The Woods

Title: The Woods

Author: Harlan Coben

Pages: 404

Genre: Thriller, Mystery

Grade: A

Synopsis: 4 teenagers were killed by a serial killer after they snuck out from the camp they were in.  The person that was supposed to be on patrol that evening (Paul Copeland) had also snuck out into the woods for a bit of hanky panky with his girlfriend.  He and his girlfriend lived while the other four campers didn't.  Paul is now a county prosecutor and is in the midst of a rape case eerily similar to the Duke Lacrosse team case from a few years ago.  Somebody is trying to keep what really happened in the woods 20 years ago a secret from Paul.

My Review: The Woods has all of the elements that you would expect in a Harlan Coben mystery thriller. The twisted plot with unexpected turns and revelations and multiple storylines.  I enjoy books like these because I read them so quickly.  Even when I'm not reading the book I'm thinking about what's going to happen, what could happen and trying to decipher and figure out exactly what is going on.  Satisfyingly, all loose ends have been wrapped up by the end of the book.

From the Book: "(p. 76) I ordered a cheeseburger and a beer from a waitress who looked as though she wanted to be in one of those want-to-get-away? commercials. She called me hon. I love when a waitress calls me hon."

"(p.107) Her voice was polished with a hint of a New England-boarding-school accent that shouted refinement over geographic locale. I was trying not to stare. She saw that and smiled a little. I don't want to sound like some kind of pervert because it wasn't like that. Femal beauty gets to me. I don't think I'm alone in that. It gets to me like a work of art gets to me. It gets to me like a Rembrandt or Michelangelo. It gets to me like night views of Paris or when the sun rises on the Grand Canyon or sets in the turquoise Arizona sky. My thoughts were not illicit. Ther were, I self-rationalized, rather artistic."

The Kite Runner

Title: The Kite Runner

Author: Khaled Hosseini

Pages: 372

Genre: Fiction

Grade: A-

Synopsis: Amir and his wealthy father, Baba, live in a beautiful house in Kabul, Afghanistan.  Their servants and lifelong friends Hassan and Ali live in a small house on the same property.  Amir and Hassan do everything together with Amir always trying to gain his father's love and adoration.  Hassan, being Amir's servant, is one of the most loyal and likeable character in all literature,  One of the boys' favorite things to do is to fly kites in the winter.  After one of the city's big kite running competitions, an unspeakable event comes between Amir and Hassan.  An event that would haunt Amir for the rest of his life.

My Review: There are very few books that you just love and hate.  The loyalty and unwavering love of Hassan and his father are inspiring and the friendship between the two boys (Amir and Hassan) is incredible.  The terrors that haunt Amir as he and his father flee the Russian occupation of Afghanistan are heartbreaking.  Amir is very likeable but some of the things he does and the decisions he makes tear you apart.  This is a powerful book about growing up in Afghanistan before all of the wars and occupations.

Disclaimer: The book has some violence and a bit of foul language and sex.  Not recommended for children.

From the Book: "(p. 52) Except that wasn't all. The real fun began when a kite was cut. That was where the kite runners came in, those kids who chased the windblown kite drifting through the neighborhoods until it came spiraling down in a field, dropping in someone's yard, on a tree or a rooftop. The chase got pretty fierce; hordes of kite runners swarmed the streets, shoved past each other like those people from Spain I'd read about once, the ones who ran from the bulls. One year a neighborhood kid climbed a pine tree for a kite. A branch snapped under his weight and he fell thirty feet. Broke his back and never walked again. But he fell with the kite still in his hands. And when a kite runner has his hands on a kite, no one could take it from him. That wasn't a rule. That was a custom."

"(p. 128) I wanted to tell them that, in Kabul, we snapped a tree branch and used it as a credit card. Hassan and I would take the wooden stick to the bread maker. He'd carve notches on our stick with his knife, one notch for each loaf of naan he'd pull for us from the tandoor's roaring flames. At the end of the month, my father paid him for the number of notches on the stick. That was it. No questions. No ID."

The Audacity of Hope

Title: The Audacity of Hope

Author: Barack Obama

Pages: 364

Genre: Politics, Memoir

Grade: A-

Synopsis: Barack Obama wrote this book a couple of years after his highly-acclaimed speech at the Democratic National Convention. He expounds on the topics that he spoke about then, explaining his ideas and views for the direction the country should take. He touches on partisan politics, values, the Constitution, race, foreign policy and his family. He is very respectful in explaining his positions and makes a conscious effort to not judge others on their opinions. While he doesn't support Bush's policies, he was honest and respectful in his disagreements.

My Review: This was a pretty good book. Obama is a brilliant man and has a very readable writing style, even while being a difficult read because of the vocabulary and historical references. I feel pretty well versed on politics and history, but I had to look up all sorts of things on wikipedia in order to understand them. I really felt that Obama knew what he was talking about throughout the book. Every Bush supporter should read a short section of the book on the budget and tax cuts pushed through by President Bush. Unless you are in the top .01% of wage earners, you should be disgusted with the way the American public has been treated. My other favorite section of the book was the section on foreign policy. This is one of the things that I agree 100% with Obama on. The United States should not be taking unilateral actions in this world. We cannot continue to alienate our allies and fuel anti-American sentiment throughout the world.

I respect Obama more than I did before reading this book. I can see where he's coming from and I understand his positions a little better. Unfortunately, some of what is written in this book seems a little bit different than his positions today. I much prefer the ideology from the book.

Why I Chose this Book: I really enjoyed the Republican National Convention and thought that it had a far more positive vibe than the Democratic National Convention. I thought that Rudy Guilianni's speech was incredible and that speech alone almost convinced me to vote for McCain (even though I liked Obama at the time). After reading this book, I understand Obama's positions better but I'm still up in the air as to who will get my vote.

From the Book: "(p. 10 - Prologue) But that is not all that I am. I also think my party can be smug, detached, and dogmatic at times. I believe in the free market, competition, and entrepreneurship, and think no small number of government programs don't work as advertised. I wish the country had fewer lawyers and more engineers. I think America has more often been a force for good than for ill in the world; I carry few illusions about our enemies, and revere the courage and competence of our military. I reject a politics that is based solely on racial identity, gender identity, sexual orientation, or victimhood generally. I think much of what ails the inner city involves a breakdown in culture that will not be cured by money alone, and that our values and spiritual life matter at least as much as our GDP."

"(p. 41 - Republicans and Democrats) Maybe the critics are right. Maybe there's no escaping our great political divide, an endless clash of armies, and any attempts to alter the rules of engagement are futile. Or maybe the trivialization of politics has reached a point of no return, so that most people see it as just one more diversion, a sport, with politicians our paunch-bellied gladiators and those who bother to pay attention just fans on the sidelines: We paint our faces red or blue and cheer our side and boo their side, and if it takes a late hit or cheap shot to beat the other team, so be it, for winning is all that matters."

"(p. 171 - Opportunity) Education. Science and technology. Energy. Investments in these three key areas would go a long way in making America more competitive. Of course, none of these investments will yield results overnight. All will be subject to controversy. Investment in R & D and education will cost money at a time when our federal budget is already stretched. Increasing the fuel efficiency of American cars or instituting performance pay for public-school teachers will involve overcoming the suspicions of workers who already feel embattled. And arguments over the wisdom of school vouchers or the viability of hydrogen fuel cells won't go away anytime soon."

"(p. 190 - Opportunity, Obama recounting a conversation with Warren Buffet) "I did a calculation the other day," he said as we sat down in his office. "Though I've never used tax shelters or had a tax planner, after including the payroll taxes we play, I'll pay a lower effective tax rate this year than my receptionist. In fact, I'm pretty sure I pay a lower rate than the average American. And if the President has his way, I'll be paying even less."

A Distant Prayer

Title: A Distant Prayer

Authors: Joseph Banks and Jerry Borrowman

Pages: 147

Genre: Memoir, LDS

Grade: A-

Synopsis: Joseph Banks (brother of Elder Ben Banks and former Stake President) was a flight engineer aboard a B-17 bomber in World War II. He was the only survivor (out of 10 crewmen) when his plane was shot down over northern Germany. The crew was on their 49th mission, 1 successful mission from returning home. This book documents the incredible miracles that took place both aboard the airplane and down on the ground where he spent months imprisoned in a German concentration camp.

My Review: This was a great Sunday read (and I really did read it in one Sunday). The story is written as if Joe was sitting next to you telling it. His faith, his strength and prayers are inspiring and truly he inspired many in his company and innumerable others through the telling of this story. The miracles that he was blessed with leave you believing that God had a higher calling for him. An incredible story.

The Poisonwood Bible

Title: The Poisonwood Bible

Author: Barbara Kingsolver

Pages: 543

Genre: Historical Fiction

Grade: B+

Synopsis: Nathan Price is an evangelical Baptist minister from Georgia that decided to take his family on a mission to the Belgian Congo. They were discouraged from going because of the political climate in the country. Nathan Price, his wife, and four daughters arrive in the small town of Kilango, where Reverend Price quickly alienates all of the locals for their immodest dress, plural wives and refusal to be baptized in the river. The story is told through the viewpoints of Orleanna Price (Nathan's wife) and his four daughters, Rachel, Leah, Adah and Ruth May. The different viewpoints and writing styles make for a choppy story at times but also give intriguing insight into what each girl is thinking. They all have issues with their abusive father and find their own ways of coping with their suffering. Nathan is slowly destroying their family while preaching the gospel of love to the natives in the Congo.

My Review: In my opinion, this book was about 200 pages too long. It took a while to get used to Kingsolver's writing style but I quite enjoyed it by the end. Fittingly, I most enjoyed the chapters written from Adah's viewpoint. She could see things frontward and backward and looked for palindromes in everything. The book makes a political statement about how the West attempted to culturize and democratize Africa, destroying their culture and ignoring their history.

From the Book: "(p. 114, Leah) In exchange for his first taste of powdered milk, Pascal showed me a tree we could climb to find a bird's nest. After we handled and examined the pink-skinned baby birds, he popped one of them into his mouth like a jujube. It seemed to please him a lot. He offered a baby bird to me, pantomiming that I should eat it. I understood perfectly well what he meant, but I refused. He did not seem disappointed to have to eat the whole brood himself."

"(p. 474, Leah) But we've all ended up giving body and soul to Africa, one way or another. Even Adah, who's becoming an expert in tropical epidemiology and strange new viruses. Each of us got our heart buried in six feet of African dirt; we are all co-conspirators here. I mean, all of us, not just my family. So what do you do now? You get to find your own way to dig out a heart and shake it off and hold it up to the light again."

The Stranger

Title: The Stranger

Author: Albert Camus

Pages: 123

Genre: Classic

Grade: B

Synopsis: A young Frenchman, Meursault, living in Algeria becomes friends with another man in his building who takes advantage of his naivete and carefree spirit. Meursault's mother has just recently died and he shows no real sorrow or sadness at his mother's passing. Before long, Meursault finds himself thrown into the middle of a senseless murder.

My Review: This is one of the most published novels of the 20th century, receiving the Nobel Prize for literature in 1957. It's a book read in many high school English classes because it explores the inner soul of a dispassionate atheist. Meursalt reminds me a lot of the autistic boy, Christopher, in the curious incident of the dog in the night-time. Meursault is not autistic but simply disengaged from his own emotions. I found the book though-provoking but not one that I'd ever read again.

From the Book: "(p. 9) It was a rustling sound that woke me up. Because I'd had my eyes closed, the whiteness of the room seemed even brighter than before. There wasn't a shadow anywhere in front of me, and every object, every angle and curve stood out so sharply it made my eyes hurt. That's when Maman's friends came in. There were about ten in all, and they floated into the blinding light without a sound. They sat down without a single chair creaking. I saw them more clearly than I had ever seen anyone, and not one detail of their faces or their clothes escaped me. But I couldn't hear them, and it was hard for me to believe that they really existed. Almost all the women were wearing aprons, and the strings, which were tied tight around their waists, made their bulging stomachs stick out even more. I'd never noticed what huge stomachs old women can have. Almost all the men were skinny and carried canes. What struck me most about their faces was that I couldn't see their eyes, just a faint glimmer in a nest of wrinkles. When they'd sat down, most of them looked at me and nodded awkwardly, their lips sucked in by their toothless mouths, so that I couldn't tell if they were greeting me or if it was just a nervous tic. I think they were greeting me. It was then that I realized they were all sitting across from me, nodding their heads, grouped around the caretaker. For a second I had the ridiculous feeling that they were there to judge me."