This past month I read two stellar books.  I also decided it was time for me to start getting books from the library versus buying them.  So with that I made my first trip to our little library.  Our library is this little white house up on a hill.  It’s quaint yet musty and crammed with books.  Yesterday when I went to return my book, there was a note on the door that hours have temporarily changed and it is now open from 5 to 8 in the evening.  Good thing we can go to all the libraries in the county because those temporary hours just aren’t going to work for me.

First I read “The Big Over Easy” by Jasper Fforde.  HI-LAR-I-OUS!  This is an adult spin on the familiar nursery rhyme “Humpty Dumpty.”  Humpty turns out to be an egg in his 60’s, who is quite the ladies’ man egg, with a love for money laundering.  While upon his wall one night, a slightly inebriated Humpty meets his demise.  Did he fall to his death in a drunken stupor or was there foul play involved?  Detective Jack Spratt of the Nursery Crime Division, along with his Detective Sergeant Mary Mary, try to piece it all back together.

I loved this book!  I found Jasper Fforde style to be extremely witty as well as suspenseful.  If you read it, keep your eyes open for other references to other nursery rhymes.  They too have a comical spin on them as well.

I then moved on to my library pick, “The House of Sand and Fog” by Andre Dubus III.  I was engrossed in this book by the end of the first chapter.  This book is about 3 lives that become bound together by a single house.  Kathy Nicolo is wrongfully evicted from her house left to her by her late father.  The house is auctioned off to Colonel Behrani who is a stuggling immigrant from Iran.  He is trying to do right by his family and he hopes to sell the house for quite a profit. Lester Burdon is a married deputy who evicts Kathy from her house.  He begins to fall in love with Kathy and will do anything to help her get her house back.

Although this book is one tragedy after another, I couldn’t put it down.  I wasn’t sure just how it could possibly end because the situations were getting worse with every page turn.  There were times when I felt a little angry with the characters for the way they reacted to certain situations.  But it made for a good story.

Apparently there is a movie out with the same title starring Jennifer Connelly and Ben Kingsley.  I’ll have to try to find it so I can see how different the book and the movie are.  As with any book/movie combo, I’m sure the book will be better!

Up next is “The Cotton Queen” by Pamela Morsi.  I’ll let you know my thoughts on that next time!

So it’s been a productive month for me in regards to reading.  I have finished two books and am now onto my third.  Plus I met Jodi Picoult as well! I wanted to wait until this post to tell all about it but I was too excited.  So for those of you who haven’t read about my evening with Jodi Picoult, click here. I was simply in awe of her!

The day that I was going to Jodi’s lecture, I finished “Change of Heart.”  This book is about a man named Shay Bourne who is on death row for murdering a little girl and her stepfather.  He was doing work in the house for the family at the time that the murders were committed.  Claire Nealon, the wife and mother of the deceased, was left behind 9 months pregnant without her first born or her husband.

11 years later, Shay is about to be executed and decides that the best way for salvation is to give his heart to Claire’s now 11 year old daughter who is dying from a diseased heart.  Which poses the question: Could you forgive someone who did something so horrible to you if it meant that someone you love could live?  “Change of Heart” really made me think about such things as the death penalty, and spirituality versus religion.  Jodi Picoult definitely writes books which contain issues that are debatable and thought provoking.

Once I finished that, I moved onto “The Alchemist” by Paulo Coelho. This is a fairly short story about a shepherd in Spain that embarks on his “personal legend” to the Pyramids of Egypt where he is told he will find his treasure.  It’s a story about following your heart and your dreams without letting the everyday tasks of life get in the way.  The back of the book proclaims:

Every few decades a book comes along that changes the lives of its readers forever.

I must have missed that part!  Don’t get me wrong, it is a good read and it has the potential to make the reader realize things about life.  However, I am not one that tends to dissect a novel and find tons of meaning in it.  I simply read the book, enjoy it, finish it and move on.  I may ponder upon things like I said up above with Jodi Picoult’s books.  But I’m not going to pick apart the book to find hidden meanings or how the author may have said one thing but could be implying another.  I’m sure my high school English teachers would not be proud of me right now!

Moving on, I am now reading “The Big Over Easy” by Jasper FForde.  This is a new author to me and I am so far enjoying this book.  It’s about Inspector Jack Spratt, head of the Reading Nursery Crime division.  He is investigating the death of Humpty Dumpty who as we all know fell off the wall, except this time to his death.  Foul play is definitely suspected.  So far I’m really enjoying this comical twist on the old nursery rhyme.  Stay tuned next month when I’ll be able to tell you more about it!

This past Thursday night, my SIL and I had the pleasure of attending a lecture given by Jodi Picoult.  Before the big show, my SIL and I ate at this new Italian restaurant.  I had the Caesar salad, cheese ravioli, and of course a glass of Merlot (no shocker there!)  Fun fact: whenever I go to an Italian restaurant, I get the cheese ravioli. Branching out and trying new things is so overrated!  With full bellies and books that were waiting for Jodi’s signature, we headed over to the lecture.

Jodi Picoult, AKA my new best friend, was incredible!  When I read her books, she has my attention by the end of the first chapter.  To hear her speak is to experience that same feeling.  Once she opened her mouth and started talking, she had me riveted.  Jodi speaks so well: full of knowledge, extremely articulate, surprisingly witty. and very open about herself and her beliefs.  She could easily sway me in my own beliefs because she presents her points so poignantly.

What surprised me the most about her was how much research she puts into her novels.  I always tend to think that an author sits down at the computer every day and just starts typing.  That is apparently not the case.  She has lived with an Amish family for a few days, traveled with ghost hunters on their ghost hunting escapades, visited Columbine and the community in which that horrible event occurred as well as a high school in Minnesota where a similar tragedy happened.  Jodi has also visited a prison along with their execution chamber and talked with the warden about her personal thoughts on the death penalty; met with historians, priests, and rabbis; visited Alaska and learned to speak and write the language of a group of people there, and the list goes on and on.  All this while raising her family!

She told us that her novel, “My Sister’s Keeper”, is currently in production in the movie world.  Cameron Diaz has been cast in a role.  Although they did initially allow Jodi onto the set, she has since been banned once she learned the director has plans to change the ending!  She tried her hardest to get him to change his mind, which he still could, but in the meantime she was asked to leave the set.  She commented on the fact that when you sign the rights of your books over to a director, you are pretty much giving up your rights as the author.  Jodi said it’s like adoption and you just hope your baby turns out well and not into a “crack whore.”  Her words, not mine!

Prior to the lecture, I was reading “Change of Heart”.  I was determined to finish it by that evening because I was so afraid that someone would either ask her a question about the ending or that Jodi would say something about the ending.  I was successful in finishing it and it was excellent!  Ironically, when the Q & A session started, Jodi requested that no one ask about the ending of a book or somehow give it away because she “would have to kill you.”  So it turns out that I didn’t have to do the marathon reading that I did but I was engrossed in the book anyway.

The time in the lecture flew by; however the time my SIL and I waited in the line for the book signing did not.  We waited in the weirdest line I have ever waited in because it snaked through the foyer of the place.  There were so many twists and turns in this line that it took us an hour to finally reach our destination.  But it was so worth the wait.  We were not able to take pictures with Jodi Picoult but we could take them of her.

When it was finally our turn to get our books signed, I was speechless.  She looked at me with this big smile, signed my copy of “Nineteen Minutes” and said “Thank you.”  To which I meekly replied, “Thank you.”  If I had the ability to create sentences at that point and actually verbalize them, I would have told her to check out my blog.  And I’m sure she would have went right home and subscribed to it.  I can dream, can’t I?

I can’t believe it’s time again for “What’s on your Nightstand?” held by 5 Minutes for Books.  This month has flown by!

On last month’s post I had just started reading Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides.  My thoughts on the book were up in the air and I wasn’t sure I could read it in it’s entirety.  Well, I’m proud to say I persevered to the end but it took me a month to do so.  I just finished it last week.  The story is about a family from Greece that migrated to the United States in 1922.  There is a family secret that manifests itself a couple of generations later in the birth of Calliope.  Once Calliope hits puberty she starts to realize that she is not like other girls and eventually the discovery is made that Calliope is a hermaphrodite.  Calliope becomes Cal and the reader follows her life after that decision is made.

The story of the grandparents held my attention.  The story of Calliope’s birth and childhood is fairly boring and there were many times I just about stopped reading the story.  After we learn she is a hermaphrodite and is taken to a specialist the book becomes somewhat interesting again.  Enough to get me to the end of it anyway.  And there were some plot surprises near the end that I didn’t see coming which made it worth hanging in until the end.  I’m proud of myself for finishing the book but I couldn’t wait to dive into another.

I dove into Change of Heart by Jodi Picoult.  I picked this book for two reasons.  1) I really enjoy her writing and 2) I am meeting her on September 11th at the Scottish RIte Cathedral in Reading and I can’t wait!!  It’s basically a Meet the Author session.  I haven’t read one of her books in a while so I wanted to familiarize myself again with her writing style before I go.  Her books usually pull me in from the beginning and this one proves to be the same.  I like how each chapter continues the story from another character’s perspective which helps to create a connection between the reader and each character.

However, her writing has also made me realize that I can not read the same author back to back.  I did that with two of her books and I became frustrated because there were many similarities between the stories.  While I enjoy her books, I need to throw some other authors in the mix to break the monotony.

I’m not that far into Change of Heart yet so I have provided the synopsis from inside the cover.

Can we save ourselves, or do we rely on others to do it? Is what we believe always the truth? One moment June Nealon was happily looking forward to years full of laughter and adventure with her family, and the next, she was staring into a future that was as empty as her heart. Now her life is a waiting game. Waiting for time to heal her wounds, waiting for justice. In short, waiting for a miracle to happen. For Shay Bourne, life holds no more surprises. The world has given him nothing, and he has nothing to offer the world. In a heartbeat, though, something happens that changes everything for him. Now, he has one last chance for salvation, and it lies with June’s eleven-year-old daughter, Claire. But between Shay and Claire stretches an ocean of bitter regrets, past crimes, and the rage of a mother who has lost her child. Would you give up your vengeance against someone you hate if it meant saving someone you love? Would you want your dreams to come true if it meant granting your enemy’s dying wish? Once again, Jodi Picoult mesmerizes and enthralls readers with this story of redemption, justice, and love.

Sounds pretty good, doesn’t it?  So hopefully for next’s month “What’s on your Nightstand” post I’ll be able to tell you about my evening with Jodi Picoult!!

5 Minutes for Books is hosting a “What’s on your Nightstand?” carnival.  The fourth Tuesday of the month is your chance to discuss whatever book you may be reading at the time or one you may have finished within the month.  I usually finish one and move right on to the next.   Depending on what’s going on in my everyday life, sometimes I can get through a book fairly quickly and other times it may take me at least a month, if not more, to get through another one.

Right now I am about 100 pages into Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides.  Let me explain my logic on picking this book.  I perused the back cover and saw 1. It’s about a Greek family and my husband is Greek (well, 50% anyway).  And 2. The main character’s name is Calliope.  We are of the Greek Orthodox faith and every member needs a “Greek” name.  Well, Kiki’s is Calliope.  There you have it.  There was my logic on picking this book.

Now let me explain to you why my logic stinks!  In my perusing of the back cover I somehow miss the important info (the whole point of the book) about how Calliope was born a hermaphrodite and in later years becomes Cal.  The book is told from Calliope/Cal’s perspective and she/he starts out by going back to the year 1922 to explain her family tree and how her genetic mutation came to be.  That is actually interesting and I am starting to feel for the characters.  I just wish I could get my mind past the incest that has pretty much started the whole thing.  I have this horrible flaw of getting caught up on one thing and missing out on everything else around that one thing.  That pertains not only to this book, but also to different aspects of my life.  So I’m trying to get over that by trudging through the rest of the book.

My co-worker who read the book, insists that I will like it the more I read on.  She says you really start to feel for Calliope/Cal as he becomes a man.  And maybe she is right.  I mean I am starting to feel for the grandparents and the situation they were in.  So maybe as I get more into the book and I get to the part of the transformation and how he moves into adulthood, I will have forgotten the whole incest thing.  Or maybe that fact will just make me feel more for the main character.

Stay tuned.  Maybe by next month’s carnival I’ll be done with the  book and I’ll be able to tell you I got over my hangup and loved it.  Or maybe I’ll say, “You know what, I couldn’t do it.  This just wasn’t the book for me.”  But if you have read this book, I would love your feedback.