Laura
Almost Dead by Lisa Jackson
From the back cover:
Cissy Cahill's world is unraveling fast. One by one, members of her family are dying. Cissy's certain she's being watched. Or is she losing her mind? Lately she's heard footsteps when there's no one around, smelled a woman's perfume, and noticed small, personal items missing from her house. Cissy's right to be afraid--but not for the reason she thinks. The truth is much more terrifying...
I just finished not finishing this book. Let me say it this way: it took me six weeks to read up to the halfway point in the book and it took me less than five minutes to skim the rest of the book and not miss anything that happened.
The storyline was bad and the characters were worse. The story would have been a great one if it were told with some imagination. But instead, the author used amateur tricks to wrap up the story. Instead of keeping the reader on the edge of their seats with a creative and suspenseful plot, we are lied to because the villain gives her sidekick a nickname that is also the name of one of the main characters. LAME! And who the killer turns out to be is also a cop-out to creatively coming up with a great storyline because it's not believable. I hate a good story with a cop-out ending. And the characters are annoying and also not believable. I could care less about any of them. The main character Cissy, was so stupid and whiny that I wished the murderer would hurry up and off her. But she suffers on through most of the book.
I almost never quit a book in the middle. It has to be really bad for me to not read it to the end. Oh yeah, did I mention the repetition? The author repeats herself over and over again. Did this book have an editor? Also, much of this book reads like a romance novel, which I find intolerable. This was (almost) my first and definitely my last Lisa Jackson book.
Laura's Rating: 2/5
Did you read this book and you agree with my review? Or did you love it and you think I'm nuts? Tell me about it in the comments!Later this week I'll be posting a "good" book review. Stay tuned.
Laura
The New York Times has published a list of the ten best books in 2007. The first five are fiction and the last five are non-fiction. I don't know who wrote the article or who got to determine which books were this year's best, but if you can recommend any from this list, let me know in the comments! The fiction books look more interesting to me, but still...were any of these on Border's recommended reading lists? Or Oprah's? Hah, I'm kidding. Kind of.
Here's the list:
- Man Gone Down by Michael Thomas
- Out Stealing Horses by Per Petterson
- The Savage Detectives by Roberto Bolano
- Then We Came to the End by Joshua Ferris
- Tree of Smoke by Denis Johnson
- Imperial Life in the Emerald City: Inside Iraq's Green Zone by Rajiv Chandrasekaran
- Little Heathens: Hard Times and High Spirits on an Iowa Farm During the Great Depression by Mildred Armstrong Kalish
- The Nine: Inside the Secret World of the Supreme Court by Jeffery Toobin
- The Ordeal of Elizabeth Marsh: A Woman in World History by Linda Colley
- The Rest is Noise: Listening to the Twentieth Century by Alex Ross
Link
Laura
Entertainment Weekly magazine has named J.K. Rowling entertainer of the year. Rowling published the final book in her Harry Potter series this past July. Here's what the magazine had to say:
So we'll keep it simple: J.K. Rowling is our Entertainer of the Year because she did something very, very hard, and she did it very, very well, thus pleasing hundreds of millions of children and adults very, very much. In an era of videogame consoles, online multiplayer ''environments,'' and tinier-is-better mobisodes, minisodes, and webisodes, she got people to tote around her big, fat old-fashioned printed-on-paper books as if they were the hottest new entertainment devices on the planet.
Who could argue with that? There is no doubt that she has entertained us, not only this year but for many years with her books and movies. I can't think of another person who deserves the title more than Rowling does. Congratulations JoJo!
Link
Laura
Last week, Oprah Winfrey picked Ken Follett's
The Pillars of the Earth as her latest book club pick.
The Pillars of the Earth is a 973 page novel that is set in 12th century England. It was first released in 1989 and still sells 100,000 paperback copies per year in the United States alone. To read more about this book visit
Ken-Follett.com.
This book sounds really interesting. I'm going to add it to my reading list. I've read other books that Oprah has recommended and haven't been disappointed yet.
Laura
Harry Potter Lexicon is a website that was formally supported by J.K. Rowling, but not anymore. HP-Lexicon.org decided to publish a book based on the websites contents to the effect of a Harry Potter encyclopedia. Ms. Rowling also has similar plans to publish a HP encyclopedia of her own. So she filed a lawsuit to block the publication of the book on October 31st. The publishers of RDR Books has agreed to delay the book's publication, which was set to be released on November 28th, until it is determined if the book is in violation of J.K. Rowling's intellectual property rights, or the copyrights on her books which are held by Warner Bros.
J.K. Rowling has issued the following statement on her website concerning the lawsuit:
I take no pleasure in the fact that publication has been prevented for the present. On the contrary, I feel massively disappointed that this matter had to come to court at all. Despite repeated requests, the publishers have refused to even countenance making any changes to the book to ensure that it does not infringe my rights.
Unless their position changes, we will all return to court next year. Given my past good relations with the Lexicon fansite, I can only feel sad and disillusioned that this is where we have ended up.
Who's edition would
you rather read?
Laura
One of the things I love about children's books is looking at the illustrations. Some books just have pictures or drawings or nothing fancy. But other books are worth having just for the artwork. The New York Times honors these artists with a slideshow of these works along with some book information.
View the slideshow.
Laura
Five authors are suing Regnery Publishers for running a scheme that deprives them of their profits. Regnery Publishing is a Washington imprint of conservative books and are owned by Eagle Publishing.
In the lawsuit the authors say that Eagle sells or gives away copies of their books to book clubs, newsletters and other organizations owned by Eagle “to avoid or substantially reduce royalty payments to authors.”
The authors argue that in reducing royalty payments, the publisher is maximizing its profits and the profits of its parent company at their expense.
“They’ve structured their business essentially as a scam and are defrauding their writers,” Mr. Miniter said in an interview, “causing a tremendous rift inside the conservative community.”
SourceI'm glad to see that the authors are not sitting back and taking it from their publisher. There are too many corporations out there that use subsidiaries of their business to conduct shady business dealings. I hope they get their money and the publisher gets hit hard in the financial aspect.
Laura
Britney Spears' mommy Lynne is writing a parenting book. It is going to be called Pop Culture Mom: A Real Story of Fame and Family in a Tabloid World. It is being published by Thomas Nelson, a Christian publisher and has a . The book is due to be out next Mother's Day.
“It’s a parenting book that’s going to have faith elements to it. I don’t think it’s totally been written yet,” says the publisher’s rep, who expects the manuscript by December.
What do you think, will this book be worth reading? Yes, she's Britney's mom but she is also Jamie Lynn's mom. Her life must be filled with all the good and bad that Hollywood has to offer the parents of child stars. And she's going to need all the faith she can muster where Britney is concerned. I wish her the best but I'm not sure I'll be reading her book.
Laura
In honor of the fact that I'm only several pages from finishing Stephen King's
Lisey's Story (look for my review next week), this post is about what's happening in King's literary world.
(1989)
(1991)
(1992)
(1993)
(1994)
(1995)
(1996)
(1997)
(1998)
(1999)
(2001)
(2002)
(2002)
(2003)
(2003)
(2004)
(2005)
(2006)
(2007)
(2008)
