What Are You Reading? - #2

I'm reading The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho.

This is my first book from him and I decided to read it because a friend of mine recommended it and I also wanted to know why he is so spread nowadays. I didn't know what this book is about I just picked it because it is not too long and is quite famous. I have read about 70 pages of it and I must say it is interesting. It has its own, slow pace, adventurous I might say but not in the way the others book I've recently read (e.g. Twilight). It makes you think about life in general, what is important, makes you ask yourself questions about your own life, your future.

I have never read a book like this, and I'm not saying I'm gonna read all of his book but this one is definitely worth reading.

 

I'm reading three books right now:

The first one is called The Elfstones of Shannara, and is a fantasy novel by Terry Brooks. It takes place 50 years after the end of The Sword of Shannara, and is basically about a boy who must protect an elf maiden from harm as she carries a seed to a certain place in order for a tree to be reborn.

The second one is a medical thriller entitled Critical, by Robin Cook, and it is about a surge of drug-resistant staph infections in three different hospitals all owned by the same people. Two people start to investigate, and I guess they discover more than they bargained for.

The third is a CSI:LV novel called Body of Evidence, and is by Max Allan Collins. The story revolves around two cases: one at an office building, and one which is a murder. I'm not very far into this one, but I like it so far.

 

I just finished reading Legally Dead by Edna Buchanan. It was about a guy named Michael Venturi who worked for the U.S. Marshals Witness Protection Program until a relocated bad guy abducted and killed two little girls in New Hampshire. Venturi takes actions that get the bad guy caught but ruin the case he had been about to testify in. He decides to quit but is fired first and relocates to Miami where he hooks up with his friend Danny, who he served with as a Force Recon Marine. While out fishing in the Glades one afternoon, Venturi comes across a man trying to kill himself. He stops him and takes him home where he discovers the man had lost everything because he was convicted in the court of public opinon (the press) of being responsible for the deaths of 2 astronauts. He wasn't, but his family have left him, he has lost his NASA job and now can't get even menial work, and is hounded by the press. Venturi comes up with the idea of using the skills he learnt working for the Witness Protection Program to help this man start a new life. He does so with the help of Danny, his mother in law Vicki who teaches etiquette to do so. Before the man can disappear though, he has to 'die', he must be declared 'legally dead'. Obviously, his 'death' has to be convincing enough to trick law enforcement, family and friends, and the press. So begins a plan that is 'a mix of Extreme Makeover, Mission: Impossible and CSI - the last in reverse'. It works, and Venturi and his team (which later includes a new girlfriend, a doctor,) begin to help other innocent people whose lives are being ruined by circumstances out of their control, to disappear and start again.
This makes up the majoirty of the plot, along with bits from the characters' private lives- Venturi is a widower, and we see him trying to find love again with the doctor, Vicki has troubles with her bad-boy son, Danny, a married father of three, becomes involved with another woman -until the last 10 or so chapters, where someone steals Venturi's laptop and one of the relocated people turns up dead, really dead. At the same time, several of the bad guys Venturi relocated also turn up really dead, and his former colleagues and the FBI begin pursuing him as a potential suspect.
I really enjoyed this book, although I was disappointed by the eventual bad guy - who it is was a shock to me, but their motive seemed kind of.... boring. The plot of the book was rather unusual I thought, kind of a crime novel in reverse, but the killer's motive is kind of run-of-the mill. That said, the actual final conclusion to the novel (what happens after the killer is revealed) is a good one, and the plot before the revelation of the killer and their motive is great, very fast moving. The dialogue isn't always fantastic - Danny has an annoying habit of calling Venturi 'bro', and both Vicki and Venturi's girlfriend call him 'Mikey' which was meant to be sweet but came off to me as annoying and making him sound about 10 years old. Also all of the characters had names ending in 'i' or 'y' - Mikey/Venturi, Danny, Keri, Vicki which was a little annoying too. But the whole idea behind the plot, and the plot itself, make these small annoyances bearable.

I'm now reading Dearly Devoted Dexter by Jeff Lindsay. It's the second book in the Dexter series. Dexter is a blood-spatter expert working for the Miami police, who has a dark secret....he's a serial killer. He's a serial killer with a difference though - he only kills bad guys. It follows on from the first Dexter book, which is the basis for the tv series Dexter, which I have seen up to the end of season 2 so far. I'm only into the second chapter of the book, but it's different from the series so far in that

Spoiler: Dexter series 1/series 2

In the book, La Guerta apparantly got killed by the Ice Truck killer who is still Dexter's brother while in the tv series she was there in series 2. Also, it's implied in the book that Deborah his sister knows what Dexter is, whereas she doesn't know in the tv series so far as I have seen it.

 

I finished The Fire by Katherine Neville.I was suprised to see a sequel to The Eight which is one of my favorite books.

The Fire was really good,the plot was very interesting.However the first chapters were not as mysterious and g0od as I would like.The next chapters were brilliant and I had a really g0od time reading the book

 

I just finished The Girls He Adored by Jonathan Nasaw. I think it was a good book, finished it in only a few days, and it gave a very interesting insight into the mind of a person with DID (Dissociative Identity Disorder). The ending was no surprise, it's what you expect to happen once you've gotten into the story, but it was a revealing and gripping reading.

 

I'm reading October Sky by Homer Hickam Jr.
It's the same book that the movie is based off of, and it's one of my favorites. But that could be because it's set in my home state.

"It was 1957, the year Sputnik raced across the Appalachian sky, and the small town of Coalwood, West Virginia, was slowly dying. Faced with an uncertain future, Homer Hickam nurtured a dream: to send rockets into outer space. The introspective son of the mine's superindendent and a mother determined to get him out of Coalwood forever, Homer fell in with a group of misfits who learned not only how to turn scraps of metal into sophisticated rockets but how to sustain their hope in a town that swallowed its men alive. As the boys began to light up the tarry sky with their flaming projectiles and dreams of glory, Coalwood, and the Hickams, would never be the same."

Everyone should read it. (Or at least watch the movie )

 

...hmmm look at my advatar and wonder what I'm reading!! Won't be hard...(whispers) my precious...

Lord of the Rings..

SpeedyMeg25 - loved the movie, one of these days I need to read the book hahah

 

I am currently reading "Captain Freedom: A Superhero's Quest For Truth, Justice, And The Celebrity He So Richly Deserves" by G. Xavier Robillard. It is freaking hysterical. Apparently the author used to write this super funny blog, and he's finally put together a book. Anyway, it's really, really funny so far- clever funny, that is- and if you're a fan of Christopher Moore and the like, then you'll probably love this one.

And it's a hell of a lot lighter reading than my last book- The Trial by Franz Kafka! :lol:

 

I just finished The Birth House by Ami MacKay and I really enjoyed it. I mentioned before it's about midwifery versus modern medicine in Nova Scotia in the early 1900s..it was very good. It really showed the struggle women dealt with and how basic rights were violated. It almost made me appreciate how far we've come.

Now I'm onto another Jodi Piccoult book called Salem's Falls. It's about a man who used to be a teacher and was falsely accused by a student of sexual harassment. He's just finished serving his time and is now starting all over again in a small town. I'll tell you more later.

 

I just finished Break No Bones by Kathy Reichs. It was really good and really descriptive. It's the 2nd book by her I've read. My husband bought me Bones to Ashes 2 weeks ago when I was really sick. So I guess I'm reading a book per week now.

I went out and bought 5 more of her books so I am stocked up for a while! If you've never read one of her books I definitely recommend reading one. They are awesome.

 

At the moment I'm reading The Redemption of Althalus by David Eddings. The second book.

 

I am reading "Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers" by Mary Roach.

"Stiff is an oddly compelling, often hilarious exploration of the strange lives of our bodies postmortem. For two thousand years, cadavers - some willingly, some unwittingly - have been involved in science's boldest strides and weirdest undertakings. In this fascinating account, Mary Roach visits the good deeds of cadavers over the centuries and tells the engrossing story of our bodies when we are no longer with them."

It's actually quite an interesting read, and pretty funny at times. Much better than I thought it would be.
But it came recommended to me from our County Coroner, so I figured it couldn't be too bad. :lol:

 

I'm reading "Life As We Knew It" by Susan Beth Pfeffer. It's about a asteriod hitting the moon and how everything changes because of it.