Information Review

I just finished this book by Jodi Picoult. I’ve read four of her books, “Handle With Care”, “My Sister’s Keeper”, “Change of Heart” and “Keeping Faith” and they keep getting better every time. Her writing is an extraordinary gift. Immensely readable, FAITH was a very moving and realistic novel. I enjoyed reading this book very much. It seemed so real and was written so well that I could actually see this happening. I never wanted to put it down, it just kept pulling me in farther and farther into the plot line.

The book is about Mariah's struggle to keep her daughter, Faith, and cope with her divorce, and her ex-husband's sudden remarriage. Mariah knows Faith is seeing God, but she can't get Colin to believe her. So she has no choice but to fight for custody of Faith.

Half of the book was predictable while the other half surprised me very much. The way the author wrote this book was just so real and so normal and the Whites were such a normal family, but she wrote it in a compelling way and it truly amazes me that she can write about regular life in a way that you do not see in regular life. If you are looking for a book that is plot-driven, but with depth of character and thought, you will like this book.

Brief Interviews with Hideous Men is a comedy movie written and directed by John Krasinski, based on a book of the same name by David Foster Wallace. Stars: John Krasinski, Will Arnett, Bobby Canavale, Dominic Cooper, Max Minghella, Timothy Hutton, Julianne Nicholson. The movie is set to be released on September 25, 2009 by Ifc Films. In the film, a graduate student (Julianne Nicholson) endeavors to explore the male psyche for her thesis by interviewing a cross-section of men. The men’s twisted and revealing stories are juxtaposed against the backdrop of her own experience. As she begins to listen closely to the men around her, she must ultimately reconcile herself to the darkness that lies below the surface of human interactions. Krasinski and his fine cast successfully bring the first ever David Foster Wallace work to the big screen with a film that audiences will be talking about for a long time.

I'm not sure how good or bad this book is compared to Picoult's other bestselling books such as Handle With Care, My Sister’s Keeper, but I enjoyed Change of Heart thoroughly.

In Change of Heart, Shay Bourne is convicted of a brutal double murder of a man and his daughter. After 11 years of appeals, the execution date is set. Now he is convinced that he needs to donate his heart to the murdered girl's sister, Claire Nealon, who needs a heart transplant if she's to finish out the year. The state of New Hampshire only carries out executions by lethal injection, which won't allow for an organ transplant. But, if Shay can be executed by hanging, he can be brain dead but have a still viable heart. Enter ACLU lawyer, Maggie. She wants to help Shay donate his heart to the little girl and, if possible, strike a blow for her anti Death penalty beliefs. Then, there's Father Michael, the Catholic priest with a secret of his own: eleven years ago, he was on the jury that sentenced Shay to death. He wants to clear his conscience and help Shay make peace with the Lord before he dies.

This book, in true Jodi Picoult fashion, was absolutely amazing. Not only did it have perfect characters who grew and changed throughout the story, but from the very beginning there left a question begging to be asked: Why did Shay kill Elizabeth and Kurt in the first place? The whole book focuses around Shay and his fight for his execution to allow him to donate his heart, and the growing evidence that Shay could be some sort of religious figure from the past. One thing Picoult does very well in all her books she creates well defined, intriguing characters. All the characters here are wonderfully written, and in the same way she brought back Ian Fletcher from Keeping Faith.

The Yankee Years by Joe Torre and Tom Verducci has received a large amount of pre-release press especially from the New York media, but also the L. A. Times.

The book chronicles Torre's years as manager of Major League Baseball's New York Yankees from 1996 to 2007. During that time he got to and won four World Series out of five, not an easy task for anyone. Torre also stopped much of the ridicule he received from the New York media upon his appointment. If winning four World Series doesn't prove you're worthy of the job, nothing else will. The fact of the matter is that Joe Torre became the most beloved Yankees managers of all time winning the respect of the fans and his players.....also not an easy task given the list of outstanding players he worked with.

Anna is a thirteen year old girl who has healthy but has to donate her body to Kate, her sister, who has a rare form of leukemia. Anna was conceived only to help her older sister survive. When she is pushed too far, Anna fights back for the right to make her own choices about her body.

Her brother, Jesse has also had enough with his parents choices. He chooses to act out by setting fires, which ironically, his father (Brian) has to put out.

Their father, Brian, is pushed into a hard position. He loves his children and his wife, but sometimes his wife seems only to care about one person in the family, Kate. When Anna decides to sue them, he moves out with her and the family unravels more.

Sara, who in my opinion was a selfish woman who only cared about Kate, no matter the consequences to her other children, was supposed to be a moving character. I thought she was unbearably horrible. The true question of the book was who would ever allow a woman like that to become a parent?

A film based on this book will be released on June 26, 2009.

Like many of Picoult's books, this one is written from multiple points of view and the chapters are titled with the name of whose story is being told and the date which provides a nice sense of continuity and timing.

Natalie Raines, one of Broadway's brightest stars, accidentally discovers who killed her former roommate and sets in motion a series of shocking events that puts more than one life in extreme peril.

While Natalie and her roommate, Jamie Evans, were both struggling young actresses, Jamie had been involved with a mysterious married man to whom she referred only by nickname. Natalie comes face to face with him years later and inadvertently addresses him by the nickname Jamie had used. A few days later, Natalie is found in her home in Closter, New Jersey, dying from a gunshot wound.

Immediately the police suspect Natalie's theatrical agent and soon-to-be-ex-husband, Gregg Aldrich. He had long been a "person of interest" and was known to have stalked Natalie to find out if she was seeing another man. But no charges are brought against him until two years later, when Jimmy Easton, a career criminal, suddenly comes forward to claim that Aldrich had tried to hire him to kill his wife. Easton knows details about the Aldrich home that only someone who had been there -- to plan a murder, for instance -- could possibly know.

The case is a plum assignment for Emily Wallace, an attractive thirty-two-year-old assistant prosecutor. As she spends increasingly long hours preparing for the trial, a seemingly well-meaning neighbor offers to take care of her dog in her absence. Unaware of his violent past, she gives him a key to her home...

As Aldrich's trial is making headlines, her boss warns Emily that this high-profile case will reveal personal matters about her, such as the fact that she had a heart transplant. And, during the trial, Emily experiences sentiments that defy all reason and continue after Gregg Aldrich's fate is decided by the jury.

In the meantime, she does not realize that her own life is now at risk. A compelling novel that probes the mysteries of the human heart and mind, Just Take My Heart is Mary Higgins Clark's most spellbinding tale.

Having read all of Stephenie Meyer's Twilight books: Twilight, New Moon, Eclipse and Breaking Dawn. The Host was on my most anxiously anticipated list of books to read.

The Host begins with the insertion of an alien into a human's body. Some of the aliens were afraid of using this particular body because Melanie Stryder was part of the resistance that formed after the initial alien invasion. However, it was deemed necessary so they could have access to her memories but they got a lot more than they bargained for. Against the norm Melanie did not fade into obscurity with her memories as the only evidence that she lived. Melanie fought to keep control of her body against the alien Wanderer that now occupied her body. It was only because of their mutual hatred toward their Seeker that they bound together and eventually found a settlement of humans that had escaped the invasion. At first it was hard for the humans to trust that Melanie was still there with Wanderer, nicknamed Wanda by the humans. One by one they started to believe and they saw how she could be helpful. In the human colony they reunite with Jared, Melanie's companion before the alien encounter. They also meet Ian who becomes their unofficial bodyguard while the other humans get used to the idea of a non-hostile alien. Complications arose because of Jared's love for Melanie and Ian's love for Wanda. They could not all have what they wanted. Wanda and Melanie must solve the problem while doing what's best for everyone.

I was a little iffy when I started this book, because it's not exactly my type, but it was really good! Everything was well done: the characters, the descriptions, etc. It really makes you think about how worthy humans are, and teaches you to look at all sides of a story and not judge too quickly. I recommend it!