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A couple months ago, my book club picked The Storyteller by Jodi Picoult. If you have ever read a book of hers, you will understand how powerful they can be. If you haven’t read one of her books, you definitely should. First, here’s what the book is about.

Some stories live forever . . .

Sage Singer is a baker. She works through the night, preparing the day’s breads and pastries, trying to escape a reality of loneliness, bad memories, and the shadow of her mother’s death. When Josef Weber, an elderly man in Sage’s grief support group, begins stopping by the bakery, they strike up an unlikely friendship. Despite their differences, they see in each other the hidden scars that others can’t, and they become companions.

Everything changes on the day that Josef confesses a long-buried and shameful secret—one that nobody else in town would ever suspect—and asks Sage for an extraordinary favor. If she says yes, she faces not only moral repercussions, but potentially legal ones as well. With her own identity suddenly challenged, and the integrity of the closest friend she’s ever had clouded, Sage begins to question the assumptions and expectations she’s made about her life and her family. When does a moral choice become a moral imperative? And where does one draw the line between punishment and justice, forgiveness and mercy?

In this searingly honest novel, Jodi Picoult gracefully explores the lengths we will go in order to protect our families and to keep the past from dictating the future.

Let me start by saying I didn’t finish this the month we were reading it for book club. I was so excited to read a Picoult book again because it had been a while. But it was really hard for me to get into at first. By about half way through, I was hooked. I didn’t want to put it down and I HAD to know what happened next. I don’t feel like I am giving much away by saying there are flashbacks to the holocaust. The flashbacks were truly the most moving and gripping parts of the novel and it wasn’t pretty. This book and the images are going to stay with me for a long time. It was haunting to read and imagine being there. Yet so compelling, I needed to know more.

If you like Jodi Picoult, I think you’ll really enjoy this one as well. If you haven’t read one by her before, this might not be the best one to start with unless you are curious about the holocaust. It was a little slow moving at the beginning, so one of her others might be a better fit for a first time read.

Overall, I think you should definitely read this at some point. It wouldn’t be my pick for a beach read because I like those to be a little more “fluffy”. And I couldn’t read this one right before bed (I had some terrible dreams the one time I did that!). But the topic and depth of the story is something I would urge people to read.

Happy reading.

Sharp Objects is my Book Club’s pick for May, but I had already started it when we picked it. I just finished it last night and really loved it. Here’s a little run-down.

WICKED above her hipbone, GIRL across her heart
Words are like a road map to reporter Camille Preaker’s troubled past. Fresh from a brief stay at a psych hospital, Camille’s first assignment from the second-rate daily paper where she works brings her reluctantly back to her hometown to cover the murders of two preteen girls.

NASTY on her kneecap, BABYDOLL on her leg
Since she left town eight years ago, Camille has hardly spoken to her neurotic, hypochondriac mother or to the half-sister she barely knows: a beautiful thirteen-year-old with an eerie grip on the town. Now, installed again in her family’s Victorian mansion, Camille is haunted by the childhood tragedy she has spent her whole life trying to cut from her memory.

HARMFUL on her wrist, WHORE on her ankle
As Camille works to uncover the truth about these violent crimes, she finds herself identifying with the young victims—a bit too strongly. Clues keep leading to dead ends, forcing Camille to unravel the psychological puzzle of her own past to get at the story. Dogged by her own demons, Camille will have to confront what happened to her years before if she wants to survive this homecoming.

With its taut, crafted writing, Sharp Objects is addictive, haunting, and unforgettable.

This was Gillian Flynn’s first book, but it’s the last one of hers I have read. I read Gone Girl first and then Dark Places. I love Flynn’s writing and when this one came available to me through the library, I dropped what I was doing and started reading. I can’t wait for Flynn to release more books!!

I love a good mystery. I love it when a book keeps me guessing. There were a number of times I thought I knew who did it (I’m pretty good at figuring out who did it early on in tv shows…it’s weird), then something else made me jump to someone else, then I was just down right confused. I didn’t want to put it down when I was getting close to the end because it was getting exciting, and all my questions were getting answered.

Overall, if you have read Gone Girl or Dark Places and liked them, you will like this one, too. Flynn makes some creepy, yet likable characters and tells such an eerie story that you just can’t stop reading.

Since I am done reading my book for May, I’m trying to decide what to read next. I have a couple books I have started that I may try to finish reading. But if you’ve read something recently that I should pick up right away, let me know!!

Happy reading!

For April, my book club decided to The Happiness Project. I had heard a lot of really great things about it, so I was really excited to read this book. Here’s a little about it:

One rainy afternoon, while riding a city bus, Gretchen Rubin asked herself, “What do I want from life, anyway?” She answered, “I want to be happy”—yet she spent no time thinking about her happiness. In a flash, she decided to dedicate a year to a happiness project. The result? One of the most thoughtful and engaging works on happiness to have emerged from the recent explosion of interest in the subject.

The Happiness Project synthesizes the wisdom of the ages with current scientific research, as Rubin brings readers along on her year to greater happiness.

I was so excited to get started on this. Anything that can make me happy, keep me happy and generally boost my attitude, I am all for it! The first couple chapters I was really into it. After that, I sort of felt like “ok, I got it already.” I found that I was skimming and the only reading the chapters or subchapters that were interesting to me or that may be relevant for me.

I don’t think I’m going to be starting my own happiness project, but I am glad I read the book and I got some good ideas of some general ways to be happier that I hadn’t thought about before.

Happy reading!

A few of my friends absolutely love Glennon. I read her blog, but not religiously. She is so raw and true and very refreshing to read. She’s not afraid to show her murky past and is a truly beautiful soul. Here’s a little about her book:

For years Glennon Doyle Melton built a wall between herself and others, hiding inside a bunker of secrets and shame. But one day everything changed: Glennon woke up to life, committing herself to living out loud and giving language to our universal (yet often secret) experiences. She became a sensation when her personal essays started going viral. Her hilarious and poignant observations have been read by millions, shared among friends, discussed at water coolers, and have now inspired a social movement. In Carry On, Warrior,Melton shares new stories and the best-loved material from Momastery.com. Her mistakes and triumphs demonstrate that love wins and that together we can do hard things. Melton is a courageous truth-teller and hopespreader, a wise and witty friend who emboldens us to believe in ourselves and reminds us that the journey is the reward. Carry On, Warrior proves that by shedding our weapons and armor, we can stop hiding, competing, and striving for the mirage of perfection, to build better lives in our hearts, homes, and communities.

I did like the book. I thought parts really touched me and others weren’t really up my alley. I felt like it was a little choppy, but I believe that was intentional. I think she is a very inspiring person who does a wonderful job of wearing her life on her sleeves for the world to see. The good, the bad, and everything in between. I find that so admirable.

It was a good read and if you like any of the stuff she writes on her blog, you will definitely like this book. And the paperback just came out.

Happy reading!

For March, my book club read Maximum Insecurity. Here’s a little description:

After three decades as a successful ear surgeon, William Wright, MD is bored beyond belief. He dabbles with retirement, but finds idleness infuriating. He has to do something.

Then he sees an ad for a doctor’s position from the Colorado Department of Corrections at a supermax prison. Now that, he thinks, would be different. His wife has some thoughts on the matter too. She thinks her husband just lost his mind and is on a collision course with a prison shiv.

After his first day on the job, he wonders if she wasn’t onto something. His first patient is an arrogant, callous youth convicted of five cold-blooded murders. Dr. Wright has to steel himself not to bolt.

Nothing prepares a doctor for life at the Colorado State Penitentiary. He quickly discovers treating maximum security convicts is like treating recalcitrant murderous four-year-olds. Always willing to threaten their doctors with bodily harm, they are more interested in scamming drugs than treatment.

Told with self-depreciating humor and scathing wit, Maximum Insecurity describes Dr. Wright’s adventures practicing medicine in a supermax correctional facility without, he’s glad to say, getting killed even once.

I will start by saying, not only did I not like the book, no one in book club did either. The idea for the story was very interesting. It was the execution that wasn’t up to par. The writing was poor. And the author had a very low opinion of everyone around him (not just the prisoners). One friend made the comment that this would have been such an interesting story had it been written from the perspective of the nurses, guards, administration, etc. and not just this one hot-headed doctor. He acts as though he’s the smartest one there even though he came into this as an ENT and had to look up just about everything that came through him.

I was hoping I would like it. I find prisons fascinating and with a relative in the prison system (although, not in a supermax prison), I was hoping to like the book more than I did. So it wasn’t my favorite book, but I did learn a few things (even from his skewed point of view). This isn’t a book I would recommend you read. Stick to something else.

Happy reading!