any person could suffer so much loss and still rely on God and have such supreme peace and joy. I wasn't really crazy about one of her twin sister's marriages--i won't say who she married, but it just seemed weird for her sister to marry this guy, though that sister was having issues anyways and in such a small Amish community, I assume there aren't many men to choose from. And I thought it was pretty easy to solve the big mystery of the books since there weren't that many Englishers in the book for it to have been anyone else. Other than that, these were some of my favorite books and I was sad when the series was over.


Annie's People Series by Beverly Lewis (***)

I liked this series. Not as well as the Abram's Daughters series, but much better than the Heritage of Lancaster County series. I figured out the mystery pretty easily. I didn't see how everything could work out so that everyone would be happy, but Beverly Lewis made it happen. Reading all of these books about the Amish people really introduced me to their way of life, which I had been ignorant of. It also endeared the people to me and I plan to read some Wanda Brunstetter and other authors that write about the Amish.


The Camelot Caper by Elizabeth Peters (**)

This was a strange book. It was different than other books I have read, but it was really kind of funny. Sort of tongue-in-cheek humor. Anyways, since it made me laugh often, I'd say it was a good book. Because of this book, I decided to start an Elizabeth Peters series with the heroine Amelia Peabody.


Bringing Up Boys by James Dobson (****)

I really enjoyed this book. It gave me a look into the mind of my son, which heretofore has been a mystery to me. I was terrified with the thought of raising a boy because I don't know how they think and why they do the things they do and how to "train him up in the way he should go." This book helped me understand why he does what he does and how to let him be a boy. I began to understand why he is turning away from me towards his daddy and why that is important, even if it does break my heart. It helped me understand why roughhousing with his daddy is necessary and I shouldn't interfere, even if I am afraid they are being too rough. I think I will read this again (perhaps numerous times) to pick up items I missed and to thoroughly ingrain it in my head.


The Notebook by Nicholas Sparks (***)

I saw the movie before I read the book and I think that actually ruined the BOOK for me instead of the other way around. Though the book and movie follow the same plot, I think things are ordered differently and presented differently and in a lot of ways, I am sorry to say, I preferred the movie version! Especially the ending.


Lisey's Story by Stephen King (***)

Pretty different from Stephen King's normal stories--not as weird. I liked this one okay. It's about a dead writer's wife. The thing I like about her character is that she is an unlikely heroine. She isn't exactly a strong, courageous, memorable, charismatic person in the traditional sense.


Truth Series by Mariah Stewart (***)

What ruined this series for me is that I accidentally listened to it out of order. So that gave away details from the book I missed and allowed me to know the ending before I ever started it. But, overall it was a good series. Each story has a different MAIN main character and story, but there is another minor main character that is in all of the books, with an underlying story line that carries over through all the books. The sad part is that I figured out that whole business in the first book, so it was frustrating to me that the character, who is a true crime writer (you'd think she'd be smarter than that) didn't figure it out until the fourth book. The narrator (Anna Fields) in the audiobook was really annoying. Her male voices made the FBI guys sound slow and stupid.


24 Hours by Greg Iles (***)

This was a pretty good book, lots of suspense. I thought it was a bit far-fetched that this could be such a perfect crime, that no one ever reported anything. But it is alarming, thinking what if this happened to you.


An Unacceptable Death by Barbara Seranella (*)

I wasn't all that crazy about this book. Maybe it was the main character, who seems very smart and confident, but if she was so smart and confident how was it that she was a prostitute and a drug addict in her former life? I think the plot was a little confusing too.


As Simple As Snow by Gregory Galloway (*)

This was a strange, strange book. It was very well written because I was really drawn in and mesmerized and hungering to find out how it ended and what happened. But it was a total letdown because you never find out what happens! In the book description, it basically tells you how it ends. In the beginning, the author tells you how it ends. But I thought there would be more to it than that and it would find some conclusion, but it doesn't. Read the first page and you really don't have to read anymore. In fact, I wouldn't recommend it because the rest of the book will just frustrate you. The ending, which I assume is supposed to reflect some monumental change in the main character's (the storyteller) life is ludricrous. So what that a middle class kid with weird parents got the guts to go visit his brother in Louisiana and might decide to live with him? That's not monumental! Who doesn't have weird parents? Who isn't bored with their life as a teenager? What kind of resolution is it for him to go visit his brother? I've read that the author has hinted that the mystery (that was left unsolved in the book) can be figured out. I wonder if you have to be familiar with the Goth lifestyle to be able to decipher the clues. The author has a website and you can sign up to receive clues by email, but they are so strange and off the wall that I can't figure out what they mean. I assume that things end up the way they were written in an fake obituary that the other main character wrote, but how do they get there? What happened? What do things mean? I have an inkling that this story may be based on a true story because there are many things that point to the author being the main character. And I know that real life doesn't always have a happy ending and that sometimes questions aren't answered. But that's why I like fiction--it always gets wrapped up with a nice little bow and you are left feeling satisfied. But this book left me feeling completely undone. If the mystery had been explained, it would have been a FABULOUS book. The thing that disturbs me is that this book has won young adult reader awards, but it has sex, drugs, and drinking in it (by teenagers) so I don't see how it is appropriate must-read for teens. I give it one star just because the book was so engrossing. I subtract the other stars for leaving me engrossed and not giving me a resolution.


Grievous Sin by Faye Kellerman (*)

I think this would have been a good book if it had gone on for a while longer. It ended with too many loose ends and no real resolution. At the beginning of the book, there seem to be two plot lines and you know that they will converge at some point in the book. The one plot line seems relatively normal, but the other one is really disturbing. There's a naked woman looking at herself in the mirror. A naked man comes into the room and she drops to all fours and he is ordering her to yell, "Give it to me!" So she screams this louder and louder. I was listening to this on my MP3 player and I became alarmed. Not only was this book sounding disgusting, but the narrator was screaming this and I began to wonder if the people around me at work could hear and wonder what in the world I was listening to. Eventually, it becomes clear that it isn't a sex scene, but he is injecting her with steroids. Still, the author went to great pains to make it appear pretty dirty and that put me off immediately. The plotline seemed good, but when it ended, I felt cheated.


Intensity by Dean Koontz (****)

I am not really a Dean Koontz fan. Mostly I can't figure out what the hype about him is all about. I think my aversion to his books has been that the endings are a little lame. The climax has just happened and then the next scene is much later and everything is all tied up in a neat bow, but you didn't get to follow along with how the characters got there. I think your adrenaline is high from the climax and the ending is sort of a letdown. You aren't given the opportunity to ease out of the tension. It's like the equivalent of saying, "and then she woke up and discovered it was all a dream." That's a cop-out. But, I haven't read many of his books, so maybe others are better, but for what I have read (that were highly acclaimed), I've not been terribly impressed with his work. But this was an exception. I really liked this book. It was quite alarming. And this ending wasn't abrupt. There is an explanation of how the characters go on after the climax. There were 2 movies based on this book--neither of them are worth your time! One was called "Haute Tension" or "High Tension"--it was a French movie and it followed the book plot for quite a while, then it shifts and takes a whole different direction. It was a pretty disgusting film. The other one was a made-for-TV movie called "Intensity." The casting job was the worst part of it. They cast John C. McGinley in the bad guy role. That's the obnoxious doctor from Scrubs, the gay cop in Wild Hogs--he does not fill the role of a crazy killer! I mean he seems crazy, but not controlled like the character in the book was. Reading the book, I pictured the bad guy as a big, strong, muscular, even handsome and confident man. McGinley is more annoying. It's like hiring a mosquito to play a lion!


The Bad Place by Dean Koontz (***)

It's been a while since I read this book, and my memory is so bad that I can't remember much about it. Which tells me that it wasn't a favorite or it would have stuck out in my mind. I think I liked it, but it wasn't necessarily a favorite. Somewhat disturbing if I remember right.


The Anniversary by Amy Gutman (***)

This was a pretty good book. And very hard to guess the outcome. It's about a woman who is trying to start a new life after her ex-boyfriend is executed for being a serial killer. Years later she starts receiving mysterious notes and gifts.


Kill Me by Stephen White (*)

To be fair, this is the 14th book in a series and I haven't read the other 13, so it could be that I just jumped in the middle of a series and was confused, but I didn't like this book. It was extremely strange and a little hard to follow. It is an interesting concept to think of hiring someone to kill you if you become terminally ill so that you don't suffer. But what happens if you change your mind? That's exactly what happens in this book


Skeletons by Kate Wilhelm (***)

This was a pretty good book. It's a disturbing look into the KKK atrocities back in the 50s (I think that was the timeframe in the story). I couldn't believe however how the main characters try to cover up an accidental death. You just want to cringe.


Where Late the Sweet Birds Sang by Kate Wilhelm (0)

Since I liked the other book I read by Kate Wilhelm, I tried this one. I quit. It was about cloning and death and disease (worldwide collapse of everything) and even some incest. I decided it wasn't interesting me, so I stopped reading.


Carolina Moon by Nora Roberts (***)

I liked this book. It was a mystery that I couldn't figure out until the end. A woman returns to her hometown where her childhood friend was murdered. There's also a made-for-TV movie of this one, which was okay too.


This Side of Married by Rachel Pastan (0)

Didn't like this book at all. It's supposed to be a rewrite of Jane Austen's Pride & Prejudice, but it was nowhere near Pride & Prejudice. Jane Austen was the daughter of a preacher and in that time period, things were proper and a reputation was taken seriously. This book makes fun of people who DON'T have sex. Like there is something terribly wrong and disturbed with a person who waits until marriage. Even with that aside, I just really didn't like the book.


Sisters by Danielle Steel (***)

This was a good book. Such tragedy that I nearly found myself in tears. But the 4 sisters who are very different, but extremely close, pull together and support each other. I totally didn't like how things ended up with their dad, but other than that, it was a good book. One thing that ticked me off was how they poked fun of Christians. It was a minor part, but still rubbed me wrong.


Seasons of the Heart Series by Janette Oke (****)

Another of my favorite authors, this was a great series. It follows a young farm boy from age 12 through to his adult-hood in the early part of the 20th century, when cars and washing machines were new-fangled gadgets. It was nice to read a story from a boy's point of view, instead of the usual female point of view. The narrator on the audiobook, Marguerite Gavin, is very good. Some of these narrators drive me crazy because when they change their voices to match characters, it comes across sounding stupid, especially when the character is the opposite sex. But Ms. Gavin does an excellent job. She also narrates Beverly Lewis novels, which probably has a lot to do with why I like both so well.


Prairie Legacy Series by Janette Oke (*****)

Probably a favorite of mine. At first I was concerned because the main character, a 13-year-old girl named Virginia, is kind of annoying to me. And her friend Jenny--well, you just want to slap her. But, all 13-year-olds are hideous! And she soon turns to God and you begin to admire the character. The series follows her growing up and adulthood. You alternate between laughing and tearing up. Toward the end, I bawled. I mean, I went through multiple Kleenexes and had a headache when I was done weeping. I kept trying to tell myself that it was a book and they always turn out okay in the end (well, except for As Simple As Snow), but it was very emotional. I think it will touch moms. I highly recommend this series.


Pride & Prejudice by Jane Austen (*****)

I had never read Jane Austen novels until recently, but have decided that she is among my favorite authors. Pride & Prejudice was my favorite of her books. I was immediately drawn into the story and couldn't wait to find out what would happen next. Mr. Collins provides an abundance of humor for the story. I have since watched several movie versions and enjoy the story thoroughly.


Sense & Sensability by Jane Austen (***)

Probably my fourth or fifth favorite of Jane Austen novels. Still a good book, but not as great as the three that I like better.


Persuasion by Jane Austen (****)

My second favorite Jane Austen novel. I felt so sorry for Anne, the heroine. Her family was so wretched and I so hoped that she would reunite with Captain Wentworth, but he just seemed to ignore her.


Emma by Jane Austen (****)

Probably my third favorite of Jane Austen's novels. I was thrilled to find that it is what the movie Clueless was based on. I always liked the movie Clueless and now I feel justified. Okay, it is stupid and air-headed, but it was based on classic literature! It did sort of ruin the book for me because as soon as I figured out the correlation, I knew how it would end. But it was still very enjoyable


Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen (***)

Not sure where this one ranks. Maybe fourth or fifth or maybe even higher on my hierarchy of Jane Austen novels. I found Henry Tilney to be very funny, so I liked his character immediately. I really hated his father though. Probably the only thing I really didn't like, which is pretty common of Jane Austen's novels, is how you're almost at the end and nothing has been resolved. Then she quickly ties it all up in a whirlwind of almost postscript, rather than dialogue and moment-by-moment events.


Jane Austen's Charlotte by Jane Austen & Julia Barrett (**)

This was a partial novel that Jane Austen didn't finish before she died, so Julia Barrett took it upon herself to finish. I didn't like it much at all. Jane Austen had wanted to call it "The Brothers" I think, but her family always referred to it as "Sanditon" but Julia Barrett presumed to change it to Charlotte. I thought Sanditon was the most appropriate. I found it pretty dull.


Mansfield Park by Jane Austen (***)

I'm not sure if this one would have been better if I had listened to a traditional reading or not. This audiobook was a drama, so there were different voices for the characters. Sometimes that makes the story better, but other times, I think it hinders. And if it isn't done properly, it makes it into a joke. This was a nice story, though not among my favorites.


Little Women by Louisa May Alcott (**)

I did not like this story much at all. Correction, I liked it all along until near the end. I was so frustrated that I had invested that much time into such a long novel only to have it end up differently than I thought it would. And Amy's choice of a husband REALLY bugged me too. And that he could seemingly change his affections that quickly and cause a potentially awkward situation.... My best friend originally shared my opinion somewhat, but she says that in the books to follow (Little Men & Jo's Boys), it becomes clear that things worked out as they should. I am so disappointed, I don't really have the desire to read those books at this time. Right now I am still pouting!


Lord of the Flies by Sir William Golding (***)

I read this book in high school for an English class, but I liked it so I decided to read it again. It's not a long book and probably more for young readers, but it is a good read. In the audiobook, the author read it and he had a really bornig reading voice. It's a very disturbing look at how little boys would act if there were no authority present.


101 Dalmatians by Dodie Smith (****)

I know it's a children's story, but I have always loved it. I don't think the original book is all that childish. There are a lot of British terminologies that young children would not understand. There is more to the story than what Disney created in the animated movie. The audiobook version that I listened to was horrid, though. It was a shortened version and it was a dramatic presentation, complete with characters breaking into song. It was a bit alarming!


The Best Christmas Pageant Ever by Barbara Robinson (****)

I loved this story when I was a kid. In college, I was on a drama team and we performed this for a children's home and in a mall. I played the part of "mom." Such a poignant story. Short too.


The Best School Year Ever by Barbara Robinson (***)

Since I liked The Best Christmas Pageant Ever, I decided to listen to this one too. I think the first one still holds my heart because I have "history" with it, but this one was good too. And it has a good message.


The Best Halloween Ever by Barbara Robinson (***)

Another good one, though still can't displace Best Christmas Pageant Ever in my number one slot. The narrator in the audiobook versions of these three titles is Elaine Stritch. My friend said her voice was annoying, but I enjoyed her reading because I remember her from the Cosby Show (she was Rudy's teacher), so that makes it more enjoyable for me.


The Goose Girl by Shannon Hale (*****)

One of my favorites. A friend recommended this one to me and I fell in love with it. I had never heard of it before, but it is an Audie award winner. It is based on a Grimm fairy tale, but the author felt there was a lot missing from the story, so she filled in all the blanks. The result is a beautiful story. It is more appropriate for older kids--there is one part where they tell the story of the wives of the soldiers ripping their clothes to bare their chests and tell the soldiers that if they don't win the war, the enemy will come and ravage them. It is the visual reminder that they need and they go on to defeat the enemy.

The story is about Anidori-Kiladra Talianna Isilee, Crown Princess of Kildenree. She learned to speak to the birds as a child. Her mother, the queen sent her to marry a prince in the next kingdom. On the journey, her lady in waiting and her faithful men attempt to kill her and take her place. She escapes them, but by the time she makes it to the city, the imposter has already arrived. She gets a job caring for a geese in the palace, pretending to be a peasant girl. She also begins to learn the speech of the wind, which tells her about everything it has seen and touched.

The audiobook version I listened to enhanced the experience because it was a dramatic presentation with actors and sound effects. It greatly added to the story and was extremely well done. I loved this book and will listen to it again and again.


Socks by Beverly Cleary (***)

Okay, it's an old one from my childhood, but it was fun to listen to it again. It's the story of a cat and how he views life with his family. The audiobook was read by Doogie Houser (Neil Patrick Harris)!


Charlie & the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl (***)

I loved the Willie Wonka movie when I was a kid (not terribly crazy about the Johnny Depp version), so I thought it would be fun to read the book. It was.


Charlie & the Great Glass Elevator by Roald Dahl (**)

This is the sequel to Charlie & the Chocolate Factory and this story begins right after the other one ends. It is very strange. It was funny, but mostly because it was so stupid. It was full of little one-liners, puns, etc. It's good for a laugh, but not a major literary work.


Fudge Series by Judy Blume (****)

These were my favorite books as a kid. Listening to them again was enjoyable now that I am a parent and have a son about Fudge's age. It was hilarious when I was a kid and still humorous as an adult. I don't care for Otherwise Known as Sheila the Great as much as I like the other two books.


The Bunnicula Collection by Deborah & James Howe (****)

Another of my favorites as a child. I still have a few of these books on my kids' shelf. The audiobook version had commentary from the author and it was sad to hear how his wife had begun writing these books with him, but died of cancer after the first book. He said the idea for the book was likely from when he was trying to think what the silliest animal to be portrayed as a vampire might be. A bunny is what he came up with. I find Chester to be so hilarious. He tries so hard to be above everyone else and smart and refined, but he is just plain crazy and delusional!


Are You There God, It's Me Margaret by Judy Blume (**)

I thought I hadn't read this as a child, but once I got started, I remembered it ("We must, we must, we must increase our bust!"). It's a pretty good coming of age story--not for younger readers (mostly about female development and puberty), though the way that the grandparents (who are Christians) act bugs me to no end.


Junie B. Jones Series by Barbara Park (****)

I have not read all of these books that focus on Junie B's kindergarten and first grade years, but the ones I have read are hilarious. My daughters have been reading them in school (since they are in kindergarten and first grade) and I have bought them a few and even downloaded one on audiobook. Junie B is such a funny kid and we crack up every time we read one.


The Five Love Languages by Gary Chapman (****)

This was one of the textbooks in a college class I took, but before we could get to it, I ended up quitting school and never read it. I wish I had. I'd only been married 4 years then. This year we will celebrate our 13th anniversary and I wish I had had this knowledge back then. It helped me understand my husband and myself much better. I recommend this book to any married couple, but it can help anyone. Everyone speaks their own love language, so if you want to express love to anyone (friend, parent, child, significant other), you should read this book.

Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens (****)

I more or less read this in high school. i had trouble reading on command, even if it was a book I was interested in. I wanted to read this, but couldn't, so I ended up reading the condensed version, I think. Anyways, I have read it since then and love it. It's such a great story of love. I don't know that I have ever heard of such an example of love from such an unlikely source. I also find the French Revolution interesting, so that makes it enjoyable too, if enjoyable is not too insensitive of a word when used in conjunction with the Guillotine atrocities.