The Night is a Lonely Hunter

by Carson McCulllers

This was an amazing book. I know, I know, most people read this in high school but somehow I skipped that teacher.

Over the years I've tried to go back and read those classics I missed: Hemingway, Steinbeck, Twain and others.

I'm nearly speechless to think that this book was written by a girl barely out of college...22, how is that possible? The characters are deft, complex and subtle. That's so rare.

The book reminds me of "To Kill a Mockingbird" in some ways, although it was written decades earlier (Hunter, not Mockingbird). Dark, haunted characters living in a small Southern town, a story told through the eyes of a child. Mockingbird was Scout, Hunter was Mick, both tomboy girls.

It's a remarkable spare book, lean in its flowery descriptions, heavy on character and plot.

I loved it. LOVED. IT.

The Pillar of the Earth

by Ken Follett

Someone loaned me this book, don't remember who, and it has sat on my shelf for months. Its 1,000-page size was more than a little intimidating for a busy mom and worker bee and I wasn't bursting to read it.

It's an 'epic' novel with war, famine, royalty and peasants, power and greed and lust. The plot summary reminded me of something Taylor Caldwell would write and I loved her books when I was young.

The book follows the birth, building, and completion of a great English Cathedral and the forces and people who made it happen. I'm a sucker for ancient (or even old) English history so this was right up my alley.

I've enjoyed many Follett novels; he reminds me of Stephen King. He's an excellent writer and storyteller and his books are sure to entertain. Follett's a little more florid than King, with more Hollywoodish sex scenes and one-dimensional villains.

There's a sequel to this book and I'll read to someday but it's not one of those things that I can't wait for. It was good, it was enjoyable, but it was forgettable.

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society

by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows

I've been wanting to read this for some time, not because it sounded so fascinating, quite honestly, but because my Gram was born and raised on Guernsey and it is such a tiny little place that any literature about it seems amazing.

This book wasn't nearly as good as "Book of Ebenezer Le Page," the only other novel about Guernsey I've read, but it was enjoyable and interesting.

The characters were charming and funny and well-defined, the journal-and-letter method of storytelling was highly engaging, but the plot was fairly predictable.

In the book an English author stumbles across a story idea regarding how Guernsey was occupied by the Germans during World War II. She goes to the island, befriends her sources and falls in love, both with Guernsey and with an islander.

Friday Night Knitting Club

by Kate Jacobs
I avoided reading this book for years because it sounded formulaic and melodramatic.
And I was right.
Still, it was a good read, soap-operaish enough to be a good airplane, beach or car trip book.
It follows the story of a New York knitting club, the members' lives and manages to equate all life's lessons in cute little knitting homilies.
Someone is born, someone dies, someone is married and someone is divorced. Someone else finds love, someone grows up, and someone grows old.
The end.

Justice

by Dominick Dunne

I've read a few of his novels, great gossipy human dramas, perfect for the beach or lawn chair. And I thought I'd read a few of his Vanity Fair pieces, but perhaps it was only parts of them. 

This book is a collection of various crime stories published in Vanity Fair over the years, from all the high-profile trials he's covered. O.J. is there, and Von Bulow, and the Menendez brothers. 

The book has murder, conspiracy, greed and lies - and sex. Should have ben a great read but it was only so-so.  

Cell

by Stephen King

Yeah, I know.

I picked up this book from my son's room, aiming to put in a pile for goodwill. Then I decided to keep it for good travel/beach/camping reading. Then I read a random page.

Then it was all over but the shouting.

You can say a lot about King, but he's a hell of a storyteller.

The Third Child

by Marge Piercy
I've been a fan of Marge Piercy ever since I read "Gone to Soldiers" in the 80s. An amazing book. Not all of her stuff is equally as good (whose is?), but I have enjoyed many, including the classic "Woman on the Edge of Time."

She certainly won't be classified -- science fiction, women's lib lit, thriller, crime drama, social commentary -- Piercy never stops surprising.

"The Third Child" in some ways doesn't even seem like her. It dissects the modern political arena, romance and family dynamics in a way that keeps you guessing. The main character, Melissa, is the oft-overlooked child of a governor and his scheming wife. The family alone would provide plenty of drama but Piercy introduces a romance, one that complicates Melissa's family life and her personal identity in ways that are intriguing.

I enjoyed the book but can't say I came to care about any of the characters enough to find it really compelling. The plot had enough turns to keep me reading but the ending was disappointing, if inevitable.

My Sister's Keeper

by Jodi Picoult

This author sucks me in every time. Her novels are so simple on the outside, yet so complex. There always tends to be a plot twist you don't see coming, perhaps because the characters are so complex you can't anticipate what they will do. 

Yet the twists don't come out of left field and make you feel blindsided -- once they happen you have an 'ah-ha' moment where it all makes sense. 

In this novel the main character, a 13-year-old girl, has made a choice that turns her family upside down. She was conceived as a marrow donor for her older sisters, who has leukemia. All her life the younger sister was there for the sick sister and she's finally had enough. 

At least that's what the story seems to be about on the surface. There are so many layers to it, so many small betrayals and kindnesses along the way. 

It's a page turner, that's for sure.  

The Fig Eater

by Jody Shields 

the back cover of this book sucked me in: turn of the century Europe, mystery and intrigue, a murder and an investigation, all wrapped up in historical context of Freud's Vienna. The main character, Dora, is fictionally based on a patient Freud wrote about. 

Dora is killed and there may or may not have been some nasty abuse by her father involved, or resentment by her mother, or a scandalous love affair with a man half her age, or hate directed to her by his mistress, AND there may or may not be some mystical magical stuff going on as well. 

I kept up with the book, wanting to understand the characters and the plot but found both confusing. And the ending was totally lame -- I resented the time spent on the book by then.