Bodies of Water

4.5 of 5 Stars

In 1960, Billie Valentine is a young housewife living in a sleepy Massachusetts suburb, treading water in a dull marriage and caring for two adopted daughters. Summers spent with the girls at their lakeside camp in Vermont are her one escape - from her husband's demands, from days consumed by household drudgery, and from the nagging suspicion that life was supposed to hold something different. Then a new family moves in across the street. Ted and Eva Wilson have three children and a fourth on the way, and their arrival reignites long-buried feelings in Billie. The affair that follows offers a solace Billie has never known, until her secret is revealed and both families are wrenched apart in the tragic aftermath. Fifty years later, Ted and Eva's son, Johnny, contacts an elderly but still spry Billie, entreating her to return east to meet with him. Once there, Billie finally learns the surprising truth about what was lost, and what still remains, of those joyful, momentous summers. (from Amazon.com)

I will admit I set this one on my shelf for a long time and it wasn't because I didn't want to read it. Any time Miss Greenwood releases a new book I am ready to devour it. She is one of my absolute favorite authors and I still pride myself in finding her book, by sheer luck, at a Barnes and Noble a few years ago. That being said, she's got a new book coming out, The Forever Bridge, and I'm ecstatic for its release. 

Bodies of Water does not disappoint. Greenwood treats the story with her signature pizazz and knack for capturing the right words. I was constantly impressed with the imagery of water throughout. Water becomes an extended metaphor throughout the entire novel. The story is captivating. A gift of Miss Greenwood's is to take a story that may seem predictable at face value but she captures the reader with her distinct prose. The character of Ted Wilson seems a little stereotypical, for example, but Miss Greenwood still manages to make it interesting. 

If homosexual romances offend you in any way, but you have read Miss Greenwood before and loved it, still give this one a chance. It may just alter your view of homosexual men and women. I think it was meant to be a twist in the plot, or at least a secret, since the synopsis on the back of the book doesn't really say anything about it. Whatever your response is to it I certainly hope it doesn't force you away from finishing the book. This is one book that explores the nature of love. What it really means to love and how freeing it is to follow your heart. Billie and Eva are a believable couple and their story is something that gives hope to any who long for love. 

I highly recommend this novel and any other work by Miss Greenwood. 

Hilary Duff is an Author?

No, this is not a joke. And this post is not a book review. I was browsing my favorite store in the whole wide world and saw this cover. I find it funny that flowers are so "romantic" and symbolize such because they are decaying plant genitalia. But that is besides the point.

I saw the cover then I saw the name. Now, I have no qualms with Hilary Duff. Actually I really like her music and I think she has managed to be an elegant actress who survived childhood stardom and did not ruin her life with partying and wild ways. Lindsay Lohan should take notes. Duff is smart, and I think that is awesome. I just never pictured her as an author or that she was even inclined that way.

All right, I actually read the premise because I had to see if I wasn't just dreaming. This book is real. Hilary Duff, the original Hannah Montana only Lizzie McGuire, actually wrote a book.

The premise is actually promising and I will probably actually read it. In fact, ever since I left Barnes and Noble I have wondered why I didn't just buy it. It is paranormal romance. She jumped on that bandwagon. But it seems to be a little different which is intriguing to me. So perhaps there will be a book review of it on this blog in the near future.

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

Rating: 3 1/2 out of 5 Facial Piercings

Warning: This book review contains spoilers. If you have not read the book, please proceed with caution. Or come back and read it after you have read the book.

I am running a book club on Facebook and this was the choice for the month of October. Every time I saw it at good ol' Barnes and Noble I picked it up and looked at it but, for some reason or another, always put it back. I don't know why I do that because I always end up getting it eventually anyway. For the most part I was excited to finally read it.

The beginning is rough and hard to plow through. At least it was for me. All this background information that is told in a pretty mundane manner fills the first few chapters. I am not going to lie, I was about ready to give up on it.

Lisbeth Salander is the saving grace of the book. Well, I perked up whenever she came on the scene at the beginning of the book simply because she was not acting like a whipped dog like Mikael Blomkvist was. But she really is an interesting character. Some of the stuff that Larsson explains about her past is a little unbelievable (how can someone be so beaten down?) but I quickly gained sympathy for her where I had a hard time feeling bad for Blomkvist because he was a little whiny at the beginning.

Once the story gets going it really gets going. I loved the intensity as Blomkvist and Salander uncover clues. They make a perfect team too. She is an asocial genius hacker and he is intuitive and a good journalist. One thing I do like about Blomkvist is that he's the muscle that doesn't act like the muscle. There is more to him than his sex appeal as he proves with every turn of the investigation.

While I am on the topic of Blomkvist...His relationship with Erika Berger is, while interesting, somewhat unsettling. I have a hard time liking a character that has such an open and relaxed sexual relationship with a woman. And then he sleeps with Cecilia. Random. And, even more random, he sleeps with Salander. He is more man-whore than anything.

This was my initial response but, after thinking about it, I realized that all of these characters interweave nicely.

This book is mostly about violence and abuse toward women in all of its forms. The most significant one is rape obviously. Lisbeth Salander, Harriet Vanger, and several other women in the story (most just mentioned as past cases) suffer from abuse by the hand of a man.

One of the interesting aspects about all of this is their reactions. Harriet chooses to flee the situation. Lisbeth Salander chooses to return the violence tenfold. She fights back and chooses not to be a victim anymore. Not only with her attack on her attacker but also with her ability to hack into other peoples' lives. What I liked was that the hacking was compared to rape as well. Essentially, Salander rapes the men. This, to me, is the best form of revenge she can take. She despises Harriet for running away and, by doing so, letting other women become victims of her family's sick ways.

Lisbeth Salander, like I said, is the saving grace of the novel. I tend to feel that, once Larsson got out Blomkvist and Salander's background information at the beginning he was able to let the characters really come to life. Salander's dialogue, especially at the end, is entertaining. At one point I thought of them as Bones and Booth on Bones because of the nice exchanges in dialogue.

While this book is entertaining because the plot has endless twists and turns, the writing leaves something to be desired. There is a lot of telling and no showing. I like to think a lot of this has to do with the translation from Swedish to English, so I am not going to be too harsh about that. Once you get used to the straight-forward and tell-it-like-it-is style that Larsson engages, then you move along with the story pretty nicely.

I gave this 3.5 out of 5 facial piercings simply because of the rough start. It would have gotten a 4 or 4.5 if it had a better start and the writing wasn't so rigid.

You Know You're a Book Nerd When...

I went to the mall tonight. For those that know me, they know that when I say that it usually means that I actually only went to Barnes and Noble and did not, in fact, see any other part of the mall. While this is usually true, tonight I went for the sole purpose of not going to Barnes and Noble. Sad day. Mark it on your calendar because it is a rarity for sure.

Instead of going to my beloved book store I went to JCPenney where I found this amazing deal on dress shirts. Who can beat $20.00 for a nice new white shirt? I know I couldn't. So I had to purchase.

After my JCPenney find I was in a shopping mood so I meandered on down to American Eagle which has quickly become a favorite clothes shopping place of mine. I found a new pair of pants for $20.00 and a couple new shirts. I was on a roll.

I still had time to kill so I decided I would browse around Barnes and Noble, figuring that with the time constraint I would be ok and not spend money on books I do not need.

Well, I browsed around and was about to leave but then I remembered that a new book by James Dashner had come out, so I wanted to see if I could just look at it. So I went back to the teen fiction section. There I saw my cousin, Brandon, and his newly-turned-twenty-year-old wife, Brittany. (They are a cute little couple I might add.)

I got to talking to them.

Brandon: We're looking for a book.

Me: What book is it?

Brittany: The...Pact?

Me: Oh! By Jodi Picoult?

Brittany: Yeah! That is the name!

Me: It's over here. (I quickly busted into retail, bookstore, customer service mode, walked down to the Fiction and Literature section and walked directly to the Jodi Picoult section and handed them The Pact.)

Brandon and Brittany were indeed impressed with my ability to just walk right to a book. We were talking about Terry Goodkind's amazing Sword of Truth series then they shared their plans for the evening where they would be celebrating Brittany's birthday. I told them I was going to see The Town and proceeded to tell them that it was adapted from a book. I really don't know why I was spouting off all this needless information, but I just grabbed the book right off the shelf and showed it to them.

Again, they were impressed. I played it off as...

"I never spend any time in here. I don't know what you're talking about."

Big sigh.

Yeah.

In case all the book reviews on this blog were not enough evidence I am going to confess right now: I am a book nerd. Barnes and Noble is, indeed, one of my favoritest places in the world.

There you have it.