Whole Lotta Reading Goin' On!!

I bet you thought I haven't been reading. Not the case. In fact, I have been reading so much I haven't had time to blog!

10th Anniversaryby James Patterson

As soon as I had word 10th Anniversary by James Patterson was in for me to pick up at the public library I was there! I love James Patterson. I have read just about everything he has written. I enjoy following the same characters book after book after book. It is like you become part of the family. This book is the tenth book in the Women's Murder Club series. The main characters are Lindsay Boxer and her friends, Clair - the medical examiner, Yuki - an assistant district attorney, and Cindy - a report. Together these women form the Women's Murder Club. The book starts off with Lindsay and her long time love, Joe, getting married. (This by the way is not a spoiler because it happens within in the first five pages.) There is a  lot going on in this book. A baby that is kidnapped, women being drugged and then sexually assaulted, and a renowned heart surgeon on trial for the murder of her husband are the highlights of this wonderful read.

The Painted Darkness
by Brian James Freeman

When I was younger I read horror books all of the time. I loved Stephen King, Ira Levin, Dean Koontz, Peter Straub, John Saul, and Clive Barker. My all time favorite being Stephen King's It which I read when I was in high school. I am still terrified of clowns...thanks Mr. King! While I was pregnant with my son I had a very difficult time reading any horror books. In fact I don't believe I have read a book in this genre in almost sixteen years. When I picked this book up at the library I really had no idea it was a horror story. I thought it would be about a young boy who grew into an artist because of his father's influence as a child. Well, I was kind of right. What I found out was the father had a huge impact on his son's career path, kind of....

Henry experienced something in the woods when he was a child so horrible he could only express his feeling of grief and fear through his drawing. He eventually blocks out the horrible memories but continues to draw. The story goes back and forth from Henry as a child to the adult Henry, who continues to draw. While Henry is performing the twice daily maintenance on his family's boiler in the cellar, he begins to confront the monster living in his cellar and his memory. Two of the quotes I really like from the book are, "Just start at the beginning and the rest will take care of itself." and "I paint against the darkness." Both of these quotes were repeated throughout the book and show the deep connection between Henry and his father as well as his father's influence on his art.

The Grimm Legacy
by Polly Shulman

As a young adult, I never really read books for my age level. Like I stated above I loved reading Stephen King. I believe I started reading him when I was in high school. I don't really remember reading a lot when I was in junior high. I think this is a time period I just simply skipped over not finding anything that really interested me in the library. As an adult I have the choice to read whatever book I want (well, I guess I have always had that option, it is just so much easier to justify when you are an adult and have free will). The Grimm Legacy by Polly Shulman was recommended to me by a very good friend who happens to also be a librarian. When she started telling me about the book I was instantly captivated and couldn't wait to get my hands on a copy. I didn't know it was a young adult book until I went to search for it at the library. In fact this title has been selected as one of the books on the 2011 Texas Lonestar Reading List books. I must be going through a fairy tale phase since this is the second book centered around fairy tales I have read this year (the other being Adam Gidwitz's A Tale Dark and Grimm). Elizabeth, a young school girls, is recommended by her English teacher for a page position at a repository for lending materials, not necessarily books. In the various collections there are paintings, fabric, shoes, weapons, musical instruments, etc. in which patrons (with special permissions) can check the items out. One of the collections in the repository is the Grimm Collection. In this collection there are magical items and pieces from the stories collected by Jacob and Wilhelm, better known as the brothers Grimm.

Over time pieces of the collection are disappearing, along with some of the pages. The mystery lies in who is stealing the collection and what can they do to get back these priceless pieces of magic.