The Cradle Will Fall

I read this as part of the Summer 2014 Book Challenge.

This book was for the category: "Read a book that was written before you were born."  It was written in 1980.

How have I never read a Mary Higgins Clark book? This was awesome! Let's start with what the book is about. 

Prosecutor Katie DeMaio is admitted to the hospital following a car accident. During the night she thinks she sees someone carrying a body and stuffing it into the trunk of a car. She's not sure though. It could have been a dream. It could have been the medication. She also seems to recognize the dead woman's face. 
The woman is found dead in her own home the next day and is thought to have committed suicide. Katie sets out to find the truth about what happened. 

Katie has no idea that as she's looking for answers someone is looking for her. I'm not giving anything away by telling you Dr. Highley is the woman's killer as well as the one hunting Ms. DeMaio. You find that out at the very beginning of the book. You won't believe what Dr. Highley is up to. He's doing some serious experimentation with his patients. He will avoid being caught no matter how many people he has to kill to cover his tracks. 



I LOVED this book! I needed one more chapter and then just one more after that. It's very suspenseful and highly entertaining. You see all the players. YOU have all the information but they DON'T! It's exciting watching all of the bits and pieces fall together. You're trying to figure out just what Dr. Highly is doing to his patients as well as hoping that they catch him. It's very well written. I thought all of the different characters would be confusing but they aren't. It's very easy to follow. I'm glad Mary has so many books! Now I can read a ton of them. I can't wait to get my hands on some more.

Conjured - Book Review

I read this book as part of the Summer 2014 Book Challenge.

This was my book for the category "Finish reading a book you couldn't finish the first time around. (You must have at least 150 pages left in the book to use it for this category.)"

I started reading this book and put it down because It wasn't really grabbing me. Plus I had Gone Girl waiting on my end table and I REALLY couldn't ignore it.
Synopsis from Goodreads:

Eve has a new home, a new face, and a new name—but no memories of her past. She’s been told that she's in a witness protection program. That she escaped a dangerous magic-wielding serial killer who still hunts her. The only thing she knows for sure is that there is something horrifying in her memories the people hiding her want to access—and there is nothing they won’t say—or do—to her to get her to remember.

At night she dreams of a tattered carnival tent and buttons being sewn into her skin. But during the day, she shelves books at the local library, trying to not let anyone know that she can do things—things like change the color of her eyes or walk through walls. When she does use her strange powers, she blacks out and is drawn into terrifying visions, returning to find that days or weeks have passed—and she’s lost all short-term memories. Eve must find out who and what she really is before the killer finds her—but the truth may be more dangerous than anyone could have ever imagined.

Review:
I didn't love this book. I didn't hate it. It was just okay.  I really wanted to love it. It had potential to be a great story, but it fell flat. The beginning of the book is pretty boring. You are fed just enough new information about the case the keep it mildly interesting. It really only picks up towards the very end. The last chapters are fact paced and keep you turning the pages. They don't make up for the long drawn out beginning though. I did enjoy all of the magic in the story and even the scary nightmares Eve has. Eve has a lot of visions throughout the book. She can't tell if the are memories or dreams. These were very confusing for me sometimes. She is sometimes herself in the visions and sometimes sees herself as other people.  Maybe they were supposed to be confusing to us because they are also confusing for Eve? I didn't feel connected to the characters in this book. That's something pretty important to me. I need to feel like they could be real. I want it to seem as if I could actually know them. I didn't think the magical worlds were fleshed out enough. The descriptions seemed too rushed and didn't help me "see" the settings of the story.  So while I had hope that picking up this book again would find me a new favorite. It didn't.

Look Me in the Eye - Book Review

Image via Goodreads

I read this book as part of the Summer 2014 book challenge.

I was searching for a book that fit the biography, autobiography, or memoir category and came across this one. I really liked this book! John writes about how Asperger's has made his life different. Some in good ways. Some in bad ways. He didn't even know he had Asperger's until he was an adult. Growing up it wasn't a known diagnosis. He was classified as lazy, unmanageable, just a bad looking for trouble kid. He grows up wondering why kids don't like him. Socializing with others just doesn't come easy for John. School becomes too hard for him and he drops out. He goes on to do some pretty incredible things. You know those awesome guitars that KISS plays? He designed those. After working for the band for a while he needs a more stable environment. He ends up working for Milton Bradley designing electronic toys. He wants success and he finds it. However the higher he climbs on the ladder of success the more he has to interact with people, something he's not good at. He ends up leaving his job and doing something that he enjoys. He relates to machines. Machines don't try to trick you like people can. Machines are reliable. He opens his own car lot. He sells and fixes cars. Once he learns he has Asperger's he is better able to manage it. He can see now how he is supposed to relate to people. He sees how a conversation is supposed to be. He finally understands why he's had trouble relating to his peers.

This book was entertaining and educational. It puts you inside John's mind. you get to see how someone with Asperger's views the world. He's very matter of fact about things. My favorite part was chapter 23 "I get a Bear Cub". In this chapter his son is born. It was pretty comical how he described the experience.

""They had a big room where all the babies lay behind glass and grew under heat lamps, just like the baby chick display at the State Fair. Some were in incubators but most were just on trays."

Also in this chapter he talks about how reading the same story over and over again for his son got boring. I can relate.  He begins to change the stories.

"One fish
Two fish
Black fish
Blue fish
I eat you fish"

"See them all
See them run
The man is back
He has a gun"

In the book he describes having Asperger's like this:

"No one turns to a guy in a wheel chair and says, "Quick! Let's run across the street!." And when he cant run across the street no one says, "What's his problem?" They offer to help him across the street.
With me though there is no external sign that I am conversationally handicapped. So folks hear soem conversational misstep and say, "What an arrogant jerk!" I look forward to the day when my handicap will afford me the same respect accorded to a guy in a wheelchair."

I'm glad I read this book. I've said it before but my favorite thing about the challenge is that it oushes me to read books I wouldn't normally read. Thank you book challenge!




His brother wrote a book called Running with Scissors that I have now added to me "to read" list. His brother talks more about the not so fabulous childhood that they had.

Summer 2014 Book Challenge!!!

Last summer I participated in Megan's book challenge. For full details about the challenge head on over to Semi-Charmed Kind of Life. I don't expect to finish reading all of my books but I'm definitely going to try! Here is what I plan to read. This list can always change depending on how my holds at the library go.... I'll do my best to update it as I read as well as post links to my reviews. 

The Girl of Fire and Thorns

5 points: Freebie! Read any book that is at least 200 pages long.

The Cradle Will Fall - 1980
10 points: Read a book that was written before you were born.

REVIEW

Conjured - I started reading this and ditched it after about 2 chapters. It seemed okay but I had Gone Girl waiting on my table to be read and I was much more interested in reading that. 
10 points: Finish reading a book you couldn't finish the first time around. (You must have at least 150 pages left in the book to use it for this category.)

REVIEW

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone - Because I love it!

10 points: Read a book from the children’s section of the library or bookstore.

Missing You

15 points: Read a book that is on The New York Times' Best Sellers List when you begin reading it.

The Invention of Wings
15 points: Read a historical fiction book that does not take place in Europe.





I love this idea!!!
15 points: Read a book another blogger has already read for the challenge. (Yes, you will have to wait until the first check-in to choose this book! So no one will be able to finish this challenge in only one month; sorry!)

Daughter of Smoke and Bone
20 points: Read a book with “son(s),” “daughter(s)” or “child(ren)” in the title. No other words will count—including kids, offspring, etc.—so please don’t ask. :)

Review

Divergent
20 points: Read a book that was/will be adapted to film in 2014. (Here are 16 ideas to get you started, but I know there are plenty more options.)

The Honest Toddler - A Child's Guide to Parenting
  25 points: Read a book written by a blogger. (Submitted by Jessica of The Tangerine.)

Look Me in the Eye
25 points: Read a biography, autobiography or memoir.

REVIEW




This could be tough... =) 
30 points: Read a pair of books with antonyms in the titles.





My favorite thing about the book challenge is that it pushes me to read books I wouldn't normally read. Last year when I did this I found some great authors that I've never heard of. If you like books you should definitely join and have some fun!