The Pillars of the Earth

The Secrets of a Fire King

I read this book because I loved Kim Edwards' other book, The Memory Keeper's Daughter. This book was a collection of short stories (which I almost always love - it breaks up the monotony of depressing novels I read.)

The first few stories were really great but when I got to the story the book was named for, I was not impressed at all. I felt some of her stories had really well developed characters and interesting story lines, but others were flat and blended together.

The Time Traveler's Wife

I loved this book! I actually started it way back in the summer (before we left for Ireland) and just finished it last week.

This story is a tricky one to explain (read a description on Amazon if you want). I really loved this book because it did a great job of showing the power of love, despite whatever odd happenings life throws at us. I actually cried at the end of this one (a book hasn't done that to me in YEARS!)

Never Let Me Go

This story started out a little slow and it was hard to really figure out what was going on until I read a review of it online. Sadly, it ruined the story for me a little bit and I lost interest. I'm sure if I hadn't gone and ruined the surprise for myself I would have enjoyed it.

I guess you could classify this one a science fiction (which I usually don't go for). It deals with the issue of human cloning, stem cells, and issues like organ harvesting. It circles around a bunch of students raised in a strange school - their future already determined for them (clones who will donate their organs). It was interesting to see the point made through fiction that while stem cell and cloning might seem like an OK idea to some people, it's impossible to remove the human aspect of it all - emotions.

The Art of Mending

This story really hit home for me. It centers on 3 siblings, 2 sisters and a brother. The youngest sister is asking for the help of her siblings in coping with trauma that took place early in her childhood - the mistreatment and emotional abuse she suffered from their mother. Unwilling to believe her accusations at first, they both slowly dig up memories they had buried deep in themselves for years and are finally able to reach some truth and understanding in the matter.

The story the youngest sister told reminded me A LOT of the relationship my mother had with her own mother. The time I was reading this book couldn't have been any better either, because I had just recently seen a show on TV about the studies of infants and the emotional bonds they form with their parents early in their lives.

Great story!

18 Seconds

This book was better than I anticipated it being. The story is interesting because it starts out by jumping back and forth between several seemingly unrelated stories. Many of them were stories centering around crimes or detectives with the central story focusing on a blind woman who is able to see the last 18 seconds of a person's life by touching their dead body. She has been using her 'gift' to help detectives and police officers solve difficult crimes and is called to one of the crimes mentioned in the book - eventually the stories all weave together into one story.

Really good read - maybe I'm just partial to the crime drama, being a big Law & Order fan...