Play Dead by David Rosenfelt

Started: 4/26/07
Finished: 4/30/07
Year: 2007
Pages: 308
Genre: mystery
Grade: B
Reason for reading: review for MyShelf.com
Blurb (from back cover): "Few can rival attorney Andy Carpenter's affection for golden retrievers, especially his own beloved Tara. After he astonishes a New Jersey courtroom by successfully appealing another golden's death sentence, Andy discovers that this gentle dog is a key witness to a murder that took place five years before. Andy pushes the boundaries of the law even further as he struggles to free an innocent man by convincing an incredulous jury to take canine testimony seriously. It will take all the tricks Andy's fertile mind can conceive to get to the bottom of a remarkable chain of impersonations and murder, and save a dog's life-and his own-in the process."
Opinion: What I really loved about this book was that golden retrievers are involved. There were some editing mistakes but since this was an advanced reader copy, it's fine. For a more complete review, check out MyShelf.com next month.

Darwin and the Barnacle by Rebecca Stott

Started 4/24/07
Finished: 4/26/07
Year: 2003
Pages: 261
Genre: Biographical/Science
Grade: B+
Reason for reading: grabbed it off the TBR pile
Blurb (from back cover): "In a suspensful narrative, Rebecca Stott tells the story of Charles Darwin's discovery in 1835 of an unknown, shrimplike barnacle he would call 'Mr. Anthrobalanus' and the decisive influence this tiny marine organism would have on the course of evolutionary biology."
Opinion: An interest look at Darwin and his life. I found it worth reading as I believe in Darwin's theory and I like marine biology.

The Folding Star by Alan Hollinghurst

Started: 4/20/07
Finished: 4/24/07
Year: 1994
Pages: 437
Genre: Literature
Grade: D
Reason for reading: booksfree.com
Blurb (from back cover): "Alan Hollinghurst's hypnotic and exquisitely written novel tells the story of Edward Manners, a disaffected thirty-three-year-old who leaves England to earn his living as a language tutor in a Flemish city. Almost immediately he falls in love with one of his pupils, but can only console himself with other affairs. With the novel, Hollinghurst exposes us fearlessly to the consequences of unfulfillable, annihilating desire.
Opinion: Eh. Not worth picking up in my opinion. Only finished it because I believe in attempting to finish every book I start.

The Robert F. Kennedy Assassination by Philip H. Melanson

Started: 4/14/07
Finished: 4/20/07
Year: 1994
Pages: 353
Genre: Non-fiction
Grade: B+
Reason for reading: Scott recommended
Blurb: This is a look into the possible cover-up surrounding Robert F. Kennedy's assassination.
Opinion: This contains a lot of valid points regarding cover-ups with the LAPD, LA District Attorney's office, FBI, and CIA. After reading this, I believe that this investigation should be reopened. There are too many unanswered questions, and thanks to the some of the evidence being destroyed, there will remain unanswered questions. But in order for true justice to be done, this should be relooked at. Did Sirhan Sirhan kill Kennedy? Was there another gun? Was there a mysterious woman with Sirhan? Why would there be such a cover-up?

The Shipping News by E. Annie Proulx

Started: 4/9/07
Finished: 4/14/07
Year: 1993
Pages: 337
Genre: Fiction
Grade: C
Reason for reading: booksfree.com
Blurb (from back cover): "At thirty-six, Quoyle, a third-rate newspaperman, is wrenched violently out of his workaday life when his two-timing wife meets her just deserts. He retreats with his two daughters to his ancestral home on the starkly beautiful Newfoundland coast, where a rich cast of local characters all play a part in Quoyle's struggle to reclaim his life. As three generations of his family cobble up new lives, Quoyle confronts his private demons-and the unpredictable forces of nature and society-and begins to see the possibility of love without pain or misery."
Opinion: I believe that this is one of the 1001 books you should read list. I don't feel that it should be on that list. I didn't find it that enjoyable but certainly not the worst book I've read. I did like how each chapter discussed a knot fact and how it plays a part in that chapter.

Death and Justice by Mark Fuhrman

Started: 4/5/07
Finished: 4/9/07
Year: 2003
Pages: 252
Genre: True Crime
Grade: C-
Reason for reading: grabbed it off the TBR shelf
Blurb (from book jacket): "Are innocent people being executed? Are death penalty cases being investigated and tried as if someone's life depended on it? Is capital punishment justice or revenge?
"Fuhrman seeks to answer these questions by investigating the death penalty in Oklahoma, a place where a 'hang 'em high' attitude of cowboy justice resulted in twenty-one executions in 2001, more than in any other state in the nation. The majority of these death penalty cases came from one jurisdiction, Oklahoma County, where legendary district attorney Bob Macy bragged about sending more people to death row than any other prosecutor, and police chemist Joyce Gilchrist was eventually fired for mismanaging the crime lab. These two figures loom large in Fuhrman's investigation.
"Examining police records, trial transcripts, and appellate decisions, and conducting hundreds of interviews, Fuhrman focuses his considerable investigative skills on more than a dozen of the most controversial Oklahoma death penalty cases, including two in which innocent men nearly lost their lives.
"When he began Death and Justice, Mark Fuhrman was firm believer in the death penalty What he saw in Oklahoma changed his mind. It may change yours."
Opinion: Well, it's an interesting look at Oklahoma and how an overzealous attorney and a chemist was unskilled, got together in several death penalty cases. I really did not like Fuhrman's writing style, but that could just be who he is, which is fine.

There Goes the Bride by Lori Wilde

Started: 4/2/07
Finished: 4/5/07
Year: 2007
Pages: 348
Genre: Romance
Grade: B+
Reason for reading: review for MyShelf.com
Blurb (from back cover): "The moment Texas socialite Delaney Cartwright touches the veil, she know she can't go through with her wedding. And it's not just because she envisions a stranger's dark eyes and irresistible lips the second her fingers hit lace. But she can't simply call the whole thing off. The nuptials to her nice, predictable childhood friend are the social event of the season (not to mention that her mother would freak). To fan the flames of this dying ember, Delaney abducts her fiance for a night of passion...and grabs the wrong guy! It isn't her fault that Detective Nick Vinetti of the oddly familiar eyes and lips has crossed her path-and looks game for all kinds of sexy fun.
"Now Delaney hatches an outrageous plan to get out of marrying: she'll hire her own kidnapper. With an alter to avoid and a cop to dream of, this runaway bride is hoping a little Irish magic will unveil the true destiny of her heart."
Opinion: A fun romance as most Lori Wilde books are. For a more complete review, be sure to check out MyShelf.com next month.

Unless by Carol Shields

Started: 3/30/07
Finished: 4/2/07
Year: 2002
Pages: 320
Genre: Fiction
Grade: A
Reason for reading: booksfree.com
Blurb (from back cover): "Forty-four-year-old Reta Winters, wife, mother, writer, and translator, is living a happy life until one of her three daughters drops out of university to sit on a downtown street corner silent and cross-legged with a begging bowl in her lap and a placard round her neck that says 'Goodness.'
"The final book from Pulitzer Prize-winner Carol Shields, Unless is a candid and deeply moving novel from one of the twentieth century's most accomplished and beloved authors."
Opinion: I cannot grasp what I liked so much about this book. The style is different. I felt very connected with Reta and her story. Definitely glad I decided to get this one.