Bookworm

I have been thinking about trying to blog on the regular about the books that I read. A cousin of mine, Loquacious Lady, who blogs regularly on all sorts of amazing topics, does a semi-regular update to this effect. She may glare at this post with a “Hey, copycat!” face, so I hope I do not offend! I certainly enjoy reading any book reviews I can get my hands on, so whyyy not put some out there myself? I read like a mad woman after all. I may try to just do this monthly and encapsulate that previous month’s book list into one location, rather than a post per book. If I did that I’d be posting daily! (Hey…there may be something to that…)

So, with that ridiculous preamble out ‘da way, let’s discuss June books, shall we?

I started June with what I like to call a fluff book. Fluff books are what you nab at your local used bookstore for $.50 and read in, like, 5 minutes. At least that’s what I do.

Debbie Macomber – Twenty Wishes
This book is total fluff, but I loved it. I’ve read a few Debbie Macomber books in the past and really enjoy her work. You’re not going to get any sort of deep meaning, serious reading from her books, but if you’re like me, you will fall in love with her characters. She develops these little towns of hers like no other. Quite frankly, it’s the type of book series I’ve always assumed I’d write. I tend to focus more on detail, character-developments and traits, and painting an overall picture of a situation as opposed to really diving into a plot. I will always have that flaw – being plotless.

Anyway, this book is from her Blossom Street series, and the town person that is focused on is a bookstore owner by the name of Anne Marie. She has (recently-ish) separated from her husband because he refused to start a family with her, something she was very eager to do. She moves into the apartment above her store to wait it out in the hopes that they would reconcile. Sadly, her husband dies unexpectedly and she finds comfort in a group of other women from Blossom Street who are also widows. They also knit together, which is a centralized theme in this series. Together they develop a list of twenty wishes each…a list of things they have always wanted to do, buy, experience, etc. They do this, I think, to remind themselves that there is still a life worth living for despite what hardships their individual lives have brought them.

Encouraged by the rest of the group, Anne Marie decides to volunteer at a local school as a Lunch Buddy to a little girl named Ellen. Through random events, Ellen comes to live with Anne Marie and eventually shares in her love of knitting and even creates her own wish list. Because Ellen is an orphaned child at this point in the book, and Anne Marie has always wanted a child and had resolved that she never would get the chance, their relationship is very sweet and gave me a good, contented feeling at the end. Can’t complain about that!

The fact that I ended that book on a such a sap-happy note makes the next few that I read in June seem EXTRA horrific! See, I have a love for crime dramas and recently discovered Patricia Cornwell’s Kay Scarpetta series. I read the first book, Postmortem¸ quite a few months ago and forgot all about it until a recent bookstore run with my mom where I picked up book two in the series. I have since been borrowing the books from a coworker.

Patricia Cornwell – Body of Evidence, All That Remains, Cruel & Unusual, The Body Farm, and From Potter’s Field
Kay Scarpetta is the Chief Medical Examiner in Virginia. Let me start by saying that she is the T-Total opposite of me and, for that reason, at times I felt very disconnected from her as a character. That’s unusual for me, because, as I said above, that’s where my interests lie! However, the story told in this series is enough to keep me reading anyway.

In the first book listed above, Dr. S. is pulled into a murder mystery involving a famous novelist. Though at times fairly graphic, the whodunit style was entertaining and I was not expecting the ending that came. I love it when a crime-drama does that. Maybe it’s because I have worked in the legal field for so many reasons, including with the District Attorney’s office prosecuting criminals much like those mentioned in this series, but I am so fascinated by the process it takes to solve a crime, however glamorous a novel makes it. (It’s not).

I sailed right into book 3 in this series. I literally wasted no time. The third book involves a killer who is targeting young couples. Dr. S. finds herself more and more involved, probably too involved, and that eventually leads to some serious suspicion about her and her office, mostly because they cannot even determine the causes of death in these cases, much less who committed the murders! This is where you really start to get a feel for the drama that is Kay Scarpetta. She is constantly the center of the drama and unable to just be the examiner only.

I also did not have this one “figured out” until the end, which is probably a large reason why I like this series. Oftentimes I can figure out the ending to a crime drama before the crime has really even unfolded. That’s definitely a bummer, but not with Pat Cornwell!

It’s in Cruel & Unusual when things get crazy. Dr. S. first encounters a gruesome serial killer that will make several more appearances over the next few books in the series. Here is where another odd fascination of mine lies. I truly get a kick out of reading about serial killers! (Okay, okay, call the psych ward!) I can’t help it. The psychology of it all really gets my goat. Obviously I’m not a sociopath or anything. I do still react appropriately to horrific stories of murder and mayhem, so don’t write me off as a wackjob just yet!

This time, the killings are more personal to Dr. S. The killer literally seems to have an obsession with her as medical examiner and seems to set out to involve her even moreso in the cases as they progress. She begins to question everyone around her – the other characters I, as the reader, had grown accustomed to. Now I’m seeing them in a different light, as co-conspirators to the killings even! This book was crazy and ends with a total cliffhanger.

Because the last one ended so abruptly, I definitely moved onto The Body Farm right away. I was hooked! In this book, Dr. S. is chasing down the same killer, now with more help from her niece, Lucy. Their relationship is very strong through the series, as Dr. S. is a better mother-figure to Lucy than Lucy’s own mother. That dynamic is discussed pretty frequently, especially now that Lucy works for the FBI. Dr. S. has started to also started to do contract work of sorts with the FBI and has developed a love interest with another agent. It gets pretty juicy. Meanwhile, there is still a killer on the loose and he has now even hacked into the FBI’s new database and altered some pretty serious things that further confuse Dr. S. as to who he is and how he can be found. They have a pretty clear idea who he is but can’t be sure. (I should note that this entire book is pretty amusing to me because it was written in the mid-90s, so the computer terms used are ancient and mostly foreign to me)! All in all, I enjoyed this one, too.

Another side note: There really IS a Body Farm. It’s in Knoxville, TN. Whoa.

From Potter’s Field is the last P.C. book I read in June. Whew! I went a little crazy! This one concludes the serial killer murder mystery in a big way. It’s pretty awesome, in fact. Definite GIRL POWER moment. The more I read this series, the more I realized just how self-involved Dr. S. can be at times. It’s a bit annoying, but I suppose if she wasn’t, she wouldn’t be the main character and there wouldn’t be a series. –Shrug- I was glad to see the case resolve, and I am curious where the series will go next. There are quite a few more to go and I intend to read them all! I will let you know what happens…without, of course, revealing too much. I feel as though I shouldn’t summarize the books I read so much but rather just focus on the overall appeal that I had towards them. I will also be sure to provide as much opinion as possible!

[NOTE as of 3/9/12: I have still not picked up another Scarpetta novel. I just never really wanted to go back there. It was a phase! Maybe someday!]

Speaking of Potters…I finished June by starting Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows ONCE AGAIN! I finished it last night, taking longer this time around to read it in full than I did back when it was brand new. I read it then in one weekend! I chose to read it again to prepare for the final movie, just so I can be sure I get all of the little details fresh in my mind that I’m sure won’t make it to the screen! I LOVE HP and cannot believe it’s officially over with the close of this last movie…unless this “PotterMore” business I keep hearing about is legit. Anyone have the skinny?

Whew. That was tiring. I have finished Potter and intend to move back into P.C. novels at first, but I really am looking for more light-hearted reading for a little while. As much as I love the genre, too much crime, death and negativity gets to me after awhile!