Friday, October 31, 2014

Agent Zigzag

Subtitled: A True Story of Nazi Espionage, Love and Betrayal.
Nonfiction by Ben MacIntyre.

Agent Zigzag: A True Story of Nazi Espionage, Love, and Betrayal
http://www.barnesandnoble.com

When I got this book, I was promised it would be as interesting as fiction, even though it's nonfiction. This was not true.

The beginning was good, but it soon got bogged down in boring details and started being too much about facts and not about the characters. Sorry.

Tuesday, October 28, 2014

The List

Fiction by Siobhan Vivian.

The List
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/

What happens when a list comes out every year just before homecoming pointing out the prettiest girl in school ...and the ugliest?

This story was an interesting examination of high-school culture, without being too Pretty-in-Pink about it. The characters were real people and not cardboard stand-ins for popular and unpopular kids.

Good book.


Sunday, October 26, 2014

If I Stay

Fiction by Gayle Forman.

If I Stay
http://www.barnesandnoble.com

Seventeen-year-old Mia's family is in a terrible car accident together and she waits in a coma, trying to decide if she's willing to fight her way back into the land of the living. The movie version of this book just came out recently/

This story held a good examination of her life and her reasons to stay ...or go.


Monday, October 20, 2014

A Gift of Magic

Fiction by Lois Duncan.

A Gift of Magic
http://www.barnesandnoble.com

A dying woman blesses her small grandchildren, fairy-like, each with a gift. To one, she gives the gift of music, and to another the gift of dance. To the one she says looks most like herself, she gives the gift of magic.

This is the story of what they decide to do with their gifts. Good book!



I also read recently by this author: Down a Dark Hall.

Friday, October 17, 2014

The Book of Joe

Fiction by Jonathan Tropper.

The Book of Joe
http://www.barnesandnoble.com

This book was similar to This is Where I Leave You, which I read recently by the same author. I think I would have liked it better if I hadn't been comparing it to the other one. Both novels were about a not-very-likable man going back to his estranged family in the town where he'd been raised because of an ill-or-dead parent.

Both had a good story, but This is Where I Leave You was way funnier. The Book of Joe was probably better-written, but I couldn't enjoy reading about a guy I didn't like if he wasn't all that funny.


Tuesday, October 14, 2014

Leviathan

Fiction by Scott Westerfeld.

Leviathan (Leviathan Series #1)
http://www.barnesandnoble.com

This book is from a genre I haven't seen before, which I think is called steampunk. It's history, but also science-fiction. Very interesting.

I liked it enough to order the sequel from the library, so watch out for that one soon.

Friday, October 10, 2014

Away

Fiction by Amy Bloom.

Away
http://www.barnesandnoble.com

The Telegraph Trail ran up through British Columbia and into Alaska in the early part of the twentieth century, with thousands of miles of cables laid and cabins along the way manned by lone operators in harsh conditions. It had been begun as way to connect America with Europe by land, but was abandoned as a failure in 1867 when an underwater cable was successfully laid in the Atlantic. Still it was used to send messages through the wilderness until it was replaced by radio waves mid-century.

They say there was a foreign woman who walked along the Telegraph Trail alone, mute or silent by choice, determined to walk all the way to Russia. This story may have been made up to sell papers in the age of questionable journalism, but it is an intriguing one.

Author Amy Bloom imagines this story as it might have been lived, by a real woman in the 1920's, and creates some fascinating characters. In conceiving this novel, Ms. Bloom asked herself, Why would anyone make such an extraordinary trip?

And she answers, "I would only do it for love."



I also read by this author: Lucky Us

Monday, October 6, 2014

Eye Contact

Fiction by Cammie McGovern.

http://www.barnesandnoble.com

A terrible crime was committed, and  the only witness was a barely-verbal autistic boy. Can you trust his testimony, if it can even be obtained?

This was a great mystery story.




I also read by this author: Say What You Will

Saturday, October 4, 2014

Down a Dark Hall

Fiction by Lois Duncan.

Down a Dark Hall
http://www.barnesandnoble.com

Another great young adult suspense novel by Lois Duncan, this book is about a girl who goes to the creepiest boarding-school ever while her mother goes to Europe on honeymoon with a new husband.



I also read by this author: Locked in Time, Stranger With My Face

Wednesday, October 1, 2014

The Good Girl

Fiction by Mary Kubica.

The Good Girl
http://www.barnesandnoble.com

A novel about a kidnapped college-aged girl, this story is told from the perspective of the mother, the police detective, and the kidnapper himself. It moves back and forth in time from the time she's kidnapped until she has been found, a traumatized amnesiac several months later.

It was a good book and had a surprise ending.