Did I ever mention that I don't actually have a goal? Hmmm...maybe I'll shoot for 50 books by December. Just for fun. I read so much it isn't really an effort. (Now, my REAL goal should be something like read LESS and mop the floor more, lol.)
So far for July:
13) The Ironwood tree
14) Lucinda's secret
15) The Wrath of Mulgarath
These are the last three books of the Spiderwicke Chronicles. Love the illustrations. (Tony DiTerlizzi) From his website:
"It all started with a mysterious letter left at a tiny bookstore for authors Tony DiTerlizzi and Holly Black. Its closing lines: "We just want people to know about this. The stuff that has happened to us could happen to anyone." Little could they imagine the remarkable adventure that awaited them, as they followed Jared, Simon, and Mallory Grace (and a strange old book) into a world filled with elves, goblins, dwarves, trolls, and a fantastical menagerie of other creatures. The oddest part is in entering that world, they didn't leave this one!"
16) A Beautiful Child by Matt Birkbeck:
"Sharon Marshall was brilliant......
But Sharon had secrets. Deep, disturbing secrets so shocking and complex, and so unique, they took more than a decade to unravel.
A Beautiful Child explores one of the most baffling cases in the annals of American law enforcement. It tells the gripping true story of a gifted, yet mysterious young woman caught in the violent world of the murderous felon and fugitive she called her father.
A complex web of deception thirty-years in the making, Sharon Marshall’s incredible story, and the horrifying events that followed, fueled a dedicated FBI agent determined to unravel her secrets. But his efforts were thwarted at every turn by a nation’s failure.
What unfolds is a heartrending testament to the profound courage and perseverance of one woman trapped in the grip of extreme evil."
I had promised myself some time ago that I was going to stop reading true crime stories- they are just too depressing. This came on the heels of reading a book about a local woman (lived in Schenectady at the time) who killed all but one of her children. (I think 7 of them.) That was 5 years ago and I haven't read one since then. but I read about this book online somewhere and was drawn to it, because it is more about Sharon, the little girl who was abducted, and not so much about the man who committed the horrendous crime of abducting her and raising her as his daughter, then marrying her.
Anyway, this was a pretty interesting book, and it was a page-turner. I just wish that there were more answers, but they just don't exist, sadly enough.
17) The Last Days of Dogtown by Anita Diamant:
"Fans of Diamant's The Red Tent who were disappointed by her sophomore effort (Good Harbor) will be happy to find her back on historical turf in her latest, set in early 1800s Massachusetts. Inspired by the settlement of Dogtown, Diamant reimagines the community of castoffs—widows, prostitutes, orphans, African-Americans and ne'er-do-wells—all eking out a harsh living in the barren terrain of Cape Ann. Black Ruth, the African woman who dresses like a man and works as a stonemason; Mrs. Stanley, who runs the local brothel, and Judy Rhines, an unmarried white woman whose lover Cornelius is a freed slave, are among Dogtown's inhabitants who are considered suspect—even witches—by outsiders. Shifting perspectives among the various residents (including the settlement's dogs, who provide comfort to the lonely), Diamant brings the period alive with domestic details and movingly evokes the surprising bonds the outcasts form in their dying days. This chronicle of a dwindling community strikes a consistently melancholy tone—readers in search of happy endings won't find any here—but Diamant renders these forgotten lives with imagination and sensitivity."
This was actually a good read. I won't tell you it was nearly as good as The Red Tent- it wasn't- but it kept my interest. You don't get too attached to any one character, and you could almost believe these as real chronicles of the Cape Ann area.
I am currently working on Among The Hidden and Tears of the giraffe.
