Lowboy by John Wray

So here's the synopsis of my most recent read:

Lowboy centers on New Yorker, Will Heller, a 16-year-old, paranoid schizophrenic who has stopped taking his antipsychotic medication and wandered away from the mental hospital he's been in for a year and a half.  He's gone underground, literally, into the subway tunnels believing that the world will end within a few hours and that only he can save it.  While Will wanders New York's underground, his mother Violet and Detective Ali Lateef search for him.  As Lateef tracks Will and gains some startling insight into Violet, the reader is taken on several hallucinatory journeys, including chilling descriptions of the subway system and an imaginary river flowing beneath Manhattan.

It sounded, to say the least, interesting to me and was even dubbed by many reviewers as the "next American classic". The parallels between this book and Catcher In the Rye is obvious and I had hoped the actual story would follow in those footsteps but alas, I must have been on my own hallucinatory mind trip.  I liked this book hardly at all!  I pretty much skimmed or skipped through all of Will's chapters because it made me feel schizo (and maybe this is a good thing and shows the artists "abilities but to me it was annoying and contrived).  There were times during Violet's chapters where I felt as though her story was going to lead me somewhere but in the end it was predictable and depressing (if I want to feel that, I'll turn on Fox News).  Most of the time while reading this book I felt like I had just smoked a doob and tried to watch the Naked Lunch (not recommended!):  Weird, jumbled, confusing, not enjoyable.  Don't read this book and if you do, don't say I didn't warn you!

Sing Them Home by Stephanie Kallos

Ugh! (Not a good way to start my most recent read, huh?) I don't know what it is with my picks lately but I'm just not feeling the woe-is-me characters that seem to be inhabiting every book I pick. Seriously, could we have some upbeat likable characters please!?

So here's the synopsis of my latest: In 1978, Hope Jones, a Nebraskan mother with MS is swept away by a tornado, never to be seen again. She leaves behind Larken, Gaelen and Bonnie as well as her physician (not DOCTOR!!!) husband Llewellyn. Fast forward to 2003 when Llewellyn is struck and killed by lightening while the dumb ass is golfing during a ginormous thunderstorm. In the aftermath, the three "children" return home for the week-long funeral "celebration". Larken is now a 178 lb. professor of art who uses food as her "everything" - her only real relationship is with a 3-year old; Gaelen is a sex addict/weatherman (not meteorologist) who can't commit; Bonnie is a 31-year-old, spinster who lives in a converted garage/shack and makes her living blending smoothies in her spare time while the majority of her time is spent obsessively collecting garbage found on the side of the road that she believes are remnants from her mothers life.

From that, you may wonder why I would pick this up in the first place. Well, I had read this author before (Broken For you) and really enjoyed. I should say she's a good writer but I guess I've just had it up to here with characters who have no redeemable qualities. The only part of the book I really enjoyed was the diary portions of Hope's. The only reason I continued reading to the end was to find out what the big secret was that being kept. I wouldn't recommend this book but maybe that's just me. I feel like reading a sure thing now...either the 7th Harry Potter (for the 3rd time) or Breaking Dawn (the last in the Twilight series). We'll see.

Straight Man by Richard Russo

My latest is about William Henry Devereaux Jr. ("Hank") - a 50-year-old college professor at a small rural Pennsylvania university. In the course of a single week (of course while his wife is away, tending to her nutty father), Devereaux will have his nose mangled by an angry colleague, imagine his wife is having an affair with more than one friend, wonder if a curvaceous adjunct is trying to seduce him with peach pits, and threaten to execute a goose on local television. All this while coming to terms with his philandering father, the realization that his youth is a mere thing of the past, and the ominous failure of certain vital body functions.

This is the 3rd Richard Russo that I've read and it's also my least favorite. In fact, out of 5 stars? I give it a generous 3 (really I give it 2 1/2 but I'm trying to be nice here...okay so 2 stars...I give it 2 stars). It tried too hard to be clever and witty while in the end it was annoying and mundane...depressing really. The characters were all a bunch of putzes (the most likable character in the book was the goose) and more than a handful of times, I wanted to put it down and start something else. In reality, I skimmed the last half of the book but my recommendation to you would be not to put yourself through this...don't read it at all...waste of time.

Lily's Ghost by Cheryl Drake Harris

First of all...I've been very lackadaisical about posting my recent reads. I actually finished this book about a week ago but just haven't had the gumption to post about it...most likely because it was only okay.

So this book is about a woman, who, after becoming a doctor in the early 1970s, decides to enlist in the army to go to Vietnam in order to use her expertise to try and save some lives. The novel follows the aftermath and PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder) that the main character suffers from after returning home. Five years after returning from the war, she's married to a man she never really loved but more importantly she is mother to a boy who helps her maintain the strength that keeps her sane. Eventually, her flashbacks and panic attacks lead her husband to an extra-marital affair and subsequent divorce and custody fight. The story is basically one woman's struggle to find a way out of her past experiences and her fight at not letting the war she can't seem to forget from taking her son away forever.

This book was only okay. There was a ton of back and forth between Vietnam and her present day. I was engrossed in the custody fight part and the PTSD issues she suffered from but the parts where she remembered back to her Vietnam experience bored me. It didn't seem to have a place in the novel and mostly I read the first sentence of those paragraphs and quickly skipped on to the "good part". I will say that the writer did a great job at getting the reader "mad" at the philandering and unfair husband while at the same time seeing the need for the main character to get some much needed therapy. The characters, however, were poorly developed (other than the main character) and the inclusion of new story lines that didn't seem to have a point or never had a reason for being in the book left this reader floundering. In essence, I say, don't waste your time with this one.

The Echo Maker by Richard Powers

I am now onto my next novel: The Echo Maker by Richard Powers (a Pulitzer Prize finalist). This is a book about Mark, a 27-year old involved in a near-fatal accident. As a result he suffers a head trauma and his sister is forced to return to their hometown to nurse her brother. When Mark comes out of his coma, however, he believes the woman who looks and acts just like his sister is really an imposter. In the end, Mark is diagnosed with Capgras syndrome and the results of this and the circumstances that surround the real cause of his accident leave no one's life unchanged. Sounds riveting!!! I can't wait to read this. I'll let you know how it all turns out!

Update:  So, I've finished The Echo Maker by Richard Powers. I'm thinking that I didn't like the book. I read it through but could have (maybe I did) skip about 100 pages of what this layperson calls wordy bullshit. I guess I'm not intellectually keen enough to see the intricacies of the plot and the parallels that blah blah blah...Seriously, could this writer be more pedantic? I mean the sheer wordiness was enough to put me to sleep any number of times (actually, it did put me to sleep). Now, I know that I should probably be saying something highly intelligent about a "Pulitzer Prize nominee" but there is a reason he didn't win the prize. I'm just not sure why it was nominated. Now this isn't to say that someone else may find it to be a thrilling (I don't see how that is possible) and unforgettable (what the hell was it even about?), however, this reader hopes to get lucky with her next pick.

Book of the Dead by Patricia Cornwell

I just finished Patricia Cornwell's most recent book, Book of the Dead (her 15th novel staring Kay Scarpetta) and I have to say, I wasn't impressed. This has been my least favorite of the series (a series I have loved in the past and have anticipated every new release with bated breath). Reading it I felt confused and lost. It was as if Cornwell was trying to reinvent her writing. Every time I picked the book up to read, I had to re-read a few pages just to remind myself what was going on. Also, the characters that I had grown to "care" about from previous books had turned hateful and unsympathetic causing me not to care about their welfare. I hope Cornwell gets back on track and stops trying to be so "profound" and "literary" in her writing and returns to what has worked for her in the past.

Two Little Girls In Blue by Mary Higgins Clark

I know it's been a while but things have been crazy and I simply haven't been up to updating my blog. But, here I am back, with a gusto ready to write my hands off.

So here's what's been going on: Had some sad news on Monday and so had some minor surgery yesterday (Wednesday). It went well and I was home by 11 am. I was even able to cook dinner last night (chicken fingers with fries, cole slaw and baked beans). I am actually in more pain this morning but with the pain killers I was prescribed, it isn't too bad. (The pain killers are actually pretty mild and don't do much but they at least mask the pain somewhat).

Jim and I are still going to PIB on Monday and I really can't wait. What do we plan on doing while there you ask. Well, golfing every day (on the best 9-hole course in the continental US: Saunders Resort-and what a resort it is), hanging out by the lake getting tan, or watching the rain if the sun refuses to shine (it doesn't make a difference to me I love it there no matter what), maybe playing some cornhole, playing on the wave runner (if it works, who knows, it was on its last leg last year so it may be out of commission or it may not be in the water yet), playing putt-putt (PIB has the best putt-putt course; it is called: The War of 18 Holes) and hanging with my husband.

Oh, by the way, I have to tell all those tens of people out there reading this: It is my favorite dessert month in the city of Cincinnati!!! The best ice cream ever (Graeter's) has my favorite flavor available until the end of the month: STRAWBERRY CHIP!!! It is delicious. If you have a chance to taste it, you definitely should. The great thing about it is how mild and creamy it is (not to mention the enormous chocolate chunks - just look at it!). For those of you saying, "I hate those huge chunks of strawberries in strawberry ice cream", rest easy; Graeter's doesn't do that. They blend it so well and, hold on, I'm going to go eat a bite. Ok, I'm back. Delicious!!!

Funny mistyped word: Boing instead of going. For example: Jim and I are still boing to PIB. That's funny. (I just chuckled at myself). I think from now on, I'll just leave it as it because it makes for funnier reading.

What I'm reading:

It's okay but not Mary Higgins Clark's best work. It seems like she wrote this book in a rush. The dialogue is often forced and the story line seems almost undeveloped. The mystery itself seems obvious although, I'm not finished so I'll let you know if I'm right or not. I know what you're thinking: Of course you're right Muir. When aren't you?

I'm only a few pages from the end and I have to figure out what to read next. Lately I've been in the mood to read uncomplicated, "easy reads". We'll see.

That's it for now, I'll try and entertain you all again before I leave for PIB. Merry summer to you all.