Reminiscent of A Beautiful Mind, Ordinary People and The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time, Still Alice packs a powerful emotional punch and marks the arrival of a strong new voice in fiction.

My Thoughts:

This is one of the most incredible books I have ever read.  It is going into my top 10 all-time favorites.  It is the story of 50 year old Alice Howland, a cognitive psychology professor and researcher at Harvard, who is diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer's Disease.  The story is told from Alice's perspective as she progresses through the disease.  It is sad and heartbreaking, but also a beautiful story of familial relationships.  We see the effect of the disease on Alice's husband and three children, the most striking of which is between her and her somewhat estranged daughter, Lydia.  Once you start it, you will not be able to put it down.  It is wonderfully written and highly engaging.  I immediately gave the book to my sister-in-law to read (my mom is next!).  I cannot rave about this book enough!!  Wonderful story.

Genre:  General Fiction
ISBN:  9781590307205
193 pages My Rating:  4 stars Meets the following challenges:2010 100+ Reading Challenge2010 Reading From My Shelves Project 
Anna has grown up haunted by her younger sister's death. In the life she constructs as a barrier against the emotional wreckage of her family tragedy, Anna settles comfortably into a career as a teacher of deaf children. But a challenge arrives--in the form of a young girl. Adrea's disarming vulnerability and obvious need for love offer Anna the possibility of reconnecting with the world around her--if she has the courage to open her heart.

In this debut novel, Rachel Stolzman has crafted a moving and poetic witness to love's power to transcend grief, pain, and the constraints of human language. The Sign for Drowning is a poignant story of loss and the unexpected occasions of grace that enable us to heal from it and grow beyond it.

My Thoughts:

This is a wonderful story of loss and love centered around Anna and her adopted child, Adrea, who is deaf.  Anna witnessed the accidental drowning of her 5 year old sister, Megan, when she was just 8 years old.  Although her family remained intact, Anna and her parents have never fully recovered from the loss.  After the drowning, Anna and her parents begin to drift apart, each grieving, but splintered as a family.  In order to try to communicate with Megan, Anna begins studying American Sign Language.  She grows into an adult and becomes a teacher for hearing-impaired children.

The story is told from Anna’s POV as an adult and her path to healing through the adoption of Adrea, a child who is deaf.  The author intersperses snippets of the past to give us a better sense of Anna and who she is in the present and how she came to be where she is.  We also learn how Adrea came into her life.  There are many beautiful moments in the story between Adrea and Anna that will bring tears to your eyes.  The author is able to capture the raw emotions of Anna as she tries to understand and come to terms with the loss of her sister through the adoption and mothering of Adrea.

This is a beautifully written story and a quick read at only 193 pages, but it’s very raw and emotional.  I recommend it highly.

Other blogger reviews:

StephTheBookworm

My Thoughts:

Cracked Up to Be is the story of Parker Fadley, a mean-spirited perfectionist who has a huge secret that is destroying her “perfect” life. This is a quick and easy YA read, and, although I could feel for Parker at times, I did not find her character very likeable. I thought, at first, that she was being mean to people because she didn’t want anyone to be close to her due to her "secret". But, as I continued to read the story, I got the impression that she was always a bit mean-spirited and the situation she found herself in just made it a worse.

I really enjoyed how this story was told, from present-day conversations and issues, to flashbacks of the night her life changed forever. It really tied together nicely and I found it a very compelling way to tell the story. I applaud the people around Parker who were trying very hard to help her, even though she keeps pushing them away. I could relate to Parker’s panic and anxiety attacks, even though she didn’t want to readily admit that that’s what was happening to her! Her nervous tick was also very interesting! You could really tell that she needs intensive help to deal with her issues.

Overall, this was a good story about how your “perfect” life can change in an instant. I would have liked a bit more information on her “secret” and about the ending of the book. I can’t say what exactly without giving away the story, though!! I just want to know exactly what happened in the aftermath of the “secret”. Coming from a teen’s point of view, this story was especially interesting and I found it very believable. I would definitely recommend this book to any YA fans!

My Thoughts:

I absolutely adored DEEP END OF THE OCEAN. I thought it was phenomenally written, with raw emotion and deep character development. When I saw that there was a sequel, I was ecstatic!  I've been curious what happened to the beloved Cappadoras'. 

Let me start off with a brief synopsis of the book, courtesy of Amazon.com:

“In the crowded greenroom of a porn-movie production, hundreds of men mill around in their boxers, awaiting their turn with the legendary Cassie Wright. An aging adult film star, Cassie Wright intends to cap her career by breaking the world record for serial fornication by having sex with 600 men on camera—one of whom may want to kill her.

Told from the perspectives of Mr. 72, Mr. 137, Mr. 600, and Sheila, the talent wrangler who must keep it all under control, Snuff is a dark, wild, and lethally funny novel that brings the presence of pornography in contemporary life into the realm of literary fiction.”

This is the first book I’ve read of Palahniuk’s and, given the accolades I’ve heard about him as an author, I was sadly disappointed. I thought it was the most bizarre book I’ve ever read and it took two days of my life that I’ll never get back. The book itself didn’t seem to have much of a plot that I could figure out. It seemed to me that the author tried to imagine every ridiculous situation that he could put into this book just for shock value. It just came off as silly. The ending was just as ridiculous, if not more so than the rest of the book.

I will say that the author’s writing style is very engaging and it is a fast read, but that’s really all the positive emotion I can muster for this particular book. I won’t give up on Palahniuk yet, but I’m going to do a bit more investigating to find his higher rated books next time!

If you’ve read any of Palahniuk’s books, please let me know which ones you’d recommend!

What would you do if you saw your adopted child’s face on a “missing child” postcard? Would you rush to find the truth? Or would you toss the card without a second thought?

LOOK AGAIN explores this very issue. Ellen Gleeson legally adopted Will two years ago, but when she sees his face looking back at her on a “missing child” postcard, she becomes obsessed with finding out the truth. From the very first page, the reader is pulled into Ellen’s world as she struggles to uncover the truth about her son’s adoption and learn more about the child on the postcard. Are they the same boy? What will Ellen do if they are? Can she just walk away knowing she might have another mother’s child?

I found Ellen to be very realistic and believable. I could imagine myself in her situation and struggling with the “what-ifs”. It was utterly heartbreaking to read at times; Ellen’s emotions are so raw that I felt like I was right there with her, experiencing the things she was experiencing, on the brink of tears. I’m not sure that I could be as strong as her character was!

This is a great book; fast-paced, with lots of twists and turns to keep you guessing. The end was tidied up quite nicely, although I was a bit surprised by it!

This is the first book I’ve read by this author and I am looking forward to reading others! What Scottoline books would you recommend to a new reader of her’s?