So Many Books, So Little Time

From Goodreads:  An unconventional woman. A deadly enemy. A clash of intrigue, deception, and desire. . . . 1525: Artist Susanna Horenbout is sent from Belgium to be Henry VIII’s personal illuminator inside the royal palace. But her new homeland greets her with an attempt on her life, and the King’s most lethal courtier, John Parker, is charged with keeping her safe. As further attacks are made, Susanna and Parker realize that she unknowingly carries the key to a bloody plot against the throne. For while Richard de la Pole amasses troops in France for a Yorkist invasion, a traitor prepares to trample the kingdom from within.Who is the mastermind? Why are men vying to kill the woman Parker protects with his life? With a motley gang of urchins, Susanna’s wits, and Parker’s fierce instincts, honed on the streets and in palace chambers, the two slash through deadly layers of deceit in a race against time. For in the court of Henry VIII, secrets are the last to die. . . . My Though...

From Goodreads:  Dark allegory describes the narrator’s journey up the Congo River and his meeting with, and fascination by, Mr. Kurtz, a mysterious personage who dominates the unruly inhabitants of the region. Masterly blend of adventure, character development, psychological penetration. Considered by many Conrad’s finest, most enigmatic story. My Thoughts:  I never had to read this in high school or college so I have always thought that I was missing something.  After reading it, I see now that it wasn't that big of a deal.  Let me just put it out there, this is a weird book.  I understand that it is exploring man's inner darkness as well as the atrocities committed by imperialists in Africa but the story is hard to follow.  It is definitely well-written in that it reads as though you are hearing a story someone is telling you.  But because of the way it is written, it is difficult at times to follow.  The narrator's obsession with Kurtz was...

From Goodreads:  Soon after Bette Robinson quits her horrendous Manhattan banking job like the impulsive girl she's never been, the novelty of walking her four-pound dog around the unglamorous Murray Hill neighborhood wears as thin as the "What are you going to do with your life?" phone calls from her parents. Then Bette meets Kelly, head of Manhattan's hottest PR firm, and suddenly she has a brand-new job where the primary requirement is to see and be seen inside the VIP rooms of the city's most exclusive nightclubs. But when Bette begins appearing in a vicious new gossip column, she realizes that the line between her personal life and her professional life is...invisible. My Thoughts:  I received this book in a book exchange; it didn't seem like something I would like but I figured I should give it a chance.  It turned out be something I didn't like.  It moved slow, the characters were shallow and not super likable and it seemed about a hundred pages...

From Goodreads:  In sixteenth-century Hungary, Countess Elizabeth Báthory tortured and killed over six hundred servant girls in order to bathe in their blood; she believed this brutal ritual would preserve her youth and beauty Danica, a young forensic psychologist, is drawn to Báthory’s legend. She has moved from Canada to England to work at Stowmoor, a Victorian insane asylum turned modern-day forensic hospital. One of her patients, the notorious Martin Foster, murdered a fourteen-year-old girl in homage to Báthory. He cultivates his criminal celebrity and Danica struggles to maintain a professional demeanor with the charismatic Foster as she begins to suspect that his activities may be linked to a cabal that idolizes Báthory. Danica’s life in London becomes increasingly complicated when Maria, a glamorous friend from Danica’s past, arrives to do archival work in the city. She claims to have discovered Báthory’s long-lost diaries and slowly reveals horrific passages to Danica. A...

From Goodreads:  From the Giller Prize-nominated author of Stanley Park comes a novel about the clash of art and advertising, the cultish grip of celebrity, and the intense connections that form in times of crisis.An unidentified man storms a television studio where KiddieFame, a controversial youth talent show, is being filmed. He is armed with an explosive device, and issues only a single demand, an interview with Thom Pegg, a disgraced former investigative journalist, down on his luck and working for a tabloid. The demand surprises everyone, Pegg most of all. So it is that Pegg finds himself inside the studio, in a position to uncover the truth.Outside, as the hostage taking heads into its third day, enthralled and horrified onlookers watch the drama unfold through a constant stream of media and rumours. In the throes of this crisis two characters — one running from former glory and the other from corporate burnout — meet and instinctively connect. Eve is an Olympic ...

Ten years in the making and a masterpiece of reportage, "Columbine" is an award-winning journalist's definitive account of one of the most shocking massacres in American history. It is driven by two questions: what drove these killers, and what did they do to this town? ***** "On April 20, 1999, two boys left an indelible sta ...more From Goodreads:  Anna is not sick, but she might as well be. By age thirteen, she has undergone countless surgeries, transfusions, and shots so that her older sister, Kate, can somehow fight the leukemia that has plagued her since childhood. The product of preimplantation genetic diagnosis, Anna was conceived as a bone marrow match for Kate -- a life and a role that she has never challenged...until now. Like most teenagers, Anna is beginning to question who she truly is. But unlike most teenagers, she has always been defined in terms of her sister -- and so Anna makes a decision that for most would be unthinkable, a decision that will...

From Goodreads:  Isaac's Storm, The Devil in the White City, and Thunderstruck have all proven Erik Larson's ability to adroitly craft multilayered nonfiction. In his new In The Garden of Beasts, he demonstrates that gift again as he unfolds the often startling story of William E. Dodd, the first American ambassador to Nazi Germany, and his family. History professor Dodd was an unlikely choice to represent the United States in Hitler's Berlin; indeed, he was FDR's fifth choice for the post. His on-the-job education in the barbarities of the "New Germany" sometimes contrasted with that of his romantic, impressionable, party-loving daughter Martha. Larson places these very personal stories within the context of the ever-worsening events. My Thoughts:  I hate to say this but I was so glad to be done with this book.  It took me well over a week to finish simply because I could not get into it.  The story has an interesting premise; the idea of seeing how an Am...

From Goodreads:  Johnny One-Eye is bringing about the rediscovery of one of the most "singular and remarkable [careers] in American literature" (Jonathan Yardley, Washington Post Book World ). In this picaresque tour de force that reanimates Revolutionary Manhattan through the story of double agent John Stocking, the bastard son of a whorehouse madam and possibly George Washington, Jerome Charyn has given us one of the most memorable historical novels in years. As Johnny seeks to unlock the mystery of his birth and grapples with his allegiances, he falls in love with Clara, a gorgeous, green-eyed octoroon, the most coveted harlot of Gertrude's house. The wild parade of characters he encounters includes Benedict Arnold, the Howe brothers, "Sir Billy" and "Black Dick," and a manipulative Alexander Hamilton. My Thoughts:  As I have said numerous times, I love historical fiction.  Unfortunately, I hated this book.  The only reason I finished it is bec...

From Goodreads:  A man is severely injured in a mysterious accident, receives an outrageous sum in legal compensation, and has no idea what to do with it. Then, one night, an ordinary sight sets off a series of bizarre visions he can’t quite place. How he goes about bringing his visions to life–and what happens afterward–makes for one of the most riveting, complex, and unusual novels in recent memory. Remainder is about the secret world each of us harbors within, and what might happen if we were granted the power to make it real. My thoughts:  This was the May read for my book club.  It sounded kind of like "The Bourne Identity" and I thought it would be an interesting read.  I was wrong.  The whole story is very vague; you never know much about the main character and you never find out what his accident really was.  The story is basically about a strange guy with a lot of money that he spends setting up 're-enactments' of things he vague...