Book: Ressurection Walk

 Book: Ressurection Walk

Author: Michael Connelly

Pages: 416

This is my 125th read for the year

This is the story of Mickey Haller - an attorney known as the Lincoln Lawyer.  He is well known for taking longshot cases and winning.  His half brother, Harry Bosch, is a retired LAPD officer

Book: Booth

 Book: Booth

Author: Karen Joy Fowler

Pages: 496

This is my 124th read for the year

This is a historical fiction book about the Booth family in the early to mid 1800s.  The family of John Wilkes Booth - told in a partially fictionalized version of his family from before John was born through when he shoots Lincoln and a bit beyond.  The Booths were a theatrical family (at least the men) where the dad was a famous Shakesperean actor.  John and his brothers also became famous Shakespeare actors.  As the Booth children grow, change, (and some die), the authro weaves a story of how the ultimate tragedy changed their lives forever.

This was a great book.  It is well written and extremely thorough.  You can tell the author did her research (which she expressed more in the author's note at the end) to try and find out what she could about John's family.  I loved learning about all of his brothers and sisters and his parents.  The story is a long one - that is for sure.  I will say I think she could have shortened it about 150 pages and taken out some of the sections of fiction that didn't really lead anywhere.  But overall - I am so happy I read this one and encourage you to check it out.  You get drawn into the story of this family - one I knew nothing about except for John.  And the author is talented.

Stars: 4.5

Book: Angel Maker

 Book: Angel Maker

Author: Alex North

Pages: 336

This is my 123rd read for the year

Here is what Amazon has to say about this book:

Growing up in a beautiful house in the English countryside, Katie Shaw lived a charmed life.  At the cusp of graduation, she had big dreams, a devoted boyfriend, and a little brother she protected fiercely.  Until the day a violent strager changed the fate of her family forever.

Years later, still unable to live down the guilt surrounding what happened to her brother, Chris, and now with a child of her own to protect, Katie struggles to separate the real threats from the imagined.  Then she gets a phone call: Chris has gone missing and needs his big sister once more.

Meanwhile, Detectie Laurence Page is facing a particularly gruesome crime.  A distinguished professor of fate and free will has been brutally murdered just hours after firing his staff.  All the leads point back to two old cases: the gruesome attack on teenager Christopher Shaw, and the despicable crimes of a notorious serial killer who, legend had it, could see the future.

This was an okay book.  I do like Alex North - I have read his other two books, but this one wasn't as good as those in my opinion.  I liked the idea, and some of the characters.  And I did like the ending - how they wound what seemed like two separate stories together.  But the rest of the book seemed so disjointed that the ending didn't make up for the middle.  

Stars: 3

Book: Red At The Bone

 Book: Red At The Bone

Author: Jacqueline Woodson

Pages: 224

This is my 122nd read for the year

This is the story of a family.  The story opens in 2001 when Melody turns 16 and has her coming of age story.  As her mother, father, and grandparents share in the joy of this day, they recount in their own words what it was like when they found out that her parents were going to have her at the age of 15.  Each grandparent and parent take turns talking about that time in their life and how they each felt leading up to Melody being born and then shortly after.  The story travels even further back with this family tree - back to 1921 and weaves a story of one family memory by memory and even moving beyond Melody's party when tragedy strikes this family and how they will move forward.

I really enjoyed this book.  I listened to it during a long day of yard work and I got it all done in one day.  Each story is well told, and Melody's section is done by one of my favorite narrators for audiobooks - I was overjoyed to hear her voice.  The story has a nice flow, and as the puzzle pieces of Melody's family's past are woven together, you see the relationships of each member pulled in different directions but all leading back to one little girl.  Great read.

Stars: 4.5

Book: West With Giraffes

 Book: West With Giraffes

Author: Lynda Rutledge

Pages: 372

This is my 121st read for the year

This is the story of Woodrow.  In 1938 He is a young man that has been recruited to help get two giraffes across the country to the San Diego zoo.  Accompanied by an "old man" who is responsible for the delivering the giraffes to the first female zoo director, the two find a country in awe as they travel.  They draw crowds whereever they go, everyone wanting a peek of the two.  Followed by a woman who claims to be a photographer for Life Magazine and a dangerous circus master, they race against the clock to get the giraffes to safety before something happens to them.

This is an excellent book.  I have had it on my shelf for awhile and I finally got to it.  It is well written and a fast moving story of two men - both with pasts they would like to forget - taking a long and harrowing journey across the US.  The story is told in journal form from Woodrow who is now a 105 year old man at the end of his life - desperately wanting to get this story down into words before he dies.  There is good character development.  Woodrow and the old man are well developed and you root for them to finish their task before the circus steals the giraffes.  I like that there is back and forth between present and past.  There is a great epilogue where Woodrow's story unfolds and he is reconnected with the giraffes of his past.  Great book.

Stars: 5

Book: Arch-Conspirator

 Book: Arch-Conspirator

Author: Veronica Roth 

Pages: 110

This is my 120th read for the year

This is the story of a family inside the last city on earth.  Outside of this city, the world is a wasteland.  Rules are tight in this city and when someone dies their genes are stored in an Archive so that humanity can continue.  Antigone and her siblings have watched their parents die and now they are in the care of their uncle Kreon.  His is a militant who will kill anyone who rebels to make an example of them.  Antigone realizes that his house is a cage and she and her siblings will be forced to conform.  

This was a really quick book so I really couldn't get into it.  I picked it up at a used bookstore recognizing the author of the Divergent series.  It wasn't a bad book - it was just too short for me to 1) care about the characters), 2) really get invested in the story.  It ends on a cliff hanger which was maddening.  The writing is pretty good  - I personally just needed more.

I read the author's notes at the end and this was a spin off the original Antigone story written by Sophocles written in 400BC.  Maybe I need to read it?  Not sure if it would help but what the heck.

Stars: 3

Book: Gerald's Game

 Book: Gerald's Game

Author: Stephen King

Pages: 400

This is my 119th read for the year

This is the story of Jessie Burligame.  She and her husband Gerald are on a romantic getaway at their summer home.  Gerald handcuffs Jessie to the bed for one of his "games" but has a heart attack and dies before he can uncuff her.  Jessie is trapped with no way to get help.  Voices in her mind carry her through as she tries to figure out how she is going to getout of the house.  As she becomes more and more delirious, she recalls events from her past that are some of her worst memories.  She is sure that there is someone in the house - a threat - and if she doesn't get out soon, she is sure to meet the same fate as her husband.

This was not a top King read for me.  I have made it my mission to own and read all of his books, and for the most part I have been glad I have.  But this one just didn't sit right with me.  Trigger warning for those who want to read his books:  this one has a back story with her dad that borders on incest and brought up over and over in the book.  It was way too much of the story and cringe worthy (in my opinion).  I couldn't get past it and therefore did not really enjoy the book.

Stars: 2