Books I Read in July

Full Dark, No Stars, by Stephen King

Four novellas. One was boring, kind of a less fun retread of Thinner (Fair Extension). One was alternately boring and horrid (1922). One was horribly compelling (Big Driver). And I can't remember the other one. :P Goodreads tells me it's A Good Marriage, which was actually pretty good, now that I recall.

Favorite Quote: "This was the Darker Life, where every truth was written backward."

An Object of Beauty, by Steve Martin

An observer's tale of larger-than-life personality Lacey Yeager and her trajectory through the art world. It was a sad follow-up novel after the beauty that was The Pleasure of My Company. I was really disappointed, which makes me sad because Pleasure is in my Top 3 Novels Ever. Also, I don't like being told by an art snob what good art is. Whatever, dude! It's called divergent tastes. :P

Favorite Quote: "I have found that--just as in real life--imagination sometimes has to stand in for experience."

The Silent Land, by Graham Joyce

This slim volume was being promoted on Goodreads, and the synopsis intrigued me. A British couple on holiday at a Swiss ski resort return from an early morning run down the mountain, narrowly surviving an avalanche, to find the hotel--and the village it's located in--completely deserted. There is a fair amount of adult content, so reader beware. It was trippy and kept me guessing until the end. I kind of dug the writing style too.

Favorite Quote: "They were an end-of-days couple, not naked in a garden but wrapped in layers in a snow-covered landscape where there were no more apples on the trees and women would no longer have to take the blame because the old lie had been covered over by snow."

Scarlett Fever, by Maureen Johnson

Fun sequel to Suite Scarlett. The mooning over the jerky boy was annoying and dwelt on too much, but, sadly, relatable. The plot was good and twisty. This particular flavor of YA often gets predictable, but Johnson manages to keep surprising me. Also, the writing is just superior. I tried to read a Meg Cabot book right after this, and I just couldn't do it because I was coming off better writing.

Heaven Is for Real, by Todd Burpo

If you haven't heard of this book, where have you been?? :P This book is written by a pastor, about his four-year-old son who visited heaven during appendix surgery. I've never really had doubts about the existence of heaven or whether or not it would be a place I'd want to spend eternity. I know some people struggle with not knowing the details, but that's never been a problem for me. So I didn't have quite the big reaction that most people probably would. I did really enjoy it, and it's a beautiful story. My favorite part was the story about the child the pastor and his wife lost through miscarriage before their son was even born. And the picture of Jesus. Really. If you ever want to know what Jesus really looks like, get this book. His eyes are incredible.

Crunch Time, by Diane Mott Davidson

I don't know what the deal is with these culinary mysteries. Sometimes I like them, and sometimes they annoy me. This one annoyed me. The heroine annoyed me. She's just irritating sometimes. There were a lot of plot threads that made the whole thing hard to follow.

Heads, You Lose, by Lisa Lutz and David Hayward

This whodunit was a little too gimmicky. Gimmicks can be fun, but not when they completely interfere with the story. It was kind of a meta-mystery, where each chapter would end with the co-authors' fictional e-mail exchanges about the progression of the story. The squabbling got old, and the mystery plot was off-the-wall and hard to follow at times. I think Lisa Lutz needs to stick to solo writing.

Favorite Quote: "Like most twice-widowed, Korea-vet, nature-loving, gun-enthusiast, bilingual, weed-connoisseur great grandfathers of five, he'd lived a full life."

A Stolen Life, by Jaycee Dugard

Warning: This is explicit. Jaycee does not mince words about what was done to her during her 18 years of captivity. It's all in her own word--she didn't use a ghostwriter or collaborate with anyone, so it has a unique voice. There are some weird things, like constantly switching verb tense, but you have to remember the woman only has a fifth grade education, since she was abducted at age 11. I wouldn't say I enjoyed it, but it's a joyful thing to read about this woman who held onto hope for 18 years, giving birth twice while she was still a child herself. Even now, she holds no hate in her heart, and that is something to see.