Remind Me Again Why I Married You by Rita Ciresi

Started: 3/23/07
Finished: 3/30/07
Year: 2003
Pages: 291
Genre: Fiction
Grade: B
Reason for reading: grabbed it off the TBR shelf
Blurb (from book jacket): "It's Valentine's Day, and Lisa Strauss, nee Diodetto, is spending it playing dutiful wife at a $100-a-head benefit instead of in bed with Eben, her hardworking husband of (is it only?) five years. Once upon a time, Lisa, too, was a member of the corporate workaday world-until she fell in love with her boss (Eben), gave birth to a cute but rambunctious son, and gradually morphed into a stay-at-home mom. Somewhere in the mix Lisa also is a writer with ambitions of fame and glory, but those dreams seem to be shrinking, along with her sex life. That is, until a hotshot literary agent shows interest in Lisa's magnum opus.
"Suddenly, she has a pen name, and an excerpt of her book appears in Playboy. In between revising chapters, Lisa is trying-and failing miserably-to get pregnant again. She's going house-hunting with Cynthia Farquhar, the gorgeous blond Realtor/divorcee who has become her closet confidante (and the object of Eben's secret fantasies). And she's wondering if this is all marriage is and can ever be: bonded for life to a man who may never again be the red-hot lover of their pre-marriage union. In fact, he just may turn out to be the conflicted protagonist of her novel-a devoted family man whose moral fiber may not be strong enough to withstand the slings and arrows of lust and temptation. As their lives begin to bizarrely mirror aspects of Lisa's book...as marital life as they know it teeters on the edge of utter chaos, Lisa and Eben search-apart and together-for the answer to teh question that has plagued husbands and wives since time immemorial: Can love survive marriage?"
Opinion: Even though I seemed to be in a small reading slump, I did enjoy reading this book. Lisa and Eben's relationship seemed real enough and as someone who has been married, I know that you usually ask yourself why you married your spouse.

The Jungle by Upton Sinclair

Started: 3/19/07
Finished: 3/22/07
Year: 1906 (1990 this edition)
Pages: 350
Genre: Classic Literature
Grade: B
Reason for reading: booksfree.com book, one of the 1001 books that you should read
Blurb (from back cover): "Not since Harriet Beecher Stowe's Uncle Tom Cabin had there been a book that would affect such a large part of the American public and move them to action. In some of the most harrowing scenes ever written in modern literature, Upton Sinclair vividly depicted factory life in Chicago in the first years of the twentieth century. The horrors of the slaughterhouse, their barbarous working conditions...the crushing poverty, the disease and the despair-he revealed all through the eyes of Jurgis Rudkus, a young immigrant who came to the New World to build a home for himself and his family. Published in 1906, The Jungle not only aroused the indignation of the public but forced a government investigation that led to the passage of pure food laws. It also established its young author as one of the world's leading spokesmen for the rights of the working man. The Jungle continues to pack the same emotional power today as it did almost a century ago."
Opinion: One of better classics that I've read. Not for the weak stomached but I could definitely see why there was a lot of controversy when it came out.

The Mercy of Thin Air by Ronlyn Domingue

Started: 3/14/07
Finished: 3/19/07
Year: 2005
Pages: 310
Genre: Fiction
Grade: B-
Reason for reading: grabbed off the TBR shelf
Blurb (from book jacket): "In 1920s New Orleans, smart and fearless Raziela Nolan is in the throes of a magnificent love affair when she suddenly dies in a tragic accident. Immediately after her death, she chooses to stay between-a realm that exists after life and before whatever lies beyond it. From this remarkable vantage point, Razi narrates the story of her lost love, as well as the relationship of Amy and Scott, a young couple whose house she haunts seventy years later. Their trials finally compel Razi to slowly unravel the mystery of what happened to her first and only love, Andrew, and to confront a long-hidden secret.
"The Mercy of Thin Air entwines two tragic and redemptive love stories that echo across three generations and culminates in a startling finish that will leave readers breathless. From plucky, forward-thinking Razi, who illegally slips birth control guides into library books, to hip Web designer Amy, who begins to fall off the edge of grief, to Eugenia, caught between since the Civil War, the characters in this ambitious and original debut sing with life, as well as Southern flair."
Opinion: At first, the story was very confusing but after a while, the story became itself and became enjoyable.

Mindhunter by John Douglas and Mark Olshaker

Started: 3/11/07
Finished: 3/14/07
Year: 1996
Pages: 384
Genre: True Crime/Memoir
Grade: B+
Reason for reading: part of a bookring through Bookcrossing.com
Blurb (from back cover): "During his twenty-five-year FBI career with the Investigative Support Unit, Special Agent John Douglas became a legendary figure in law enforcement, pursuing some of the most notorious and sadistic serial killers of our time: the man who hunted prostitutes for sport in the woods of Alaska, the Atlanta child murderer, and Seattle's Green River killer, the case that nearly cost Douglas his life.
"As the model for Jack Crawford in The Silence of the Lambs, Douglas has confronted, interviewed, and studied scores of serial killers and assassins, including Charles Manson, Ted Bundy, and Ed Gein, who dressed himself in his victims' peeled skin. Using his uncanny ability to become both predator and prey, Douglas examines each crime scene, reliving both the killer's and the victim's actions in his mind, creating their profiles, describing their habits, and predicting their next moves.
"Now, in chilling detail, the legendary Mindhunter takes us behind the scenes of some of his most gruesome, fascinating, and challenging cases-and into the darkest recesses of our worst nightmares."
Opinion: I thought that this was a great read-as someone who is interested in profiling and forensics, I felt that this was beneficial to read and see how profiling developed.

Final Paradox by Mary E. Martin

Started: 3/8/07
Finished: 3/11/07
Year: 2006
Pages: 261
Genre: Mystery
Grade: B-
Reason for reading: review for MyShelf.com
Blurb (from back cover): "Harry Jenkins is an honest lawyer, seeking truth and love in a world darkened by fraud and deceit. Years back, Elixicorp, a company developing a drug to forestall memory loss, defrauded millions from Toronto's elite. But since then, no one has been able to find this long buried treasure, which has poisoned the lives of all who seek it.
"His elderly client, Norma Dinnick, teeters between lucidity and madness in her dark world of paradoxical claims. When she instructs Harry to sue the other claimants for the Elixicorp shares, one of the litigants is fatally shot in open court at Osgoode Hall. The murder weapon is an ornate, silver pistol, which is both a means of betrayal and a gift of love. Peter Saunderson, an old acquaintance of Harry's from law school, surfaces to frame his own wife and lover with the courtroom murder and to implicate Harry in the scheme.
"Harry and his father have been estranged for years. Stanley is found unconscious at the foot of his cellar steps, a gun in his hand. Waking from his coma, he asks Harry's forgiveness for a long-buried wrong. This ugly .38 caliber gun becomes the means whereby love and forgiveness is found. Beset with questions, Harry turns to the beautiful Natasha, who guides him to an understanding of the final paradox."
Opinion: Kinda jumps around. The relationship between Harry and his father is touching. The frame-up is interesting. For a more complete review, check out MyShelf.com.

Echo Burning by Lee Child

Started: 3/5/07
Finished: 3/8/07
Year: 2001
Pages: 412
Genre: Mystery
Grade: B+
Reason for reading: booksfree.com book
Blurb (from back cover): "Thumbing across the scorched west Texas desert, loner Jack Reacher has nowhere to go, and all the time in the world to get there. Cruising the same stretch of two-lane blacktop is pretty Carmen Greer. But for Reacher, the lift comes with a hitch. Carmen's got a story to tell, and it's a wild one. All about her husband, her family secrets, and a hometown that's pure Gothic. She's also got a plan. Reacher's part of it. And before the sun sets, this ride could cost them both their lives."
Opinion: One of the better books I've read this year. Almost missed a stop on the subway because I was so into the book. Definitely will be checking out some more of his books.

Touch the Wind by Janet Dailey

Started: 3/4/07
Finished: 3/5/07
Year: 1979
Pages: 296
Genre: Romance
Grade: B
Reason for reading: grabbed it off the TBR pile
Blurb (from back cover): "All her life Sheila Rogers got what she wanted, then didn't want it anymore-including a reckless marriage doomed to perish in her husband's arrogant greed.
"Then came the man they called Rafaga, The Wind, the violent, gallant bandido who carried her off in a blaze of gunfire to his mountain retreat.
"He offered her raw passion. She answered with brazed resistance. But there among his followers she saw the gentleness that was also Rafaga, and learned why his name was a quiet promise in his people's hearts.
"She yearned to become the woman who could live beside this powerful, tender man...to warm her body and soul with his proud, defiant strength...to reach out across their separate worlds and..."
Opinion: Very quick read, fairly enjoyable. Didn't like the characterization of some of the characters but not horrible.

Tutu Deadly by Natalie M. Roberts

Started: 2/28/07
Finished: 3/4/07
Year: 2007
Pages: 248
Genre: Mystery
Grade: B
Reason for reading: review for MyShelf
Blurb (from back cover): "Meet Jenny T. Partridge, founder of the Ogden, Utah's premier school for budding prima-and not-so-prima-ballerinas. For Jenny, dealing with difficult stage mothers is business as usual...until murder cuts in.
"When the obnoxious mother of Jenny's most talented student meets her make-courtesy of poisoned cookie dough purchased through the Academy's fund-raiser-Jenny must dance as fast as she can to clear her name."
Opinion: Very funny in parts, especially the characterization of Jenny. A good mystery. For a more complete review, check out MyShelf.com