Book Reviews!

Hello Friends:

Believe it or not, I haven't blogged since March of this year (2014). Mostly, I just didn't feel like I had anything entertaining to say. But now I do. Or, at least, I hope I do!

I love to read and always have. I taught myself to read at the age of four, which, back in 1962, was a BIG DEAL, but today, let's face it, kids are coming out of the womb knowing how to read. 

I realized, as I recently perused my Goodreads lists, that I have read some FANTASTIC novels over the years, and decided that I might use my blog informatively to share these discovered gems with you, in hope that you might also find a novel or two from my picks that you will enjoy. I read a lot of everything with a few exceptions, but you will mostly find here fiction, nonfiction, historical fiction and non-fiction, biographies of all sorts, and the classics and contemporary novels.  

So, without further ado, I'll begin to share some of the more recent reads I've enjoyed. I will limit each blog to about five novels (non-genre specific) so as not to overwhelm.  I would love to hear from you if you read, or have read, these novels, and perhaps we can start our own little blog book group!  At some point later,  I'll also talk about some books I didn't care for, but for now, let's just stick with the positive!

These first five books I read throughout 2014 and have awarded five out of five stars on Goodreads. (Narratives of books are also lifted from Goodreads; my personal comments follow.)


1.  (Fiction) "The Husband's Secret" by Liane Moriarty - Imagine that your husband wrote you a letter, to be opened after his death. Imagine, too, that the letter contains his deepest, darkest secret—something with the potential to destroy not just the life you built together, but the lives of others as well. Imagine, then, that you stumble across that letter while your husband is still very much alive. . . .
Cecilia Fitzpatrick has achieved it all—she’s an incredibly successful businesswoman, a pillar of her small community, and a devoted wife and mother. Her life is as orderly and spotless as her home. But that letter is about to change everything, and not just for her: Rachel and Tess barely know Cecilia—or each other—but they too are about to feel the earth-shattering repercussions of her husband’s secret.

2. (Fiction)  "The Cuckoo's Calling (Cormoran Strike #1)" by Robert Galbraith (J.K. Rowling)  -
After losing his leg to a land mine in Afghanistan, Cormoran Strike is barely scraping by as a private investigator. Strike is down to one client, and creditors are calling. He has also just broken up with his longtime girlfriend and is living in his office.Then John Bristow walks through his door with an amazing story: His sister, the legendary supermodel Lula Landry, known to her friends as the Cuckoo, famously fell to her death a few months earlier. The police ruled it a suicide, but John refuses to believe that. The case plunges Strike into the world of multimillionaire beauties, rock-star boyfriends, and desperate designers, and it introduces him to every variety of pleasure, enticement, seduction, and delusion known to man.
(A note from Linda:  I haven't read any of Ms. Rowling's Harry Potter books, but have read both "adult contemporary" books she's written. Consider me a fan!)

3.  (Non-Fiction) "Going Clear: Scientology, Hollywood, and the Prison of Belief" by Lawrence Wright -
We learn about Scientology's esoteric cosmology; about the auditing process that determines an inductee's state of being; about the Bridge to Total Freedom, through which members gain eternal life. We see the ways in which the church pursues celebrities, such as Tom Cruise and John Travolta, and how young idealists who joined the Sea Org, the church's clergy, whose members often enter as children, signing up with a billion-year contract and working with little pay in poor conditions. We meet men and women "disconnected" from friends and family by the church's policy of shunning critical voices. And we discover, through many firsthand stories, the violence that has long permeated the inner sanctum of the church.In Going Clear, Wright examines what fundamentally makes a religion a religion, and whether Scientology is, in fact, deserving of the constitutional protections achieved in its victory over the IRS. Employing all his exceptional journalistic skills of observations, understanding, and synthesis, and his ability to shape a story into a compelling narrative, Lawrence Wright has given us an evenhanded yet keenly incisive book that goes far beyond an immediate exposé and uncovers the very essence of what makes Scientology the institution it is.
(A note from Linda:  If you're even flirting with the idea of giving Scientology a try, this book will scare you straight out of that idea and most likely with good reason.)

4. (Historical Fiction): "Queen's Gambit" by Elizabeth Freemantle -
 Widowed for the second time at age thirty-one Katherine Parr falls deeply for the dashing courtier Thomas Seymour and hopes at last to marry for love. However, obliged to return to court, she attracts the attentions of the ailing, egotistical, and dangerously powerful Henry VIII, who dispatches his love rival, Seymour, to the Continent. No one is in a position to refuse a royal proposal so, haunted by the fates of his previous wives' two executions, two annulments, one death in childbirth, Katherine must wed Henry and become his sixth queen. Katherine has to employ all her instincts to navigate the treachery of the court, drawing a tight circle of women around her, including her stepdaughter, Meg, traumatized by events from their past that are shrouded in secrecy, and their loyal servant Dot, who knows and sees more than she understands. With the Catholic faction on the rise once more, reformers being burned for heresy, and those close to the king vying for position, Katherine's survival seems unlikely. Yet as she treads the razor's edge of court intrigue, she never quite gives up on love.

5.  (Non-Fiction) "Wave" by Sonali Deraniyagala -
On the morning of December 26, 2004, on the southern coast of Sri Lanka, Sonali Deraniyagala lost her parents, her husband, and her two young sons in the tsunami she miraculously survived. In this brave and searingly frank memoir, she describes those first horrifying moments and her long journey since. She has written an engrossing, unsentimental, beautifully poised account: as she struggles through the first months following the tragedy, furiously clenched against a reality that she cannot face and cannot deny; and then, over the ensuing years, as she emerges reluctantly, slowly allowing her memory to take her back through the rich and joyous life she’s mourning, from her family’s home in London, to the birth of her children, to the year she met her English husband at Cambridge, to her childhood in Colombo; all the while learning the difficult balance between the almost unbearable reminders of her loss and the need to keep her family, somehow, still alive within her.
(A note from Linda: This was one of the most heartbreaking but bravest books written that I've ever read. I  wish Ms. Deranivagala many blessings in her future.)

My 2012 Recommended Reading List!

     2012 is not quite over, but the coming weeks will be busy, and I won't finish reading any more novels this month, so I'm going to go ahead and answer what you all have been wondering: "What novels did Linda read and like best this year?"

     Yes, it's time for "Linda's Favorite Novels of 2012"!!!!  Now, please note that these are novels/books I read during 2012, not ones that were necessarily published in 2012. I don't know why I feel that is important to mention, but there you go. My reading taste also varies widely, so hopefully, whether you love romance or non-fiction, you'll find something on my list to add to your "Can't Wait To Read This!" list.

     I need to add an aside. I have so many talented friends who are authors, and whose books I love and adore.  I would have loved to include each and every book I read by these talented authors, but then my blog would have turned into a novel itself. Plus, its very hard to choose favorites from all that talent, so rest assured dear Friends Who Are Authors, your books are very special to me as well! 


     And so, without further ado! (And in  no particular order. These all received 5/5 star ratings from me.)

Linda's Favorite Novels of 2012!

1.   "A Dangerous Inheritance"  by Alison Weir  (Historical Fiction) -  England's Tower of London was the terrifying last stop for generations of English political prisoners. A Dangerous Inheritance weaves together the lives and fates of four of its youngest and most blameless: Lady Katherine Grey, Lady Jane's younger sister; Kate Plantagenet, an English princess who lived nearly a century before her; and Edward and Richard, the boy princes imprisoned by their ruthless uncle, Richard III, never to be heard from again. Across the years, these four young royals shared the same small rooms in their dark prison, as all four shared the unfortunate role of being perceived as threats to the reigning monarch.

2.  "The Last Queen" by C.W. Gortner -  (Historical Fiction) Juana of Castile, the last queen of Spanish blood to inherit her country’s throne, has been for centuries an enigmatic figure shrouded in lurid myth. Was she the bereft widow of legend who was driven mad by her loss, or has history misjudged a woman who was ahead of her time? In his stunning new novel, C. W. Gortner challenges the myths about Queen Juana, unraveling the mystery surrounding her to reveal a brave, determined woman we can only now begin to fully understand.  

3.  "Mercury: An intimate Biography of Freddie Mercury" by Lesley-Ann Jones (Biography)- As lead vocalist for the iconic rock band Queen, Freddie Mercury’s unmatched skills as a songwriter and flamboyant showmanship made him a superstar, and Queen a household name. But few people ever really glimpsed the man behind the glittering faÇade.      Mercury was the first major rock star to die from AIDS. Now, twenty years after his death, those closest to him are finally opening up about this pivotal figure in rock n’ roll. 

4. "The Inn at Rose Harbor" by Debbie Macomber (Romance) - Jo Marie Rose first arrives in Cedar Cove seeking a sense of peace and a fresh start. Coping with the death of her husband, she purchases a local bed-and-breakfast—the newly christened Rose Harbor Inn—ready to begin her life anew. Yet the inn holds more surprises than Jo Marie can imagine.  

5. "Lost Moon: The Perilous Voyage of Apollo 13" by Jim Lovell (Non-Fiction) - The full story of the moon shot that almost ended in catastrophe has never been told, but now Lovell and coauthor Jeffrey Kluger bring it to vivid life. What begins as a smooth flight is transformed into a hair-raising voyage from the moment Lovell calls out, "Houston, we've got a problem."  

6. "Best Enemies" by Jane Heller (Fiction) - Book publicist Amy Sherman tripped over it when she caught her fiancé horizontally attached to her best friend, the impossibly tall, inexcusably blonde, and insufferably gorgeous Tara Messer, who added insult to injury by marrying the cad right out from under her.  After four years of therapy, Amy's finally back on track-until she has to publicize the hottest new book of the season by "the next Martha Stewart." Nightmares do come true. It's the dreaded Tara who's the author, and why shouldn't she write a bestseller about perfection? She's the perfect woman enjoying the perfect life with the perfect man. Who'd ever guess she's living the perfect lie? 

7.  "Victoria R.I." by Elizabeth Longford (Biography) -  In this biography, Lady Longford, long recognized as an authority on the subject, gives a full account of Queen Victoria's life and provides her unique assessment of the monarch. Victoria ascended the throne in 1837 on the death of her uncle, William IV. In 1840, she married her first cousin, Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha.

8. "'Til Death Do Us Part" (Bailey Weggins Mystery #3)  by Kate White- (Fiction/Mystery) - In Bailey's latest outing, she takes the plunge into a world of domestic divas and deadly nuptial doings. When she gets a call from Ashley Hanes on a frigid night, Bailey expects to be hit up for fashion show tickets. Instead Ashley reveals that two bridesmaids from Peyton Cross's wedding have recently died in freak accidents...and Ashley is terrified she's next.  

9.  "Bring Up the Bodies" Wolf Hall #2 by Hilary Mantel (Historical Fiction) - The sequel to Hilary Mantel's 2009 Man Booker Prize winner and New York Times bestseller, Wolf Hall delves into the heart of Tudor history with the downfall of Anne Boleyn.  

10. "703: How I Lost More than a Quarter Ton and Gained My Life" by Nancy Makin (Non Fiction) - Nancy Makin weighed an astounding 703 pounds in May 2000. She was forty-five years old and had diabetes and heart disease. Thanks in equal parts to shame and logistics, she'd been homebound for a dozen years. But all that changed after a gift from her sister: a computer. A technophobe, Nancy ignored it for months, until finally boredom and curiosity pushed her into cyberspace. And there, in a chat room, she found the friendliness, the support, and even the love she'd been missing for so long. Nobody flinched when Nancy spoke up; people treated her with the same respect accorded to everybody else. Thanks to these emotional connections, Nancy's life was transformed. 

11. "A Body to Die For" (Bailey Weggins Mystery #2) by Kate White (Fiction/Mystery) - Bailey thinks a weekend at a friend's country inn and spa sounds like the perfect pick-me-up after her recent brush with death. Unfortunately, the publicity that follows Bailey's discovery of a dead body in a mud wrap won't be a selling point for the healthful qualities of her friend's otherwise delightfully elegant Massachusetts resort.

12. "Dorothy Parker: What Fresh Hell is This?" by Marion Meade (Biography) - with an afterward by Marion Meade.  

13. "The American Plague: The Untold Story of Yellow Fever, The Epidemic That Shaped Our History" by Molly Caldwell Crosby (Non-Fiction) - The American Plague reveals the true story of yellow fever, recounting Memphis, Tennessee's near-destruction and resurrection from the epidemic-and the four men who changed medical history with their battle against an invisible foe that remains a threat to this very day.

14. "Shattered Dreams: My Life as a Polygamist's Wife" by Irene Spencer (Non-Fiction) -  Irene Spencer did as she felt God commanded in becoming the second wife to her brother-in-law Verlan LeBaron. When the government raided their community-the Mormon village of Short Creek, Arizona-seeking to enforce the penalties for practicing polygamy, Irene and her family fled to Verlan's family ranch in Mexico. Here they lived in squalor and desolate conditions with Verlan's six brothers, one sister, and numerous wives and children. This appalling and astonishing tale has captured the attention of readers around the world. Irene's inspirational story reveals how far religion can be stretched and abused and how one woman and her children found their way out, into truth and redemption.

15. "I Got This: How I Changed My Ways and Lost What Weighed Me Down" by Jennifer Hudson (Non-Fiction) - Soulful and sultry, Jennifer Hudson wowed the world with her powerful voice in American Idol's third season, and then took Hollywood by storm with a star turn in Dreamgirls that won her an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress. But before we knew her as an American Idol standout, Jennifer was singing in her church choir in the South side of Chicago. This uplifting memoir tells the story of Jennifer's meteoric rise from American Idol to Dreamgirls to her amazing weight loss on the mega blockbuster Weight Watchers diet plan. 

16.  "Nefertiti" by Michelle Moran (Historical Fiction) - Love, betrayal, political unrest, plague, and religious conflict—Nefertiti brings ancient Egypt to life in vivid detail. Fast-paced and historically accurate, it is the dramatic story of two unforgettable women living through a remarkable period in history.

17. "The Poisoner's Handbook: Murder and the Birth of Forensic Medicine in Jazz Age New York" by Deborah Blum (Non-Fiction) -  Deborah Blum, writing with the high style and skill for suspense that is characteristic of the very best mystery fiction, shares the untold story of how poison rocked Jazz Age New York City. In The Poisoner's Handbook Blum draws from highly original research to track the fascinating, perilous days when a pair of forensic scientists began their trailblazing chemical detective work, fighting to end an era when untraceable poisons offered an easy path to the perfect crime.

Happy Reading in 2013!!!!