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Finished Fear the Worst by Linwood Barclay (out August 11).

This is my first one of his, but will not be the last. :)

Okay, picture this: you and your teenage daughter have a fight.  She goes to work and doesn't come home.  You head to her job to see if she picked up an extra shift or something.

Her boss and coworkers have no idea who you're talking about. 

So how do you find someone if you have no idea where they spent their time away from you?

This is a really fun book and hard to put down.  Barclay has been compared to Harlan Coben, and that's definitely an apt comparison.

The only complaint I have is that it ends really abruptly, but I have an ARC so maybe the ending is changed/made a little longer.

I definitely want to read more of his books.

(I also would recommend starting this when you have plenty of time to read it; it was very hard going to work yesterday--I really just wanted to find out what happened to Sydney.)

So I went from not having anything to read to having way too much.  And since I don't usually talk about what I buy or why, I figured maybe I'd start doing that.  I don't know if anyone else cares, but I'm always fascinated about what books people buy and why (as in what attracted them to that book--maybe once I finish start my guest blog on breaking up with authors, I can do one on why we buy what we buy).

ANYWAY.

This came for review:

 

I'm excited to read that because the author was compared to Harlan Coben and there's a blurb from Michael Connelly ("A one-sit thriller").  If you like mystery/suspense novels and you don't read Coben and/or Connelly, you should bow your head in shame and then race to the store.  (I would mock you for it, but I'd be too busy being envious that you get to read them for the first time.)

Anyway.  I also got my Amazon binge today.

 

Someone mentioned this book recently, but I don't remember who.  I do know that my friend Josh (Local Josh) was reading it and he loved it.  (And...add to cart.)

 

Emily was talking about it and the premise sounded fantastic.  I seem to really like odd memoirs--anything by AJ Jacobs, for example.  And I like books about books and/or reading. (And...add to cart.)

 

Love the title.  And someone was just talking about it.  (Emily, maybe?)

And finally:

 

This was on a friend of mine's 15 Book List on Facebook.  We tend to like the same books (or at least I tend to like what she likes; we sort of are hit and miss when it comes to my recommendations for her). 

I'm still kind of annoyed at the idea of the Oscars having 10 Best Picture nominees. 

My best friend Jen is hoping that it will give smaller movies more of a chance to get nominated.  I think that'd be great, but really, I think it's going to go to movies that shouldn't be nominated.

Yes, Transformers is #1 at the box office this week, but that doesn't mean I want to live in a world where it gets a Best Picture nomination.

The category is "Best Picture," not "Most Fun Movie" or "Movie Audiences Liked Best."  That's what the MTV Movie Awards are for. 

And I don't understand why they're increasing the limit now.  It's not like there have been so many great movies coming out lately that I can think of an extra five that should've been nominated last time.  (Doubt, for sure, and maybe The Wrestler.  That's two.) 

I may not always agree with what wins (for example, I don't think Slumdog Millionaire should have won), but at least so far, I can respect the movies that get nominated.  I'm not sure that'll be the case with next year's Oscars.

The Oscars are my Super Bowl, but I'm telling you now, if this new rule means that New Moon gets nominated for Best Picture, we are done.

What prevents your city/town from being the best place in the country to live?
Submitted by Cherney.

The murder rate.

(But beyond that, it's awesome here!)

I was reading the Baltimore Sun's book blog (which, incidentally, I love) and someone left a comment with this question: "I'm reading Entertainment Weekly's 25 new classic books, but I've read some of the authors before and didn't like them.  Do you think I can substitute the books I've already read for the ones on the list?" (That's a paraphrase, but the essence is the same.)

My stance: Um, no.  Because it's not a best authors list, it's a best books list.  I also pointed out that On Writing is totally different than Stephen King's other books, for example, so it's not like you can say "Well, I read Pet Sematary, so..."

But what do you guys think?

Finished The Actor and the Housewife by Shannon Hale.

This is an entertaining book, a very fun beach/vacation read.  It's not too realistic, but these days, that's not necessarily a bad thing.

Becky Jack is a married mom of four, who's Mormon and lives in Utah.  She sells a screenplay and meets Felix Callahan (think a British version of George Clooney) who's also married.  The two quickly become best friends, which is pretty bizarre.  (Again--how many average women do you know who also happen to be friends with movie stars?)

I didn't like Part Three very much (plot twist that I didn't much like) but the first two parts are entertaining.  What I did like was that Becky's faith wasn't portrayed as freakish or weird.  I have Mormon friends, and I don't like hearing their faith (or anyone's faith, really) made fun of. 

This is also a very funny book--literally laugh out loud funny in parts.  If you're planning on logging beach time this summer, you should definitely consider bringing this along.

Finished Undiscovered Gyrl by Allison Burnett (out August 11).

I'm not sure what to say about this book.  It's a compelling read, to say the very least.  It's definitely good.  But the word that I keep coming back to is "disturbing."

A blurb on the back says it's basically an updated Lolita, except that she's telling her own story on a blog.  For me, though, it reminded me of Blake Nelson's Girl.  That one was about a freshman in high school and Undiscovered Gyrl is about a girl who should be a freshman in college, but she deferred her acceptance for a year.

Throughout the course of the book, Katie has several doomed relationships with men ("relationships" used loosely; "men" used advisedly--one's 32 and one's in his 40s).  She's 17 for most of her time with the 32-year-old and 18 for the other guy.

It's just a really sad story and I don't think it's a spoiler to say that it doesn't end well for Katie.

Again, compelling and good.  And it's something that should be read, because it illustrates the dangers of drinking and drug use and sex before you're ready for it. 

 

 

Finished This Lovely Life by Vicki Forman.

This is a seriously fantastic, incredibly sad book.

Vicki gives both to twins incredibly early in her pregnancy (23 weeks, I think) and they weigh a pound or so each.  She asks the doctors to let them die, because (a) they were too small to suffer so much and (b) if they survived, they'd probably face a ton of disabilities (severe brain damage, cerebral palsy, etc.).  But California law says that the doctors couldn't do that.  The daughter dies four days later, but her son, Evan, stays alive.  He's in the hospital for something like six months, but eventually comes home.

It's about what this does to her family (she has a husband and a three-year-old daughter) and all the fighting she has to do on behalf of her son.

There's a lot of medical jargon (although she explains it pretty well, too) and if you can deal with that and with the subject matter (again, not a happy book), I'd recommend this.

Toy Story is #99 on AFI's 10th Anniversary 100 Years, 100 Movies list.

I'm not going to summarize 'cause I'm sure everyone's seen it, but I haven't seen this in years and it's held up very well.