Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer

My rating: 2 of 5 stars


Oskar is a highly intelligent 9-year old boy. Despite his intelligence that gives him a better understanding of the physical and historical aspects of the world, Oskar retains the emotions, confusion, and exasperation of a 9-year old. Oskar lost his father in the 9/11 attack. Oskar carries a secret he hasn't shared with anybody else. He was sent home from school soon after the attacks on 9/11 and was the first one home. There he found five messages from his father calling from one of the World Trade Towers on the answering machine, and he replaced the phone and kept the messages to himself. He finds a key in a vase when searching through his father's closet. This key sets Oskar off on a quest to find the story behind it, to find the secret that his father kept, in hopes that it would help him understand his dad better.
The story is one of loss and trying to understand loss.  The story of Oskar's grandparents runs parallel showing that loss and heartache is ever-present and for many not understandable.
I found the novel a chore to read.  I do not like the author's style of dialog where there is no line break between speakers. I think the story would have been stronger if kept to Oskar's actions.  He is a likable, real character and the grandparent's story cluttered his narrative.



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Pandora's Key: The Key Trilogy, Book One by Nancy Richardson Fischer
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Don't let a cover turn you off a book.  I did - and it was a mistake.  This cover seemed amateur to me and so the book occupied my 'to-read' shelve for a good while.  Then I saw a review which was very positive and took the plunge, telling myself that I would give it a chance for two or three chapters anyway.

Well I couldn't put it down.  The characters are very endearing mainly because they appear so real - full of selfishness and worries.

I enjoyed the dual story lines that ran parallel building the story, until WHAM! they collide when you least expect them to.

This is a page turner, a suspense-fantasy-thriller rolled into one.


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Froi of the Exiles by Melina Marchetta

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Plenty of action; a true page turner.  I haven't read Finnikin of the Rock and while Froi stands alone as a book, I would have had more background information had I read the first of the Lumatere Chronicles.  Still I was not disappointed.



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The Future of Us by Jay Asher

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


If you had the chance to see what your life would be like 15 years in the future, would you take it?

It’s 1996, and high school junior Emma and her neighbor Josh are best friends until an awkward, romantic moment creates tension. Then Emma gets a new computer and an AOL CD-ROM, which somehow allow her to access her future Facebook page when she goes online. She and Josh are able to read about what their lives will be like in 15 years, but what’s more, they discover that they can affect those future lives by their thoughts and actions in the present; everything they do in the present has an immediate impact on their lives in the future. Unfortunately, they don't always like what they see.

Can the two teenagers rewrite the future? Should they try?




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A Curse Dark as Gold by Elizabeth C. Bunce

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


This was OK, but definitely over the bounds of belief.  Nice descriptions.
On the brink of the Industrial Revolution, Charlotte and her sister Rosie are left to run the mill after their father dies unexpectedly. Almost everyone in the village of Stirwaters is dependent on the river-powered textile mill for their livelihood and the Miller sisters are determined to keep it running. Charlotte struggles to overcome one disaster after another and refuses to believe in the family curse that the villagers whisper about.
When Charlotte finds that her father had mortgaged the mill and payment is due, she despairs until a strange little man, calling himself Jack Spinner, arrives. He promises to spin straw into gold for them in exchange for her mother's ring.
Against her better judgment, Charlotte consents.
What price does she have to pay for enough gold to save her home, her mill and her village?




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The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Who would have thought that a book about cell culture could be so enjoyable. Believe me, I was skeptical.
The book tells the story of Henrietta Lacks, a black woman who showed up at Johns Hopkins Hospital in 1951 with an aggressive case of cervical cancer. Two samples were taken from her cervix, and the cells from these tissue samples became one of the greatest breakthroughs in cell culture history: the world’s first immortal human cell line.
The cells were unprecedented in their ability to grow and provided advances ranging from the polio vaccine, to gene mapping, to in vitro fertilization.  Henrietta’s cells have been blown up by nuclear bombs to test the effects of radiation, and sent into outer space to monitor the effects of zero gravity.  But, despite the huge importance of HeLa, not much was known about Henrietta Lacks the woman.
Her family knew even less about Henrietta’s contribution to the world. Although the cells were taken in 1951, the year she died, her husband and five children knew nothing about it. They didn’t find out until 20 years later.
The author manages to make this book a book with multiple interesting stories - a poor young woman from southern Virginia whose cervical cells would change the world; a girl who yearns to know who her mother was; researchers and their amazing scientific advancements; a family that sought to understand how someone could be dead and yet immortal.

Everyone can enjoy this book, whether you are scientifically minded or not, it is very readable and amazingly interesting.




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Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


As a child, Jacob Portman's grandfather told him fantastic stories of peculiar children with unbelievable talents. They were War refugees, like his grandfather, living on a remote island off the coast of Wales. His grandfather even had old weird photographs of the children that Jacob dismissed as photo manipulations. As he moves into his teenage years, Jacob stops believing the far-fetched stories and concentrates on leading a normal life.
All of that changes when Jacob is the sole witness to the frightening murder of his grandfather, a horrific tragedy that leaves him reeling in therapy. On his therapist’s suggestion, he finds himself headed to Wales to visit the old home where his grandfather grew up. Suddenly, his grandpa’s tales don’t seem so far-fetched after all— against all logic, the peculiar children from the photographs are alive and well, seemingly preserved in time. 
It isn’t long before Jacob finds himself in over his head and in possession of some peculiar qualities of his own as time manipulation and monsters come to the surface.
There are authentic period photos throughout the book showing the children; also the writing is extremely atmospheric.




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