Book Chatter

The Bullet
By Mary Louise Kelly
(Gallery Books, Hardcover, 9781476769813, March 17, 2015, 368pp.)

The Short of It:

Interesting premise but the execution was a little heavy-handed and the outcome, predictable.

The Rest of It:

Caroline Cashion is a 37-year-old professor at a university. She’s got a slew of brothers and is very close to her parents so she’s rather surprised to find out that the pain in her wrist is due to a bullet that is lodged in her neck. An MRI and CT scan reveal what is absolutely impossible for her to believe. Shot? How could she have been shot? There’s no scar to indicate an entry point and yet, there it is, the bullet, clear as day.

The bulk of the story centers around how this bullet managed to find its way to her neck. This alone, makes for an interesting read. It started off slow for me but mid-way through, I was pretty curious to know the scoop and the writing, which started off a little forced, seemed to even out and become more fluid. I enjoyed this middle section quite a bit.

By the last third of the story, I was bothered by the romantic interest. It seemed a little out-of-place, given Caroline’s preoccupation with discovering the truth. As for the ending, it was predictable but given where the story was going, I feel that the author did the best she could with the ending. I think for it to have been any different, something should have happened much earlier on to change the outcome.

I wanted it to be more suspenseful than it was and maybe include more forensics than it did but overall, it wasn’t a bad way to spend an evening.

Source: Sent to me by the publisher via Edelweiss
Disclosure: This post contains Indiebound affiliate links.

Sunday Matters

Strange title for this post, huh? Is it possible to sprain your eyes from too much eye rolling? This past week was a blur. When I really think about it, nothing huge happened. Just a bunch of tiny things to set the eyes rolling:

Teen left for choir tour. Routine was off because of it. He comes back later tonight.
I was told that I have to change offices at work. No more shameless reading spot. No more working in the library building. This is rather huge. I’ve been here for a really long time. Not sure how my early mornings will work now. I move in 2-3 weeks and they don’t know where I am going yet.
The Girl did something to her wrist while high jumping. Then she had something going on with HER eye. The drama!
Still cannot figure out my comment issue with WordPress. They can’t figure it out either but I am unable to respond by phone at all, and when I respond via desktop, all of my email header stuff continues to be included. It’s a serious drag because I love to reply to comments.

There’s more but I am done with it all. Ready to start a new week.

Right Now:

I am sitting in my track pants and attempting to be a functioning human being. Coffee helps. We will hit church later this morning and then the rest of the day is up for grabs. Errands. Probably have to do some since we hit Santa Barbara yesterday but I am in denial about what we have to eat in this house.

This Week:

I will be cleaning out my office space. I’ve moved a lot while working at the university but mostly it’s all been within the same building. Each time I’ve weeded through stuff so I don’t have that much junk but I have a lot of books from all the books sales I’ve taken advantage of. Do you keep a bookshelf of fave reads at work? I do. It’s mostly classics. I am going to be really sad to be leaving the library.

Let’s see, what else? Rehearsals will be back in full swing now that break is over. The Girl has the lap-a-thon for track, SAT prep for The Teen, and I have a hair cut appointment. Oh, I need to pick up my new glasses too. I hope they don’t make me look like a total dork. The Teen said they are hipster-ish.

Reading:

I finished Blue Sun, Yellow Sky. I will write-up my thoughts on that one shortly. I am currently reading The Bullet. It’s starting off so-so for me. I figured it would start with a bang (pun intended) but it’s a little slow for me. At least the beginning is.

I may start We All Looked Up. I need to light a fire under my butt and what better way than to read a story about a mega asteroid coming to Earth?

We All Looked Up

Watching:

I finished Breaking Bad and loved it to pieces. I asked for recommendations on Facebook and so I started White Collar, but it’s a little slow for me! Matt Bomer is easy on the eyes, but I think I will save him for American Horror Story. He’s joining the cast! I settled on Mad Men. It’s hard not to watch that one.

Making:

I picked up some beans to make soup with the leftover ham from last week. I’m sure it will make for some tasty lunches this week.

Grateful for:

I am so glad that we live close to the ocean. Not that close, about a 70 mile drive one way, but close enough to make the trip when we feel like it. After spending the day at the beach yesterday, I feel totally refreshed.

Okay, now it’s your turn. What are you doing today?