Catching Up, 52 Books in 52 Weeks

Book 13

Mr. Monk on the Couch

Lee Goldberg, 2011

Another quick but fun read, especially for "Monk" TV fans!  This story takes place shortly after the end of the TV series.  

Natalie Teeger has picked up a few detective skills during her years as Adrian Monk's loyal assistant -- and she's eager to put them to use. But that's not easy when you work with a deductive genius who can solve a murder in no time.

Natalie gets her  chance when a man with no identity is found dead of natural causes, and neither Monk nor the police see any reason to get involved.  It helps that Monk is distracted by a crime-scene cleaning crew's abilities while investigating a series of brutal murders tied to a secondhand couch.

Book 14

Started Early, Took My Dog

Kate Atkinson, 2011

It's a day like any other for Tracy Waterhouse, working security at the local shopping center to supplement her pension from the police force.  Then she makes a purchase she hadn't bargained on.  One moment of madness is all it takes for Tracy's humdrum world to be turned upside down, the tedium of everyday life replaced by fear and danger and the first sparks of love.

Witnesses to Tracy's Faustian exchange are Till, an elderly actress teetering on the brink of her own disaster, and Jackson Brodie, the reluctant detective whose own life has been stolen and who has now been hired to find someone else's.  Variously accompanied, pursued, or haunted by neglected dogs, unwanted children, and keepers of dark secrets, soon all three will learn that the past is never history -- and that no good deed goes unpunished.

Brimming with wit, wisdom, and a fierce moral intelligence, Started Early, Took My Dog confirms Kate Atkinson's status as one of the most original and entertaining writers of our time.

I had never heard of Kate Atkinson, but have been reading through a bag of books loaned and recommended by a friend, interspersed with some of my "old faithful" favorite authors.  It took me a while to really get interested in this book, but by the end I was ready to find some more.  One of the most intriguing aspects was how so many seemingly unrelated people ended up as key components of one of the main mysteries.  Since some parts of the story remained unresolved, to me at least, I wonder if there'll be a sequel or another with some of these same characters? Must keep an eye on this author!

Book 15

Now You See Her

A Novel by James Patterson

and Michael Ledwidge, 2011

To save her own life, Nina Bloom vanished.  Now, to rescue an innocent man, she confronts the killer she thought she escaped forever.

Not sure if I've read any James Pattersons before, but certainly will again! I want to check our The Women's Murder Club series!

A successful lawyer and loving mother, Nina Bloom would do anything to protect the life she's built in New York -- including lying to everyone, even her daughter, about her past.  But when an innocent man is framed for murder, she knows that she can't let him pay for the real killer's crimes.

Nina's secret life began nineteen years ago.  She had looks to die for, a handsome police-officer husband, and a carefree life in Key West.  When she learned she was pregnant with their first child, her happiness was almost overwhelming.  But Nina's world shattered when she unearthed a terrible secret that caused her to run for her life and change her identity.

Now, years later, Nina risks everything she's earned to return to Florida and confront the murderous evil she fled.  In a story of wrenching suspense, James Patterson gives us his most head-spinning, action-filled novel yet -- a Hitchcockian blend of unquenchable drama and pleasure.

More Books! 52 Books in 52 Weeks

Book 10

The Long Journey Home

A Memoir by Margaret Robison

Margaret Robison is a published poet who holds a MFA from the University of Massachusetts. She lives in Amherst, MA.

Beginning with Margaret Robison's childhood in southern Georgia, with its facade of 1950s propriety masking all sorts of demons - alcoholism, sexual repression, misogyny, and suicide - then taking us through her mental breakdown and, more recently, her recovery from a massive stroke, The Long Journey Home is Robison's attempt to make sense of a complicated, often tortured, complex American life. She writes movingly and honestly about her shortcomings as a parent, her difficult marriage, and her two now-famous children.  An accomplished poet and artist, Robison tells the painful but ultimately uplifting story of a woman trapped by social convention in a time when escaping cultural expectations was harder than most of us can remember.  Hers is a beautiful, heartfelt, enduring story.

I found it amazing that the author could remember so many details of her life, especially those of her time in various institutions.  Having grown up in "the South" during the 1950s, I could certainly recognize much of what life was like back then. Fortunately, my family did not suffer from any of the problems mentioned above - suicide, alcoholism, etc., but "propriety" was very important in that period.  Since I went to Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts, I also found all the scenes of her life in that area extremely interesting. 

Robison's two sons, Chris, who changed his name to Augusten Burroughs, and John Elder Robison are both bestselling authors, but I haven't read either of them.  Burroughs' book, Running with Scissors, apparently makes her out as a horrible mother. John Elder's book, Look Me in the Eye, also deals with family issues. Since I haven't read either, I don't know for sure, but assume Robison wrote her memoir at least partly to tell her side, her view of their early lives. 

Books 11 and 12

The Hunger Games Trilogy:

2:Catching Fire and 3:Mockingjay

by Suzanne Collins

Read the books? Seen the movie? These are hot, hot, hot at the present time! One of my brothers gave me The Hunger Games to read last fall, saying it was a YA (Young Adult) novel but one I really needed  to read. And then he said I'd want to get the next two, read them and give them to him! Once started, I couldn't put it down! It was a while before I got the next two , so now would like to reread the first one - or maybe reread all three! I'm not sure if I want to see the movie or not.  Sometimes the movies are disappointing, although I've heard that this is not the case with The Hunger Games.  

Whether or not you see the movie/s, definitely consider reading this trilogy! Aside from the exciting storyline, there's SO MUCH to think about - our culture, historical perspective, oh, so much!!!

Book One: The Hunger Games - In the ruins of a place once known as North America lies the nation of Panem, a shining Capitol surrounded by twelve outlying districts.  The Capitol is harsh and cruel and keeps the districts in line by forcing them to send one boy and one girl between the ages of twelve and eighteen to participate in the annual Hunger Games, a fight to the death on live tv.  Sixteen-year-old Katniss Everdeen regards it as a death sentence when she steps forward to take her sister's place in the Games.  But Katniss has been close to death before -- and survival, for her, is second nature.  Without really meaning to, she becomes a contender.  But if she is to win, she will have to start making choices that weigh survival against humanity and life against love.

Book Two: Catching Fire - Against all odds, Katniss has survived the Hunger Games.  She and her fellow District 12 tribute Peeta Mellark are miraculously still alive.  Katniss should be relieved, happy even.  Yet nothing is the way Katniss wishes it to be.  Gale holds her at an icy distance.  Peeta has turned his back on her completely.  And there are whispers of a rebellion against the Capitol - a rebellion that Katniss and Peeta may have helped create.  Much to her shock, Katniss has fueled an unrest that she's afraid she cannot stop.  And what scares her even more is that she's not entirely convinced she should try. As time draws near for Katniss and Peeta to visit the districts on the Capitol's cruel Victory Tour, the stakes are higher than ever.  If they can't prove, without a shadow of a doubt, that they are lost in their love for each other, the consequences will be horrifying. Katniss is about to be tested as never before.

Book Three: Mockingjay - Katniss Everdeen, girl on fire, has survived, even though her home has been destroyed.  Gale has escaped.  Katniss's family is safe.  Peeta has been captured by the Capitol. District 13 really does exist.  There are rebels.  There are new leaders.  A revolution is unfolding.  It is by design that Katniss was rescued from the arena of the cruel and haunting Quarter Quell, and it is by design that she has long been part of the revolution without knowing it.  District 13 has come out of the shadows and is plotting to overthrow the Capitol.  Everyone, it seems, has had a hand in the carefully laid plans - except Katniss.  The success of the rebellion hinges on Katniss's willingness to be a pawn, to accept responsibility for countless lives, and to change the course of the future of Panem.  To do this, she must put aside her feelings of anger and distrust.  She must become the rebels' Mockingjay -- no matter what the personal cost.

Books #7 - #9,52 Books in 52 Weeks

More Anne Perrys and Anne Rivers Siddons

I've been keeping up with the reading, but not the blogging, so decided to go ahead and list the last three all at once.  Maybe I can get back on track by next Sunday!

Book #7: Long Spoon Lane, by Anne Perry

"In New York Times bestselling author Anne Perry's newest (2005) novel, featuring Victorian-era sleuth Thomas Pitt, London is a city besieged by anarchists.  After a violent gun battle between rioters and police, a chase culminates in narrow, cobbled Long Spoon Lane, where Magnus Landsborough, the young son of Lord Sheridan Landsborough, is shot to death.  Two anarchists are arrested, and they provide conflicting evidence about Landsborough's death: whether he was the victim of an accident or murder, and whether he was a hostage of the anarchist or an anarchists himself."

Book #8: A Christmas Homecoming, by Anne Perry (2011)

Charlotte Pitt's mother, Caroline, travels with her young husband, Joshua Fielding, and his theatrical troupe to Yorkshire to produce a stage adaptation of Dracula by the daughter of millionaire Charles Netheridge during the Christmas holiday.  Only because of Netheridge's financial backing for their spring tour does the troupe keep at the production, after the first disastrous read-through of the script.  A brooding evil makes itself felt at the lonely hilltop mansion.  Instead of the theatrical triumph that Netheridge desired for his daughter, there is murder - shocking and terrifying."

Several popular authors produce special Christmas stories each year, so Anne Perry is right in step with that trend.  The interesting thing about this book is that it features Charlotte (William Pitt's wife)'s mother.  She does refer to Charlotte and even mentions how she's picked up some "detective skills" from William - and her daughter Charlotte.

Book #9: Burnt Mountain, by Anne Rivers Siddons (2011)

"New York Times bestseller Anne River Siddons returns with a dramatic tale of love and betrayal within a wealthy Southern family.

Growing up, the only place tomboy Thayer Wentworth felt at home was at her summer camp - Camp Sherwood Forest in the North Carolina mountains. It was there that she came alive and where she met Nick Abrams, her first love....and first heartbreak."

While her mother doted on Thayer's older sister, Lily, Thayer depended on her father.  Sadly, he and his father were both killed in a car accident while she was still quite young. Luckily for Thayer, the wealthy widowed grandmother moved in with them after a time and what she could to help Thayer grow into a strong young woman.

I'll have to get another of this author's books!  It was such fun to read a "Southern" novel that got it right. I didn't grow up in the Atlanta area, but there were definite similarities. Definitely an author to get to know!