The Dark Tower by Stephen King

Started: 2/23/07
Finished: 2/28/07
Year: 2004
Pages: 839
Genre: Fiction
Grade: C-
Reason for reading: finishing The Dark Tower series, borrowed from Natalie
Blurb (from back cover): "Set in a world of extraordinary circumstances, filled with stunning visual imagery and unforgettable characters, The Dark Tower series is unlike anything you have ever read. The final book opens like a door to the uttermost reaches of Stephen King's imagination. You've come this far. Come a little farther. Come all the way. The sound you hear may be the slamming of the door behind you. Welcome to The Dark Tower."
Opinion: I am very disappointed in this series. I feel that Stephen King could have done so much more with this series and didn't. I understand the taking of years to complete it, especially after taking several years off from writing the books. I'm just so disappointed in how it ended. Can't call it horror. Can't call it suspense. Can't call it thriller. Just disappointing.

Thinner by Richard Bachman

Started: 2/19/07
Finished: 2/23/07
Year: 1984
Pages: 318
Genre: Horror
Grade: B
Reason for reading: grabbed it off the TBR shelf
Blurb (from back cover): "Billy Halleck, good husband, loving father, is both beneficiary and victim of the American Good Life: he has an expensive home, a nice family, and a rewarding career as a lawyer...but he is also fifty pounds overweight and, as his doctor keeps reminding him, edging into heart attach country.
"Then, in a moment of carelessness, Billy sideswipes an old gypsy woman as she is crossing the street-and her ancient father passes a bizarre and terrible judgment on him.
"'Thinner', the old gypsy man whispers, and caresses his cheek, like a lover. Just one word...but six weeks later and ninety-three pounds lighter, Billy Halleck is more than worried. He's terrified. And desperate enough for one last gamble...that will lead him to a nightmare showdown with the forces of evil melting his flesh away. And away. And away..."
Opinion: This was a re-read for me. I had forgotten certain details so I'm glad I read this one again.

Spanish Dagger by Susan Witting Albert

Started: 2/16/07
Finished: 2/19/07
Year: 2007
Pages: 308
Genre: Mystery
Grade: B
Reason for reading: review for myshelf.com
Blurb (from back cover): "Between the herb shop, the catering business, and now a weekend papermaking class, China Bayles and her friends have as much work as they can handle. Of course, that doesn't stop the rest of their lives from going on-or coming to an end, as the case may be. Ruby, for example, is troubled by her mother's recent strange behavior and upset that her ex-boyfriend has stood her up yet again.Meanwhile, China's half brother is opening up old wounds, trying to investigate their father's supposedly accidental death.
"Although she can't stop her husband from taking the case-after all, he's a PI who hasn't had a bite in months-she can at least put the unsavory business out of mind by gathering supplies for making paper. But in a patch of yucca plants, which make great paper, she finds a body-cause of death, unknown.
"Many residents of Pecan Springs live seemingly simple lives that hide complex and dangerous pasts. It appears this victim was one of them. And now, while unraveling secrets that hit close to home, China must set the record straight-and find a killer."
Opinion: A pretty good mystery. I really liked the little facts that Susan Witting Albert added to each chapter. For a more complete review, please check out MyShelf.com

Fear and Trembling by Amelie Nothomb

Started: 2/14/07
Finished: 2/16/07
Year: 1999
Pages: 132
Genre: Memoir
Grade: C
Reason for reading: booksfree.com
Blurb (from back cover): "According to ancient Japanese protocol foreigners deigning to approach the emperor did so only with fear and trembling. Terror and self-abasement conveyed respect. Amelie, our well-intentioned and eager young Western heroine, goes to Japan to spend a year working at the Yumimoto Corporation. Returning to the land where she was born is the fulfillment of a dream for Amelie; working there turns into a comic nightmare.
"Alternately disturbing and hilarious, unbelievable and shatteringly convincing, Fear and Trembling will keep readers clutching tight to its pages, caught up in the throes of fear, trembling, and, ultimately, delight."
Opinion: A lot of outlandish things happen in this book-several are unbelievable. Lots of funny parts.

Tender Flame by Al & Joanna Lacy

Started: 2/12/07
Finished: 2/14/07
Year: 1999
Pages: 278
Genre: Romance
Grade: D
Reason for reading: grabbed it off the TBR shelf
Blurb (from back cover): "Lieutenant Grant Smith and Lydia Reynolds are in love and engaged to marry. Their plans crumble, however, when Grant is sent with U.S. forces to the Mexican-American War and is reported killed. Devastated, Lydia sadly begins a new life and marries; Grant, who has miraculously survived and escaped from a prison camp, returns home only to find Lydia gone.
"Years later, Grant's daughter, Jessica, accepts a marriage proposal by mail from a young pastor living out West. Through Jessica, Lydia and Grant rediscover each other-and find out if they can rekindle the spark of love born almost a lifetime ago."
Opinion: If the cover had stated that religion was going to play a huge role in this book, I wouldn't have taken it to read. I'm all for sweet romances but without the religious parts.

Carved in Bone by Jefferson Bass

Started: 2/8/07
Finished: 2/12/07
Year: 2006
Pages: 323
Genre: Mystery
Grade: A
Reason for reading: Review for MyShelf.com
Blurb (from back cover): "Renowned anthropologist Dr. Bill Brockton has spent his career surrounded by death at the Body Farm. Now he's being called upon to help solve a baffling puzzle in a remote mountain community. The mummified corpse of a young woman dead for thirty years has been discovered in a cave, the body bizarrely preserved and transformed by the environment's unique chemistry. But Brockton's investigation is threatening to open old wounds among an insular people who won't forget or forgive. And a long-buried secret prematurely exposed could inflame Brockton's own guilt-and the dangerous hostility of bitter enemies determined to see him fail...by any means necessary.
Opinion: A great inside look at a mystery solved with forensics. One of the authors is the founder of The Body Farm in Tennessee. Not for the faint of heart-indepth details.

American Pastoral by Philip Roth

Started: 2/5/07
Finished: 2/8/07
Year: 1997
Pages: 423
Genre: Fiction
Grade: B-
Reason for reading: booksfree.com, one of the 1001 books you should read list
Blurb (from back cover): "As the American century draws to an uneasy close, Philip Roth gives us a novel of unqualified greatness that is an elegy for all our century's promises of prosperity, civic order, and domestic bliss. Roth's protagonist is Swede Levov, a legendary athlete at his Newark high school, who grows up in the booming postwar years to marry a former Miss New Jersey, inherit his father's glove factory, and move into a stone house in the idyllic hamlet of Old Rimrock. And then one day in 1968, Swede's beautiful American luck deserts him.
"For Swede's adored daughter, Merry, has grown from a loving, quick-witted girl into a sullen, fanatical teenager-a teenager capable of an outlandishly savage act of political terrorism. And overnight Swede is wrenched out of the longed-for American pastoraa and into the indigenous American berserk. Compulsively readable, propelled by sorrow, rage, and a deep compassion for its characters, this is Roth's masterpiece."
Opinion: A well-written piece of work with random scenes that didn't make sense to why they were there. Do I feel that my life is more complete having read this? Not really.

The Texan by K.N. Casper

Started: 2/5/07
Finished: 2/5/07
Year: 2000
Pages: 299
Genre: Romance (Harlequin Superromance)
Grade: B-
Reason for reading: Grabbed it off the TBR shelf
Blurb (from back covers): "After the failure of her marriage, Marcie Browder returns to the the vast West Texas ranch she grew up on, to try to recapture her sense of self and security. But almost immediately she has an argument with her father. The next day she finds him murdered...with Tucker McGee, the new ranch foreman, standing over the body.
"McGee isn't the simple cowboy he sometimes seems, and Marcie suspects he had a hand in her father's murder. Then she finds out that McGee suspects her.
"To unearth the real killer, they have to trust each other.
"Trust leads to love.
"Or is it the other way around?"
Opinion: A lot more mystery than romance which is nice. The romance isn't overwhelmingly passionate or overboard as in other romance novels.

True Faith by Alan Gold

Started: 2/2/07
Finished: 2/5/07
Year: 2007
Pages: 297
Genre: Mystery
Grade: C
Reason for reading: review for MyShelf.com
Blurb (from back cover): "Rabbi Robert Geller was rumored to have had so many affairs with women that his congregation was like his own heavenly harem. When his wife is killed, the good rabbi is tried for murder, but the result is a mistrial. Two men who claimed to be hired assassins plead guilty to avoid the death penalty-and Rabbi Geller is released. But neither his daughter, Roberta, nor Lou Tedesco believes he's innocent. And when trouble strikes again, Lou peers into the darkest corners of the rabbi's life to uncover his most private sins..."
Opinion: Not one of the best mysteries I've read. I did however like the characterization throughout the book. For a more complete review, please check out MyShelf next month.

Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte

Started: 1/26/07
Finished: 2/2/07
Year: 1997 (this edition)
Pages: 461
Genre: Classic Romance
Grade: B+
Reason for reading: booksfree.com
Blurb (from back cover): "With her 1847 novel, Jane Eyre, CharlotteBronte created one of the most unforgettable heroines of all time. Jane Eyre is an orphan, penniless and plain, but full of courage and spirit. She has endured incredible hardship to secure her humble status as a governess in the household of her brooding employer, Mr. Rochester. Jane's sharp wit and defiant nature meet with Rocester's sardonic temperament. The two become enmeshed in a deep, intense bond. But Rochester has a terrible secret-a remnant from his past that could threaten any hope of happiness with his only love.
"An unconventional love story that revolutionized the scope of romantic fiction, Jane Eyre is ultimately the tale of one woman's fight to claim her independence and self-respect in a society that has no place for her."
Opinion: One of the best classics that I have read. I loved the spirit that Bronte put into Jane Eyre-in the beginning, it seemed that Jane was much older than she was due to the spirit that her character had. If you're a fan of classics or romance, pick up a copy of this book.