The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd (read 7/27/15)

NNCC selection for August, now that I know one of the main characters names is August it seems especially appropriate.  I finished this book in a single cross country flight, I could not put it down. Set in South Carolina in 1964, this is the story of Lily Owens.  Her life has been full of tragedy and starved for love.  When Lily was 4 she accidentally shot and killed her mother under questionable circumstances.  Her father is an abusive and cruel man who withhold his love and generally makes her life miserable, one day he is especially cruel and shatters Lilly's dream of her mother, causing her to flee.  She does not escape on her own, Lilly breaks her black "stand-in mother," Rosaleen out of jail and they leave town together.  The only thing clue Lilly has to her mother is a picture of a black Madonna with the town Tiburon, SC written on the back.  When they reach Tiburon date guides her to August Boatwright and her two sisters May and June.   It is here that "Lily is introduced to their mesmerizing world of bees and honey, and the Black Madonna."

The writing drew me in, and it reminded me of how quickly I read The Help.   Strange as this may sound, but despite the great descriptions I could not picture the peach farm or the pink house, but the women, they are clearly defined on my minds eye.  Full vibrant characters that made me love them, and I was sad to come to the end and have to say goodbye.

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon (read7/22/15 to 7/27/15)

Christopher John Francis Boone is strange.  At the age of 15, he knows all the countries of the world and their capitals and every prime number up to 7,057. He relates well to animals but has no understanding of human emotions. He cannot stand to be touched. And he detests the color yellow.  Although gifted with a superbly logical brain, everyday interactions have little meaning. He lives on patterns and rules.  Then one day, a neighbor's dog, Wellington, is killed and his world is upturned.  Christopher decides to be his favorite detective, Shelick Holmes, and he sets out to solve the murder, and solves more than the murder.

Christopher has either Aspergers or autism.   Interesting to read from his point of view, especially after reading Still Alice.   The writing was a little dry, but I suspect it was meant to be since Christopher is a bit dry.  I thought it was okay, not a favorite but it was interesting to read the story from his point of view.

Cruel Beauty by Rosamund Hodge (read 7/18/15 to 7/20/15)

Based on the classic fairy tale Beauty and the Beast.  Our heroine Nyx has been betrothed to the evil ruler of her kingdom since birth.  Her entire life has been training to kill him once they are wed. Nyx resents her family for never trying to save her and hates herself for wanting to escape her fate. But Nyx puts duty first and as a good little sacrificial lamb she married the immortal Ignifex on her seventeenth birthday. Although not blindly, she has a plan. Seduce him, destroy his enchanted castle, and break the curse he put on her people.  But neither Ignifex or the curse is what Nyx expected.  She finds that the story she knew was not the whole story, and despite herself she begins to love her husband.

I had a hard time putting this one down once I started reading it.  The writing is simple and beautiful. There is a lot of Greek/Roman lore woven into the story that made me do a little happy dance.  The story felt very familiar, but then again Beauty and the Beast is one of my favorite fairytales, so the story wasn't that new.  But the details were rich and gave it a fresh breathe.  I really loved that Nyx was conflicted and not always a nice person, but then again being raised the way she was how could she not have some self image issues?

Still Alice by Lisa Genova (read 7/7/15 to 7/12/15)

NNCC selection for July.  This is the story of a woman who gets early onset Alzheimer's and how it steals her life from her.  I admit this sounded depressing and all the reviews saying it was a great book weren't really convincing me.  I was pleasantly surprised by it, the read was easy and the characters were likable.

There were parts that made me tear up, especially when it comes to her interactions with her husband.   The ending left me with so many unanswered questions, but I understand why.  The book was from Alice's perspective and she would be unable to answer those questions at that stage in her disease, so the go unanswered in the book.  I liked it, it was well written and drew me in.

The Zookeeper's Wife by Diane Ackerman (read 6/8/15 to 7/2/15)

   

Another BOTM book.  This is the story of a polish couple that hide Jews from the Nazis during WWII in their zoo.  I'm secretly a little obsessed with WWII stories, ever since I read Diary of Anne Frank in elementary school.  Even the ones where they don't survive, I think it is because I just can't understand how such an atrocity as the Holocaust could happen, and I'm uplifted by the resilience of the survivors.  I didn't pick this book but I suspected I would like it because of the subject. 

It's a really quick read, I know it's nonfiction and based on journals and interviews, but it doesn't read like nonfiction normally does.  It's so not dry or monotonous, it has a great fluidity to the story. Ackerman does an amazing job of weaving the facts in with the personal antidotes, to create a story not just a history.  I know that it was war, and that loss of human life was devastating too.  But hearing about the zoo animals being shot and bombed was a bit traumatic for me.  Their deaths felt incredibly senseless and tragic, and knowing it was true and not fictional deaths made it even harder for me to read.

Again with the animal deaths, so senseless and cruel.  How is that a hunt if they are locked in cages?  Grrr 

For some reason I'm having problems with the timeline, it feels like it will jump from early war to late war to mid war back to late war etc.  Maybe it is just me, but I wish it was more linear.  I think the issue is that she goes off on side tangents for events or people and puts the whole blurb about them in one place so she doesn't have to come back to them or so we get their whole story, but it confuses me on the timeline for the main storyline.

I was a little disappointed, I think I expected a bit more of a story and instead I felt that we got a sporadic telling of a bunch of people pieced together in a non-linear timeline.  I liked the books, the individual stories were good, but as a whole it left me wanting.

Odd Apocalypse (Odd Thomas #6) by Dean Koontz (read 6/19/15 to 7/12/15)

We continue Odd's story,he and Annemarie are staying at Riseland estate. A woman on a horse asks him her son, since she is a ghost she can't actually tell him anything of course, but Odd being Odd says he will.  So then the hunt for the boy begins, and even for Odd things get really strange.  

I had a little trouble getting into this book, the first chapter just didn't peak my interest.  And I think that lack of excitement carried through my whole read.     I found myself putting off reading, there was laundry or dishes to be done, my book club books were more important, etc. Maybe by taking such a long break between books on the series I lost my momentum, that indicates to me that the series isn't that great after all.  There were a few ghosts, but this was more of a supernatural adventure.  Koontz's writing was as good as ever, but the storyline just couldn't seem to hold me.

Odd Interlude (Odd Odd Interlude (Odd Thomas #5) by Dean Koontz (read 6/12/15 to 6/17/15)

I picked this up as a side book because my BOTM read is so quick, I do the weeks reading in one day, and I had finished NNCC this month already.  I had recently bought the latest book in the series for my husband, and I want to get caught up so I could read it.

I guess this book was originally presented as a 3-part series of eBook mini installments.  It picks up the same night as the end of Odd Hours, Odd and Annamarie are driving to Santa Barbara after fleeing Magic Beach when they stop at a small gas station/diner/motel just off the highway called Harmony Corner.  And as with anywhere Odd goes, there is more to the place than meets the eye.

This book seems rushed, Odd is in the middle of a problem before the end of the first chapter, and unlike other books the story proceeds really really fast, no set up, no mystery really, just BAM Odd has to save someone and himself. Another odd thing about this book is the only ghost is that of Boo the dog. There is a murdered boy in the story, it seemed to me that he would be a ghost that Odd encountered.  In fact it would have made more sense for Odd to have discovered there was a problem from the boy's ghost than from snooping around Harmony Corner.  The storyline feels off to me.  It was still an easy read, but it didn't feel like the other books.  Maybe it is because it was an e-book serial and not a stand alone book.  The story moves at a very rapid pace, and there is a lot packed into its 250 or so pages.  I liked it, but it felt out of character to me.