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• (6/27) Standoff by Sandra Brown.
  
  Suspenseful novel about two teenagers who run away from home after the girl's father threatens to force them to put their baby (the girl is 8 months pregnant) up for adoption. On their way to Mexico, they stop to rob a convenience store for money. However, things don't go quite as smoothly as planned and they end up with seven hostages, on of whom is reporter Tiel McCoy. Almost as soon as things start to turn sour, the girl goes into serious labor. Tiel and another hostage, a cowboy called "Doc," quickly take charge of the scene and start helping the girl through labor and then delivery, all the while attempting to talk some sense into her and her boyfriend. Very fast-paced and reasonably well-written (I had some problems with a few words used too often and in all the wrong contexts, like the word "tummy" which just does not belong in a sex scene. Ever.) I really enjoyed this and will look for her others.
  [FICTION]

  (6/25) Swimming with Jonah by Andrea Schulman.
  

  Second novel by the author of "The Cage," a book I loved when I read it last year. This one is as good if not better, happily. Again the protagonist is a young woman in a foreign part of the world who feels like she doesn't fit in with those around her. Only this time the location is a tropical Indonesian island.
  

  When Jane Guy, daughter of the famous anesthesiologist, is rejected by every medical school she applies to, her father writes a check for a huge sum of money and ships her off to Queens Medical School -- a school especially for those who were unable to get into a "real" med school in the states, either because of poor grades or scandal. At first, Jane is excited -- finally her dream will come true -- but after a few weeks on the hot, sticky, bacteria-laden island, surrounded by verbally abusive professors who will do anything to get students to study and pass (they are paid bonuses for each student who graduates), Jane's enthusiasm is replaced by a sort of robotic obeisance. Yet as her studies progress and her grades continue to be high, Jane sort of slowly and unconsciously evolves into a more confident person. How this effects both her and the people around her is really the focus of the novel. Well-written and fast-moving, this is a really good book.
  [FICTION]

  (6/22) Nevermind Nirvana by Mark Lindquist.
  

  At first I found this book a little annoying. It's the story of Pete Tyler, a 36-year-old ex-musician lawyer who is sort of doing the hokey-pokey with adulthood (left foot in, left foot out). While on the one hand he wants to be a serious attorney who settles down with a wife, there is still a big part of him that would rather get drunk, play or listen to music, and sleep with strangers. The plot's pretty good -- it was the Seattle stuff that annoyed me. He's a little heavy on the "I'm a hipster!" name-dropping (for example, there are no "matchbooks" in the book, only "matchbooks from the Romper Room;" if he's walking around aimlessly, he passes every single cool hangout in town (and makes mention of it, of course); and he must listen to or talk about every single local band he knows of and then rattle off obscure Seattle scene music history to make sure we understand fully that HE IS COOL.) Okay, okay, I say! Uncle!

  However, Lindquist redeemed himself 100% in my eyes on page 209 when he mentions my ex-boyfriend and then has him get punched out by the roadie for the Murder City Devils. Now, I am a nice person and I still really care about my ex-bf a lot. But there is nevertheless something truly satisfying about having that down in print. I believe the sound I made when I read that paragraph could aptly be described as "a hoot." Followed by a good five minutes of hearty giggling (and then guilt later, I swear, Sean).

  Anyway, so, yes, Lindquist could (and should) really have eased off just a bit on the "look at me! I'm part of the scene!" stuff. And I say this while being fully aware of the fact that the music in the book is absolutely necessary in every way, as it is a part of Pete and not Lindquist (though I wouldn't be surprised to find out this novel was more than semi-autobiographical). There's also a chance the excessive name-dropping was done on purpose -- to make Pete sound like a pathetic loser who is desperate to maintain some degree of coolness even though he's actually now a LAWYER. Cuz, that's definitely the effect it had. However, this is a very well-written and enjoyable novel. I read it in one day and I had a great time doing it. It's also pretty true stuff -- I know a lot of Petes myself, though they are all sort of in various Pete-Stages right now (some are rock stars, some keep trying to make it big, some just play in a band for fun while working a real job, and some have given it all up for a serious career and done a lot of regretting from time to time afterwards (I'm dating that Pete)). I hope they all get around to reading this (sooner than Pete gets around to Ford's "The Sportswriter"). However, as much like Pete as they may be, they differ in one very important-to-mention way. My Petes would never, never even MENTION "Pearl Jam" in the same sentence with "Nirvana." And if you asked them which they thought was the better band, they'd look at you like you'd just asked a question so completely stupid they can't possibly have heard you correctly. Pearl Jam. Gawd.

  Recommended!
  [FICTION]

  (6/20) Everything You Know by Zoe Heller.
  

  50-year-old Willy Muller is recovering from a heart attack when he receives a package addressed to him in his dead daughter's handwriting (she committed suicide a few months before the story opens). He open it up and finds a stack of her journals insides. After serving time for the murder of his wife and then years of hate mail from the public, refusing to believe he was innocent OR that he'd paid for his crime, Willy has become a bitter man. So, at first he passes the journals off as annoying sentimentalism on the part of his daughter. However, as he begins to read them, it makes him confront and reevaluate his past, which ultimately makes him realize that "only when you die do you run out of chances to be good." Well-written and thought-provoking.
  [FICTION]

  (6/18) Use Me by Elissa Schappell.
  

  Collection of inter-connected short stories that follow Evie Wakefield through college, marriage, and babies. The stories focus on Evie's strange and strong connections to the men in her life -- her father, who has fought cancer for 15 years; Bill, her rock-and-roll husband; and Charlie, her second child, who is completely dependent on her (and she on him). Very well-written and fiercely emotional stories -- by the end, when her father dies, I was just as devastated as she was (I didn't give anything away -- it says her father is going to die on the bookflap!). Recommended!
  [FICTION]

  (6/15) Stick Figure by Lori Gottlieb.
  

  A startling look at the progression from complete body-innocence to complete body-consciousness. This book is comprised of Lori's diaries from when she was about 11 years old. When it starts out, she's a pretty normal kid: goofing around, worrying about being liked, and just, basically, being 11. However, Lori was surrounded by women who were constantly telling her they were fat or she was fat or they/she would BECOME fat if they did this or that. As the result of this constant brainwashing (really, that's what it is, you guys), she slowly begins to think real women just don't eat. So, she quits eating too.

  It was horrifying to watch her mind go through the changes -- one minute she's a happy kid munching on a cookie after school and the next minute, she's in the hospital weighing less than 50 pounds and thinking her thighs are fat. She even believes breathing in air that SMELLS like food is enough to gain weight and her desperation to avoid gaining a single ounce is just gut-wrenching. I have felt that fear and I felt it again when I read this (a sign of good writing, incidentally). But when people tell her to stop dieting, she doesn't understand why since everyone around her is dieting too. Her friends throw away their lunches, her mom eats a few bites of salad for dinner and then sneaks down to the kitchen for cookies later, etc. etc. etc. The only people eating normally are her brother and father, and they're both too oblivious to really see what's going on.

  One of the scariest parts of this book for me was realizing how many things Lori did when in the throes of anorexia that I do or have done. It's a real wake-up call. I mean, how can I yell at Lori to EAT THE DAMN COOKIE! when I pick all the cheese off my pizza, keep a constant mental tally of the calories I've consumed today, and wouldn't eat a real bowl of ice cream if you paid me? The book really made me aware of the fact my own habits have the potential for really screwing up my kids (when I have some) and that kinda shook me up a bit.

  Because, in fact, her parents are the ones who really turned Lori into the anorexic she became and they didn't even realize they were doing it. Her mother is not only a terrible influence on Lori's eating habits (Lori picked up a lot of her behaviors FROM her mother), but she's also self-centered and childish. She doesn't give a damn about her daughter -- she's just concerned that having a skeletal child will reflect poorly on her. I wanted to smack her. And her father, though obviously caring, didn't put two-and-two together and tell her the obvious -- YOU ARE THIN and YOUR MOTHER IS JUST CRAZY, IGNORE HER.

  I went on my first diet in the third grade and it took me about 20 years to realize I look great the way I am. People, we have GOT to do better than that. I wish all parents of little girls would read this book.
  [NON-FICTION]

  (6/13) Plain Truth by Jodi Picoult.
  

  When defense attorney Ellie decides to take a hiatus from her life, she retreats to her aunt Leda's house, in Lancaster, PA. Leda is an excommunicated Amish women who still lives close to the community she was raised in. When Leda gets a phone call shortly after Ellie arrives and rushes off to the hospital, Ellie is intrigued. Soon the story comes out -- Leda's niece, a young Amish girl named Katie, has given birth to a baby out of wedlock and the baby has been discovered dead and hidden in the barn. Leda pleads with Ellie to take the case and Ellie reluctantly agrees. To secure bail for Katie, the judge makes Ellie swear to move in with her family and not let Katie go anywhere without her. So, suddenly Ellie is back in the courtroom AND living on an Amish farm instead of enjoying her planned vacation. Initially, she isn't too happy about this, but as she gets to know Katie, she realizes something just isn't right here. Is it really possible that an Amish girl could kill her own child? This was a very engrossing and exciting courtroom drama that kept me glued to a chair for the last 100 pages. Even though the author drops a clue about 2/3's of the way through that is too obvious, I still was a little bit surprised at the end when I realized my suspicions were right. That's ALWAYS a good quality in a mystery. I really enjoyed this novel -- not only was the plot good, but getting to know the Amish way of life was truly fascinating. Highly recommended!
  [MYSTERY]

  (6/9) The Collected Works of Billy the Kid by Michael Ondaatje.
  

  Strange and marvelous collection of prose and poetry that traces William Bonney's passage across New Mexico. Some of the short passages (on average, one per page) are Billy's voice, others Pat Garrett, some of Billy's friends, or his girlfriend. This was a delightful discovery, being both a fan of great writing and of westerns (you don't often encounter both in the same place). Ondaatje's writing here reminded me strongly of ee cummings, whihc is a very high compliment! Recommended!
  [FICTION]

  (6/8) The Empty Chair by Jeffrey Deaver.
  

  Third in the Lincoln Rhyme series ("The Bone Collector"), this one has Lincoln and Amelia traveling to North Carolina for an experimental surgery that may help him gain more motion. Before the surgery, though, they are approached by the local sheriff, the cousin of an NYPD colleague, pleading for Lincoln's help in a kidnapping and murder case. The suspect is a local teen, called "The Insect Boy" because of his obsession with bugs. Lincoln and Amelia begin working together to track him down, but quickly their opinions of what has really happened split -- Amelia thinks the boy is telling the truth when he says he didn't kill anyone AND he kidnapped the two girls for their own protection. Lincoln thinks he's lying to trick Amelia into becoming another hostage. Very exciting and well-written thriller, though the beginning was a bit coincidental. Recommended!
  [MYSTERY]

  (6/6) Place Last Seen by Charlotte McGuinn Freeman.
  

  Extremely empathic novel about a couple who go on a camping trip in the Sierra Nevadas with their two children: Luke, 9 or 10; and 5-year-old Maggie, who has Down Syndrome. When Maggie runs off to hide from her brother during a game, Luke turns around and cannot find her. Maggie has disappeared. An all-out search and rescue ensues, with trackers and dogs, as the family, each member blaming themselves, begins to crumble from fear, grief, and self-loathing. The emotions were so real, I forgot these people were fictional. The writing is a little weak in places, buth this is a thoroughly enjoyable novel. I wouldn't recommend it for parents of young children, though.
  [FICITON]

  (6/2) Shadow Baby by Alison McGhee.
  

  Novel about 11-year-old Clara Winter (who prefers having her last name pronounced without the capital letter -- "winter"). When she is given a school assignment to interview an elderly person, she latches onto an old immigrant man living in a trailer, Georg. Clara's whole world is constructed of stories, so many of which she has invented herself that she can hardly remember what is true and what isn't. Through her friendship with Georg, Clara learns how to see the world in a new way -- to see everything without focusing on any one thing. And through that, she gradually begins to learn how to let go of the past. This was a very touching novel about both a girl coming-of-age and the wisdom one can find in the strangest places -- in an illiterate old metalworker and in a mixed-up 11-year-old girl. Recommended!
  [FICTION]