6-28-09 Beneath My Mother’s Feet by Amjed Qamar – Fiction

4 – This is a fascinating look at the life of a common family in Pakistan.  Nazia is a 14 year old girl whose father is injured and whose mother must find work to support the family.  Her mother takes Nazia out of school to help her clean houses until the day Nazia is married.  She has already been promised to her cousin and is due to be married before the end of the year.  She tries to be a good daughter and help her mother take care of the family but she begins to have her own ideas about what she wants her life to be.  Nazia struggles with familial duty and her own heart.  A touching story about a girl who grows up quickly in a culture with very set expectations of how their women should behave.

6-27-09 Eon: Dragoneye Reborn by Alison Goodman – Fiction

5 – Wow.  A very worthy entry in young adult fantasy.  Goodman creates a world based on the ancient cultures of China and Japan and brings true dragons into the mix.  A fantastic story full of deception, ambition, and action, Eon is the first book of a set.  Happily so, because this is a great story of political maneuvering that also involves the supernatural.  Eon is a candidate to become a Dragoneye apprentice yet he struggles because he is a cripple and hides a great secret.  When he is chosen, his secret becomes even more important to keep hidden as his life and the lives of many others are now at stake.

6-24-09 the Army of the Republic by Stuart Archer Cohen – Fiction

5 – A very scary and very detailed novel about civil unrest in the United States.  A little confusing at first, Cohen uses the first person for three different characters changing with the chapters.  Like I said, a little confusing, but it gives the reader an even better overall picture of the situation as it plays out across the country.  the reader sees the story from the viewpoints of a militant group leader, a civil rights group organizer, and a company CEO.  If the “Battle of Seattle” interests you or you like a story with a lot of political maneuvering I suggest you try this book.

6-19-09 Darkly Dreaming Dexter by Jeff Lindsay – Fiction

5 – I loved the TV series so I decided to check out the books.  This was like reading the entire first season of the show.  It was awesome!  The show is very true to the book with only some minor changes until the end of the book.  The book contains and expands on Dexter’s dry and ironic sense of humor and keeps his sister, Deb, the feisty underdog you love on the show.  This first book is about the search for the Ice Truck Killer and sucks the reader along for the ride.  Lindsay makes you root for one of the best antiheroes in literature: a serial killer who kills only bad guys.  Really.  Lindsay makes him so likeable because he’s not the shadowy creepy in the closet; he’s out in the daylight, living a life, and working for the Miami PD of all people as a blood spatter analyst.  Did I mention the sense of irony in the story yet?  Dexter is helping his sister with the search for a serial killer who he can’t help but admire.  A fantastic read and I’m definitely checking out the rest of the series.

6-15-09 Stardust by Neil Gaiman – Fiction

4 – Yet another case of saw the movie first and wanted to read the book.  (Just a note: I’m kinda on that kick right now if you hadn’t noticed.)  This is a sweet read.  Sweet, not like “SWEEEEEET!” but like “Awwwww.”  Stardust the book is a simple fairy tale that really does have a great heart to it.  If you’ve seen the movie, you’ll notice it did follow the book very well and the embellishments were completely understandable.  The book is a simpler, truer version.  I would recommend it for most ages; there is one F-bomb, a little violence, and one sex scene (not too graphic) but this is a classic fairy tale written by a modern author.

6-14-09 The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett – Fiction

5 – See Dad, I finally read it!  Now I understand why everyone says this is Follett’s best work.  It is, hands down.  The amount of history is amazing, the details of cathedral construction of the time are incredible, and the characters have so much depth it is easy for the reader to become invested in their fates.  The story takes place over a span of years from 1123 – 1174 during the civil wars of England after the death of King Henry I.  The reader sees the main character, Philip, begin as the prior of a small monastery and follows him through his career through his eyes and the eyes of other very well written characters who each have their own stories.  This is simply a masterpiece of fiction.

6-6-09 The Well of Lost Plots by Jasper Fforde – Fiction

5 – What makes Fforde great is his satire of the book world.  In The Well of Lost Plots, the third Thursday Next novel, he covers just about every trite, overused, and misused writing device.  The section covering had had and that that is enough to give the reader a headache and make them laugh out loud at the absurdity of it all.  I would actually recommend this book for any aspiring author just for its use as a demonstration of the ins and outs of the writing process.  He also links this series with his Nursery Crime detective series with great success.  Anyway, Thursday Next has decided to take some time away from the real world until her baby is born and participates in the Character Exchange program.  She chooses Caversham Heights where she meets Inspector Jack Spratt.  while there, she continues to apprentice to Miss Havisham in Jurisfiction where they are awaiting the rollout of UltraWord (TM) which will change the book world forever.  A very fun read.

6-1-09 Morning Glory by LaVyrle Spencer – Fiction

4 – I couldn’t figure out why I was slowing down so much in my reading and then I realized I needed a palate cleanser.  Enter LaVyrle Spencer.  This was a pretty good story set in the South during WWII, beginning just before Pearl Harbor.  It’s a standard Spencer light romance with two mismatched characters who continually have misunderstandings and situations that keep them from professing and celebrating their love for each other.  As I’ve said, I like Spencer, especially her historical novels, as a palate cleanser when I get a little too bogged down and apathetic with my reading.  They are always sweet and have a happy ending.  I recommend everyone find their own palate cleansing author.