The Virgin Cure (2011) by Ami McKay



Life in late 1800's New York City could be a brutal and lonely place.  Moth, only 12 years old, was sold by her mother to a wealthy for a small bag of coins.  Upon escaping from the brutality and cruelty of Mrs. Wentworth, Moth found herself on the street, hungry and endangered.  Another young teenager took her to a brothel operated by Miss Everett, who began to groom her for the highest bidder.  A young virgin was much prized.  A woman doctor befriended Moth, now called Ada Fenwick, encouraging her to leave the life of a prostitute.  Ada thinks that she can use the brothel and then get out.  The sexual morals of men at the time are shocking, especially as concerns STD's and The Virgin Cure.  The book kept me reading and comparing social stigma from then to present day.  Ami McKay is the author of The Birth House, an equally facinating book which looks at the sexual and reproductive lives of women over a century ago.

The Last Coyote (1995) by Michael Connelly



Of all Michael Connelly's mysteries, I liked this one the most.  It explained his tragic childhood and his efforts to solve his mother's murder.  His temper had him "off duty" and ordered to see a psychiatrist, who turned out to be a great ally for him and also allowed him the safe place to talk about his life and his 'mission'.  The volume is packed with action, colourful characters, and lots of suspence.  There is even a woman to whom he returns.

City of Bones by Michael Connelly (2002)

 

Though the descriptions of the dead child's injuries were heartbreaking, Michael has spun quite a yarn!  I found that his relationships were not well developed, and, indeed, he seemed rather untouched by the death of a fellow police officer.  This was surprising.

"On New Year's Day, Detective Harry Bosch fields a call that a dog has found a bone--a bone that the dog's owner, a doctor, feels certain is a human bone.

Bosch investigates, and that chance discovery leads him to a shallow grave in the Hollywood hills, evidence of a murder committed more than twenty years earlier. It's a cold case, but it stirs up Bosch's memories of his own childhood as an orphan in the city. He can't let it go. Digging through police reports and hospital records, tracking down street kids and runaways from the 1970s, Bosch finds a family ripped apart by an absence--and a trail, ever more tenuous, into a violent, terrifying world.






As the case takes Bosch deeper into the past, a rookie cop named Julia Brasher brings him alive in the present in a way no one has in years. Bosch has been warned about the trouble that comes with dating a rookie, but no warning could withstand the heat between them--or prepare Bosch for the explosions when the case takes a hard turn. A suspect bolts, a cop is shot, and suddenly Bosch's cold case has all of L.A. in an uproar--and Bosch fighting to keep control in a lawless and brutal showdown.






Drawing on the "precision-tooled twists" and "wellspring of authentically lurid detail" (Los Angeles magazine) that have made him one of the fastest-selling novelists at work today, Michael Connelly has written a riveting, hard-edged, and unforgettable thriller, proof that he is among "the most talented of crime writers" (with thanks from The New Yorker)

The Boleyn Inheritance by Philippa Gregory (2006)



That Old Cape Magic by Richard Russo (2009)

Ater reading The Bridge of Sighs by Richard Russo, I was very disapointed in this novel.  It seemed cliche and weak.

Belong to Me by Marisa de los Santos (2008)



Geek Girls Unite

Bitter Melon

Island Under The Sea by Isabel Allende

What a powerful and accurate writer Isabel Allende is.  This novel nade me a fan for life, as it tugged at every heartstring I have.

"Born a slave on the island of Saint-Domingue, Zarité -- known as Tété -- is the daughter of an African mother she never knew and one of the white sailors who brought her into bondage. Though her childhood is one of brutality and fear, Tété finds solace in the traditional rhythms of African drums and in the voodoo loas she discovers through her fellow slaves.
When twenty-year-old Toulouse Valmorain arrives on the island in 1770, it’s with powdered wigs in his baggage and dreams of financial success in his mind. But running his father’s plantation, Saint-Lazare, is neither glamorous nor easy. It will be eight years before he brings home a bride -- but marriage, too, proves more difficult than he imagined. And Valmorain remains dependent on the services of his teenaged slave.
Spanning four decades, Island Beneath the Sea is the moving story of the intertwined lives of Tété and Valmorain, and of one woman’s determination to find love amid loss, to offer humanity though her own has been battered, and to forge her own identity in the cruellest of circumstances."

-Goodreads-

Heartstopper by Joy Fielding

Welcome to Torrance, Florida. Population: 4,160. As Sheriff John Weber would attest, the deadliest predators to date in his tiny hamlet were the alligators lurking in the nearby swamps. But that was before someone abducted and murdered a runaway teenage girl...and before the disappearance of popular and pretty Liana Martin. The pattern is chilling to Sandy Crosbie, the town's new high school English teacher. With a marriage on the rocks, thanks to her husband's online affairs, and a beautiful teenage daughter to protect, Sandy wishes she'd never come to the seemingly quiet town with shocking depths of scandal, sex, and brutality roiling beneath its surface. And as Sheriff Weber digs up more questions than answers in a dead-end investigation, one truth emerges: the prettiest ones are being targeted, the heartstoppers. And this killer intends to give them their due....
Alternating between the chilling journal entries of a cold-blooded murderer and the sizzling scandals of small-town life, "Heartstopper" is Joy Fielding's most exciting novel of suspense yet. (Goodreads, Mar 24, 2012)

The man Who Left Too Soon by Barry Forshaw

Though Stieg and his common-law wife lived and worked toether for some 30 years, she was not able to inherit any of his weath or rights to intellectual property.  This was according to Swedish law, which require a legal marraige or will, otherwise his estate goes to his next-of-kin.  His father and brother are battling his wife for his legacy, which is very valuable when one considers books and movies!

"The stranger-than-fiction life story of the author of "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo " His three novels are violent, terrifying, brilliantly written, and have sold millions of copies around the world, but Stieg Larrson was not able to witness their international success. Since he died in 2004 the author of the Millennium trilogy has received international fame with dizzying speed. But when one looks a little deeper at the man behind these phenomenal novels, it is clear that his life would be remembered as truly extraordinary even had his trilogy never been published. Larrson was a workaholic: a political activist, photographer, graphic designer, a respected journalist, and the editor of numerous science fiction magazines. At night, to relax, he wrote crime novels. By the time of his death at the age of 50 he had completed "The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Next," the third book featuring the hypnotic Lisbeth Salander. His relentless personality and political convictions did not make life easy. He famously took on some dangerous neo-Nazi opponents, making for much speculation that his enemies, who often told him that his days were numbered, may have a hand in his premature demise. This difficult man, brilliant and multifaceted, is the subject of a penetrating biography and a celebration of his remarkable life and books."(Review from Goodreads, March 24, 2012)

Gabby: A Story of Courage and Hope by Gabrielle Giffords & Mark Kelly



What I had been wanting to read was a story of Gabby Giffords' physical recovery after her most horrific shooting on January 8, 2011 Tuscaon Arizona by a lone male shooter.  Six were were killed, and Congresswoman Giffords was in critical condition.  However, in place of a story concentrating on the details of her medical journey, the book is a love story. Narrated in most by her husband, Mark Kelly tells of their childhoods, courtship, marriage, and desire to have a baby. The baby was not to be realized, but Mark's two daughters have become loving step-daughters to Gabby.   

Morality For Beautiful Girls by Alexander McCall Smith 2001



Another volume of the series , 'The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency' delights the reader.  McCall Smith's books are so pleasurable that they warm the heart and uplift the spirit.  Morality for Beautiful Girls gives Mma Maketetse a prominent role as she becomes an Assistant Manager of Mr. J.L.B. Matekoni's garage.  She whips his previously lazy and immature apprentices into shape, such that they actually want to please her. Mma Makateste soldiers on at work and at home.  She has not confided in Mma Ramotswe that her brother, who is dying of AIDS, has now become her sole responsibility. Money and medical helpf for him will be very difficult.

Mr. J.L.B. Matekoni has become ill, but Precious Ramotswe  discovers that his illness is not of the body, but more of the soul.  It is something the doctor calls "depression".  In addition to looking after the orphan children he adopted, Mma Ramotswe must help him understand his illness and accept help, which he does in the form of going to the Orphan Farm for a respite and the nurturing of Mma Potokwane,  form whom Mt. J.L.B Matekoni has done many favours to help the orphans. There is a government official who is convinced his sister-in-law is attempting to poison his brother.  Precious Ramotsawe must solve this case to the satisfaction of all.

To My Dearest Friends by Patricia Volk

This delightful little novel packs a real punch.  A story about friendship, differences, love, and obligation.  Two women who met only breifly had a mutual friend who died of cancer.  She left the two women she valued the most to open her saftey deposit box.  Following her instructions, the women determined their task, which was to find her lover.  Shock that she had an illicit affair caused them to reconsider what we know about one another in life and about how secrets can define us, for good or for bad.

Drama: An Actor's Education by John Lithgow



This autobiography did not meet my expectations.  In most places it was uninteresting, as Lithgow went over details and incidents of his past which were unimportant to the reader, if not to Lithgow. Detailing the events around the girl who first kissed him is one example of this involvement.  He wrote considerably about his father, but not his mother.  His fragmented childhood saw hime to move from commujnity to community as his father sought work in the theatre.   He was painfully honest about his marital extra-affairs and how that contributed to his divorcing.  I wanted to learn more about his many acting roles, but he focused more on his life devoid of the theatre, which did influence his life "dramatically".