#44 Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer

Oskar Schell's father died in the World Trade Center collapse on September 11, 2001. Or, at least, that's what the family always assumed, since his body was never discovered. But his father often created puzzles for Oskar to solve, so when Oskar finds a key hidden in his father's closet, he thinks his father's disappearance might be part of a grand puzzle for him to figure out, and he sets out to interview people all over greater New York City, trying to solve the puzzle, which he hopes will show that his father didn't actually die.

Although it's never stated outright in the book, I think Oskar has an autism-spectrum disorder, which makes him super-smart in some areas, but lacking some basic social-interaction skills. He asks people impolite questions, which make his mother cringe. But there are also glimpses of how any child of his age would react to the kinds of very serious things that are happening in his life.

I said that Oskar is the narrator of most of the book, and this brings up the one thing about the novel that I didn't like: occasionally, there are chapters written as letters - some from Oskar's grandfather to his son, some from Oskar's grandmother to Oskar. It takes a little while to figure out which of these characters is speaking sometimes, and the grandfather's writing style (with its lack of consistent punctuation) is difficult to read at times.

Some online reviews have complained about the book's ending. Without giving away any plot details, I will say that the story doesn't necessarily end how one would hope it would end, but there is definitely some closure given for Oskar and the other characters.

While the book didn't pass my ultimate test (Did it leave me crying in Taco Bell?), the last 20 or so pages did have me crying in my public library.

~Kris

#248 The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin

I enjoyed this one. I think 6th - grade me would have really loved it. There are a lot of characters to keep track of, but they're all pretty broadly defined; none of them has much detail. And the whodunit factor is surprisingly well done for this level of book; I've read a lot of mysteries but was still caught off guard when the mystery was revealed.

~Kris

What Every Body is Saying by Joe Navarro - # 93

I knew I had to read this book since my husband is fascinated by the subject of body language and is always telling me things he has read about it. I actually wondered if I had suggested this book to her but Christian said no he had never read it. So I am not sure who suggested it to her but it's for sure interesting to learn what people are saying to you without words. There are so many involuntary things that people do that give away their true thoughts or intentions. For example did you know that when you first say hello to someone if their eyebrows go up it is a sign they like you and are excited to see you. If their eyebrows stay where they are and they may even squint a bit they are not a fan of yours or find you not trustworthy. Pay attention it's pretty interesting. . .

There are a lot of great examples like this through the book that were very helpful to the author in his many jobs especially as an FBI agent trying to figure out if people were being honest in their discussions.

Although I found the author's discussions on body language pretty interesting I sometimes wondered if he himself suffered from a bit of an odd personality. He seemed to pick up body language cues but not so much other ones that seemed kind of common sense to me. Here is my favorite example in the book. He discusses how he had a meeting with a colleague for five hours let me repeat that FIVE hours (can you imagine??). Afterward the colleague was standing at the door and they were reassessing what they had discussed and he noticed the guy had one foot pointed towards the door. He then said "You really need to leave don't you?" The colleague said yes I'm so sorry I don't mean to be rude but I need to go make a phone call. The funny thing is I'm not so sure the colleague really needed to make a phone call but was thinking dude five hours of talking to you I really need a break!!!

If you can look over the odd things like that you can really learn a lot about things to be aware of in your every day life and what people are saying just by watching their feet or if they touch their neck. By the way touching of the neck is often a soothing technique people use when they are nervous or unsure of themselves to help calm themselves down. Who knew?

I would have loved to discuss this book with Karen after we both read it and put into practice some people watching to see what we both noticed!

#468 A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini

This is an incredibly well-told account of the lives of two women in Afghanistan, during the Soviet occupation, the civil war that followed, and the Taliban-controlled emirate that followed. It makes some very powerful statements of what life was like for women during this time, especially under Taliban-interpreted sharia law.

It's no secret that one of the things that drives me is an interest in other cultures - languages, history, architecture, etc. Hosseini feeds the culture nerd in me, detailing the cultural melting pot that is Afghani life. He includes dialog in Pashto and Uzbek (with, thankfully, translation) to help give the reader a better understanding of the rhythm of Afghan life. As a student of international culture, I was very happy with this aspect of the novel.

This is not a happy, light-hearted story. Mariam's husband is abusive - not only physically, but also emotionally; Hosseini does a good job of showing how an abuser can play with a victim's mind until they reach the point that they feel they deserve the abuse. The description of all that has been wrong in Mariam's life makes her redemption and sacrifice at the end so much more powerful.

~Kristopher

#17 First Love by James Patterson

Karen has several James Patterson books on her list.  I am sure someone recommended them to her, just not sure who.  I picked this one to read.  I haven't read any of James Patterson books other than maybe one of his Middle School books with one of my kids.  I am suspicious of James Patterson and his books because he has way too many out at once and no author can write that many books and publish that many without a lot of help.  I see this one has Emily Raymond as a co-author and after reading about her I see she's a ghost writer for young adult books.  I have a feeling Patterson has many ghost writers, but puts his name real big on top, bigger than the title, like the one above, so more books sell.  That just rubs me wrong so on principle I just avoid his books, but I chose to read Karen's books so by golly, I will read some of his books.

This was a super fast and easy read.  I didn't know what it was about, but like other reviewers have said, it's a Fault in the Stars type book.  Both characters are sick and so they decide to go on a road trip and make the best of their last days together. 

What I didn't like about the book is how it lacked detail.  I felt the writing was so amateur and immature.  It annoyed me.  The book could have been a good one if more was shared such as the surroundings, the people, more character development, etc...  None of that.  Just a super fast read.  Maybe that's how Patterson gets so many books written so quickly?

#194 In Cold Blood by Truman Capote

I know this one made Karen's list as it was the book chosen from our book club buddy, that is from Kansas, when we were reading books from our home state.  Neither one of us got around to reading it at that time and both of us had it on our list, until now.  I listened to the audio version of the book through the past week and felt the book to be so long and repetitive.  Parts of the crime was retold so many times I was just tired of hearing about it after awhile.  I did like hearing the backgrounds of the killers as it gives the reader some understanding why and how they were able to commit such crimes.  It really is just a sad story and I can't say I'm glad I read it, but I have been curious of it and have been wanting to read it so I'm glad I was finally able to get to it.

#2 The Good Girl by Mary Kubica

I hadn't even heard of this one until I saw it on Karen's list.  Apparently it is Mary Kubica's debut novel.  I enjoyed it. It is a suspense novel about a kidnapping gone wrong and then trying to figure out why and who's behind it all.  I saw on goodreads several people compared it to Gone Girl as it was under "if you liked Gone Girl you may like this one..." and many people/reviewers were disappointed as they felt this one was so poorly written in comparison.  I agree to a point.  This one was predictable, but it was so much cleaner that I actually preferred this one over Gone Girl.  I felt Gone Girl was smut and was/am embarrassed to admit I even read it.  This one doesn't go into all the sexual details which I prefer.  Call me a prude, I don't mind! 

As I was reading it I thought, Karen would love this one!  It's a page-turner with short chapters.  A very fast read with a twist at the end.  The last few books I've read have been so dark and depressing so I actually found this one kind of refreshing.