Vanishing Acts

Vanishing Acts
By Jodi Picoult
9780743454551 418p

Wow. Twists and turns like always. Shocks all the way to the last page! Beautifully written. I love the alternate characters chapters. And I love that it's not pretty or Hollywood, especially with Ruthann and with Eric.
10/10

The Mensa Genius Quiz Book 2

The Mensa Genius Quiz Book 2
By Marvin Grosswirth and Dr. Abbie Salny
0201059584

Cute, fun quizes. I did semi-well on them, passing grades at least! Book is a bit old, so some things were dated. My favorite question was on page 75: "The New York Cosmos are to soccer as the Toronto Maple Leafs are to _____." Mainly because the Cosmos no longer exist but I'm a huge fan of the soccer team in the area now- Red Bulls.
8/10

Chicken Soup for the Teenage Soul II

Chicken Soup for the Teenage Soul II
By Jack Canfield and Mark Victor Hansen
1558746161 324p

I like the teen books the best of these- they're more upbeat and positive.
9/10

Cold Mountain

Cold Mountain
By Charles Frazier
1400077826 449p

What a total crap ending. Loved this book until about the last 15 pages, where it got more and more contrived, convoluted, and ridiculous. Honestly, I'm so annoyed right now at this book that I can't even say any more about it. UGH!
7/10

A 3rd Serving of Chicken Soup for the Soul

A 3rd Serving of Chicken Soup for the Soul
By Jack Canfield and Mark Victor Hansen
1558743790 331p

Good, cute stories as always.
8/10

A World of Movies

A World of Movies: 70 Years of Film History
By Richard Lawton
0517347008 369p

Beautiful photographs. Oddly set up book, though. Basically all the text was in the first few pages, instead of, for example, an introduction to each section. And then every 2 pages had 3 pictures and a snippet of information. The snippet referred to one of the photos, the other 2 were just there. And there was usually no link between the photos. Vaguely chronological. And I thought some of the major players weren't featured as much as they should/could have been: Bogart, Bacall, both Hepburns, Tracy, I'm sure there are others. For example, there was one photo of Bacall, not in any of her most famous roles, and I think there were 4 of Marilyn Monroe. Not that Monroe wasn't important, but 4 times as important as Bacall? I thought it was cool to read it now, since it was written in the 70's, so I know 30 extra years of films that weren't made at the time.
7/10

The Lost Symbol

The Lost Symbol
By Dan Brown
9780385533133 339p

A lot more preachy than The Da Vinci Code. Langdon is still all-knowing, which gets tiring after awhile. A few mentions on how famous he was in certain circles after he wrote about the events in The Da Vinci Code, which was frankly annoying. It was Dan Brown patting himself on the back. Fast-moving. Ridiculous torture/killing devices, I never understand why the bad guy doesn't just shoot the good guy.
7/10

The Seamstress

The Seamstress
By Sara Tuvel Bernstein
0425166309 343p

I think it's sad that the author's name on here is not her real name, Seren. Amazing book, what a brave and resourceful woman. Told very matter-of-factly, which I actually liked, if you can use the word 'like' in relation to a Holocaust memoir.
9/10

Pagan and Christian Rome

Pagan and Christian Rome
By Rodolfo Lanciani
via gutenberg.org ~360p

The author is pretty pompous. Granted, if he's discovered even a third of the stuff he says he has, he has a right to be pompous! But it's still annoying. Luckily, the descriptions of the history and settings make up for that!
8/10

Red Lily

Red Lily
By Nora Roberts
0515139408 351p

Spoiler: Doesn't a dead body in a standing body of water ruin the water? I guess it's a bigger pond than my mind thinks it is, weird to think of a huge phond on their estate. And why all the 'buried' dreams if she wasn't buried? Ok, on to other things- I wanted to see more of Jolene, but I guess she doesn't really go with these 2 characters. Also Cousin Jane, sort of a throwaway character, shame she wasn't at least on the outskirts of the family unit, you'd think she would have been invited over once in awhile. And we didn't see many of the nursery customers, too bad, they're always funny!
8/10

Chicken Soup for the Preteen Soul

Chicken Soup for the Preteen Soul
By Jack Canfield and Mark Victor Hansen
1558748008 357p

Didn't have as many stories to make you cry, which was nice. Much more uplifting stories.
8/10

Gods Behaving Badly

Gods Behaving Badly
By Marie Phillips
9781415947401 9 hours (book on CD)

Very funny! End felt rushed, unfortunately, I would have loved to have read more about this crazy family, and Alice and Neil of course. Well plotted, great characters. Loved the little jokes- Aphrodite, goddess of beauty= phone sex operator; Eros, god of love= born-again Christian, etc.
8/10

The Tipping Point

The Tipping Point
By Malcolm Gladwell
0316346624 291p

On par with Freakonomics. Intriguing, entertaining, enlightening. I can see why this is a best seller! I especially loved the Sesame Street disection, as it were. Definitely worth the time to read this!
9/10

Back Rose

Black Rose
By Nora Roberts
0515138657 355p

2nd in the 'In the Garden' trilogy. Ghosts, gardening, neither of which are very interesting to me. But the geneology was interesting, I'm glad they're getting closer to solving the puzzle that we all know the answer to already- Amelia. Didn't like how the cousin was written. Obviously, she's obnoxious and condescending, but it was too heavy handed. I'm tired of what seems to be a new shorthand with writers- if you want a character to be disliked, have them make a mean comment to the gay character. And the dog. And of course, then it's okay for the kids to tell her off, which I definitely disapproved of. I'm excited for the next book, as I'm sure it's Harper and Hayley.
8/10