Book Chatter

J. Kaye over at J. Kaye’s Book Blog is hosting the 100+ Reading Challenge for 2009. This challenge appeals to me for many reasons. For one, you do not need to know what books you plan to read ahead of time. Another plus is that all books count. Sound good? For more info click here.

Here’s my list which will be updated regularly. Click on the titles to take you to my review of that book.

1. Have You Seen My Cat? by Eric Carl
2. Zen Shorts by Jon J. Muth
3. Twilight by Stephanie Meyer
4. Lyle and the Birthday Party by Bernard Waber
5. Mr. Grumpy’s Outing by John Burningham
6. Curious George Makes Pancakes by Margret and H.A. Rey
7. Brooms Are For Flying by Michael Rex
8. When Gorilla Goes Walking by Nikki Grimes
9. Piggy and Dad Go Fishing by David Martin
10. The Terror by Dan Simmons
11. Things I Want My Daughters To Know by Elizabeth Noble
12. The Sum of Our Days by Isabel Allende
13. Dreams From My Father by Barack Obama
14. The Laws of Harmony by Judith Hendricks
15. Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Last Straw by Jeff Kinney
16. Drood by Dan Simmons
17. Nineteen Minutes by Jodi Picoult
18. Very Valentine by Adriana Trigiani
19. The Prudent Mariner by Leslie Walker Williams
20. The Spare Room by Helen Garner
21. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Shaffer and Barrows
22. Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
23. Cemetery Dance by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child
24. Love and Biology at the Center of the Universe by Jennie Shortridge
25. The Middle Place by Kelly Corrigan
26. Prayers For Bobby by Leroy Aarons
27. Foreign Tongue by Vanina Marsot
28. Sunnyside Blues by Mary Carter
29. Rude Awakenings of a Jane Austen Addict by Laurie Viera Rigler
30. My Cousin Rachel by Daphne Du Maurier
31. Netherland by Joseph O’Neill
32. The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein
33. The Blue Notebook by James A. Levine
34. Ugly Man by Dennis Cooper
35. The Game On Diet by Krista Vernoff and Az Ferguson
36. The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon
37. Historic Photos of the Chinese in California by Hannah Clayborn (text and captions)
38. Fear The Worst by Linwood Barclay
40. Bridge of Sighs by Richard Russo
41. Skeleton Creek by Patrick Carman
42. The Angel’s Game by Carlos Ruiz Zafon
43. The Danish Girl by David Ebershoff
44. The Day the Falls Stood Still by Cathy M. Buchanan
45. Secrets of a Christmas Box by Steven Hornby
46. Betsy-Tacy by Maud Hart Lovelace
47. A Mercy by Toni Morrison
48. The Last Dickens by Matthew Pearl
49. Goldengrove by Francine Prose
50. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson
51. Of Bees and Mist by Erick Setiawan
52. The Return by Victoria Hislop
53. The Girl Who Played with Fire by Stieg Larsson
54. A Sportscaster’s Guide to Watching Football by Mark Oristano
55. The Art of Meaningful Living by Christopher F. Brown
56. Local Bounty by Devra Gartenstein
57. New Moon by Stephenie Meyer
58. Saving Sammy by Beth Maloney
59. Her Fearful Symmetry by Audrey Niffenegger
60. Forgetting English by Midge Raymond
61. In a Perfect World by Laura Kasischke
62. The Complete Stories of Truman Capote by Truman Capote
63. When She Flew by Jennie Shortridge
64. Accidental Lessons by David W. Berner
65. The Princess and the Pea by Lauren Child
66. Under the Dome by Stephen King

I first saw In The Woods, by Tana French while on vacation in Denver. I was in the Tattered Cover Bookstore and it was sitting on the bestseller shelf and it immediately caught my eye. BUT, and there is always a but, I was on vacation and did not want a heavy read. So I added it to my TBR list for another day.

After reading Jill’s review, I decided I had to read it and she was nice enough to send it to me! Thank you Jill! In case you were wondering, Jill did not like the book but her comments intrigued me enough to want to read it for myself.

There are two stories here. One centers around the murder of a 12 year old girl, the other centers around an earlier incident where three children went missing, with only one child being found. The child that was found, Adam Ryan who now goes by Robert Ryan, goes on to become a murder detective and has been assigned to the case of the 12 year old girl.Rob Ryan and his partner Cassie Maddox work the case and come to the conclusion that the two cases may be related.

As the case unfolds we learn more about the two friends that never returned and the bond that Adam(Rob) had with them. As you can imagine, any possible relationship between the two cases would naturally force Rob off of his current case, so he and his partner keep it from their superior. This is easy to do for awhile since no one on the force knows of his involvement with the first case except for his partner, Cassie.

I was touched by this book. French does an excellent job of describing what it’s like to be kid. Poor Rob(Adam), besides knowing that there could be a connection between the two cases, really cannot remember anything about what happened to him or his friends. This is something he lives with daily. He holds the key to the mystery yet he is not capable of providing the answers.

Cassie understands this and knows how to be around him…when to step in, when to take a step back. Their relationship can be compared to that of a married couple. Innocent bickering, completing one another’s sentences, etc. I thoroughly enjoyed them and found their friendship to be charming. When a third detective by the name of Sam is added to the investigation, he steps right into the investigation without batting an eye. I don’t know if French intended it but the threesome reminded me very much of the Adam and his two friends that disappeared. I was touched by this.

I won’t go into how the book ended for obvious reasons but if you enjoy a character driven plot and don’t mind a lot of descriptive details, you will enjoy In The Woods as much as I did. I think anyone reading it can relate to summers of years past where friends were everything to you and all you had to do was play and have a good time.

Tana French has a follow up to this book titled The Likeness. It features some of the characters from In The Woods. My copy of In The Woods had the first chapter of The Likeness in it and I have to say, it held my attention. If you want to read more about The Likeness, check out this review posted by Trish over at Hey Lady! Whatcha Readin’?

Chatting with friends about books and life…