This one starts right off. No, really. A few pages into it the whole premise happens. And the rest of the book is just what happens after. But King develops the characters reasonably well and there is enough subsequent action and suspense to keep the reader reading. It might have drug a little a couple times but not much and it made for a few late nights reading when I didn’t want to stop.  If you like Stephen King then I would recommend it. My favorite of his is still Salem’s Lot, although I read it many, many years ago. Hope I am remembering it right! 

Anyway, here’s what Publisher’s Weekly had to say about Cell:

What if a pulse sent out through cell phones turned every person using one of them into a zombie-like killing machine? That’s what happens on page six of King’s latest, a glib, technophobic but compelling look at the end of civilization—or at what may turn into a new, extreme, telepathically enforced fascism. Those who are not on a call at the time of the pulse (and who don’t reach for their phones to find out what is going on) remain “normies.” One such is Clayton Riddell, an illustrator from Kent Pond, Maine, who has just sold some work in Boston when the pulse hits. Clay’s single-minded attempt to get back to Maine, where his estranged wife, Sharon, and young son, Johnny-Gee, may or may not have been turned into “phoners” (as those who have had their brains wiped by the pulse come to be called) comprises the rest of the plot. King’s imagining of what is more or less post-Armageddon Boston is rich, and the sociological asides made by his characters along the way—Clay travels at first with two other refugees—are jaunty and witty. The novel’s three long set pieces are all pretty gory, but not gratuitously so, and the book holds together in signature King style.

Have you read this book? If so (or if not), what do you think?

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This one covers ground that is a bit close (or could have been), a woman dying from cancer and in terrible pain, so she asks her husband to help end her life. And in this case, he does it for her. So, how far is too far if the act is out of love? And then there’s the police chief, in a comfortable marriage. That is, until a newcomer threatens to change everything. It’s a good story and a compelling read. As with the other two of her books, I enjoyed it.

Here’s what Library Journal had to say about it:

Cameron MacDonald is both the chief of police in the Massachusetts village of Wheelock and the reluctant figurehead chieftain of the MacDonald clan, which immigrated there in the late 1700s. Thus it is to Cam that his cousin Jamie turns after he accedes to his suffering wife’s wish and helps her to die. Cam, who longs to travel and free himself from his family obligation, arrests Jamie for first-degree murder but then hires a lawyer for him. On that same day, exotic young Mia wanders into the village and is hired by Cam’s wife, Allie, to help out in her florist shop. Cam and Allie have reached a comfortable plateau in their marriage, but both sense that something is missing. Mia and Cam are irresistibly drawn to each other, she to his established place in local society and he to her itinerant lifestyle. The story explores love and the intricate balance of give and take that marriage demands. Picoult offers a well-written novel with touches of spirituality that are reminiscent of Alice Hoffman’s stories. Highly recommended for most collections.

Have you read it or maybe other books by her? Leave me a comment below!

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In the book, our beta-male hero Charlie Asher all of a sudden finds himself to be, well, Death. Or at least a “merchant of death”. Hey it’s a dirty job but someone’s gotta do it. There’s a wild cast of characters and the story takes you on a  ride. I can’t really do the book justice, so I’ll post this mini-review from Publisher’s Weekly:

“Cult-hero Moore (The Stupidest Angel) tackles death—make that Death—in his latest wonderful, whacked-out yarn. For beta male Charlie Asher, proprietor of a shop in San Francisco, life and death meet in a maternity ward recovery room where his wife, Rachel, dies shortly after giving birth. Though security cameras catch nothing, Charlie swears he saw an impossibly tall black man in a mint green suit standing beside Rachel as she died. When objects in his store begin glowing, strangers drop dead before him and man-sized ravens start attacking him, Charlie figures something’s up. Along comes Minty Fresh—the man in green—to enlighten him: turns out Charlie and Minty are Death Merchants, whose job (outlined in the Great Big Book of Death) is to gather up souls before the Forces of Darkness get to them. While Charlie’s employees, Lily the Goth girl and Ray the ex-cop, mind the shop, and two enormous hellhounds babysit, Charlie attends to his dangerous soul-collecting duties, building toward a showdown with Death in a Gold Rush–era ship buried beneath San Francisco’s financial district. If it sounds over the top, that’s because it is—but Moore’s enthusiasm and skill make it convincing, and his affection for the cast of weirdos gives the book an unexpected poignancy. “

So yeah, what’s not to like? The book is Christopher Moore’s “A Dirty Job”. It was a very enjoyable read and now I need to pick up another book by Moore. If anyone has any suggestions let me know…

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There are lots interviews with his friends, usually with him present to wisecrack and look back fondly. The book presents Groucho in his later years and he knows he is old and doesn’t have a lot of time. He gets a little down here and there, as would be expected. So he looks back on his long, celebrated life, and tells us all about it. There are also guest interviewers, who have great discussions with Groucho. These include Woody Allen, Bill Cosby, George Burns, and many more.

It was a little sad in that Groucho was near the end of his life. But his mind was sharp and he was clever and smart. In short, I liked the book and it just reinforced what I already knew, that Groucho was one of the funniest people ever.

Have you read it? Do you have an opinion?

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This book compiles eighteen or so short pieces, many of which published in various places but gathered together for the first time. From “Tandoori Ransom” to “Sam You Made The Pants Too Fragrant” to “On A Bad Day You Can See Forever” to “Above The Law, Below The Box Springs” to, well, maybe you get the idea. His stories are off-beat and unusual and not (as you might expect) full of easy jokes. Oh, but they are funny. Clever and funny, which is even better. 

Here’s what Booklist had to say:

It’s been 25 years since Woody Allen’s last humor collection, and for lovers of the New Yorker “casual” (a blend of goofy personal essay and literary parody), that’s far too long. Most of these pieces appeared originally in the New Yorker , but there are a handful of originals as well, all of which will please those determined souls who like their humor distinctly old school (“On a Bad Day You Can See Forever,” a rant about the horrors of rehabbing a condo, begins with the narrator reading Dante and wondering why there is no circle in hell for contractors). The topsy-turvy literary allusions pour from Allen’s pen like bullets from a Gatling gun (an appropriately obscure simile), exposing the intellectual pretensions of a ragtag assortment of Allenesque everymen–endearingly unkempt nebbishes who, despite knowing their Dostoevsky, can’t quite deal with the absurdities of daily life. Take Flanders Mealworm, the unfairly unheralded author of The Hockfleisch Chronicles, who, desperate for cash, agrees to write a novelization of a Three Stooges movie: “Calmly and for no apparent reason, the dark-haired man took the nose of the bald man in his right hand and slowly twisted it in a long, counterclockwise circle.” If Larry, Moe, and Curly Joe weren’t exactly what Yeats had in mind when he used the phrase “mere anarchy” in “The Second Coming,” they should have been. Bill Ott
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

And consider this by Amazon reviewer Brad Shorr:

The two funniest books I ever read were “Without Feathers” and “Getting Even”, so my expectations were impossibly high for “Mere Anarchy.” But almost to my surprise, Woody Allen’s new book at least equals and maybe surpasses them both.

Allen’s writing skills are off the charts, whatever the genre. At times, his sentence structure is so intricate and precise, his vocabulary so eccentrically obscure, that his setups become funnier than his punchlines:

“I was supremely confident my flair for atmosphere and characterization would sparkle alongside the numbing mulch ground out by studio hacks. Certainly the space atop my mantel might be better festooned by a gold statuette than by the plastic dipping bird that now bobbed there ad infinitum…”

This particular vignette, “This Nib for Hire”, is particularly hilarious: the story of Flanders Mealworm, a pretentious, out of work novelist writing a novelization of a Three Stooges short.

In the later chapters, Allen drops the highly stylized prose and reverts to earlier form, where he simply piles absurdities on his paragraphs like pastrami on rye. This too is sidesplitting:

“How could I not have known that there are little things the size of ‘Planck length’ in the universe, which are a millionth of a billionth of a billionth of a centimeter? Imagine if you dropped one in a dark theater how hard it would be to find. And how does gravity work? And if it were to cease suddenly, would certain restaurants still require a jacket? …”

Allen is funny on every level:

Funny premises–”Frederich Nietzsche’s Diet Book”, Savile Row suits impregnated with fragrances, a lighting double kidnapped by Indian terrorists while on location.

Funny, perfectly drawn metaphors and similes–”I have also reviewed by own financial obligations, which have puffed up recently like a hammered thumb.” Or, “With that, he scribbled in an additional ninety thousand dollars on the estimate, which had waxed to the girth of the Talmud while rivaling it in possible interpretations.”

Funny character names–Hal Roachpaste, Reg Millipede, Agememnon Wurst and E. Coli Biggs, to name a very, very few.

Funny words–Myrmidon, crepescular, succubus, screed, vigorish, on and on.

And of course, funny jokes, everywhere–”She quarreled with the nanny and accused her of brushing Misha’s teeth sideways rather than up and down.” “As we know, for centuries Rome regarded the Open Hot Turkey Sandwich as the height of licentiousness …”

Allen is the absolute master of fusing the sublime with the absurd. The result is a book that makes you think as well as laugh. That’s a combination you don’t often see these days!

So, you get it. It’s funny, witty, clever, and you should buy it along with all his other books. Trust me. Anyway, if you have (or haven’t) read the book, leave me a comment!

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If you don’t know Warren’s work, or only know “Werewolves Of London”, then you will see there was a lot more to this man.

Some of it is not pretty. His demons were real and unrelenting. But his work stands alone. Bruce Springsteen looked up to him, as did many others. The book deals with his life, including the ugly parts he made Crystal promise that she would include. But his struggle to a better, stronger man and his outstanding song-writing are clear throughout. The story culminates with his cancer diagnosis and his being given only a few months to live. He fell off the wagon and things turned ugly at times but he worked unrelentingly hard to finish “The Wind”, his final album.

He had so many great songs. His album “Warren Zevon” is amazingly good all the way through. Excitable Boy made him deservedly famous, for better or worse. Later songs like “For My Next Trick”, “Keep Me In Your Heart”, “Hostage-O”, “Searching For A Heart”, “Suzie Lightning”, “She’s Too Good For Me”, I could go on and on. I won’t even try to list from the first few albums. You should already own those!

A few of the albums were a little uneven and some are dearer to me than others. But all have their treasures. A lot of excellent songs live in those record grooves on those CDs. Buy the first couple, buy a “best-of” (the 2-CD version if possible), then go from there. I don’t think you’ll be sorry. Too bad you can’t see him live (well, there’s always YouTube). I saw him live just once, opening a show for Jackson Browne. Warren played solo, just him and a piano, mostly songs from his brilliant self-titled album. What a great song-writer. I miss his talent and his weirdness and his quirky style.

Here’s what Publishers Weekly said about the book:

For those who know them, the brilliant, dark songs of Warren Zevon (1947-2003) inspire nothing short of adoration; for those who don’t, this stunning biography of the irrepressible rock ‘n’ roll singer/songwriter should send them sprinting to the nearest record store. By taking an unexpurgated, oral-history approach to Warren’s life, his former wife and lifelong friend Crystal has crafted a sharp, funny, jaw-dropping rock biography that’s among the best of the sub-genre. Provocative and unflinching, her account distills Warren’s journal entries and the author’s exhaustive interviews with 87 family members, business associates, band mates, fellow musicians and former lovers into a chronology ranging from Warren’s ancestry to his death, at age 56, from lung cancer. The impetus for the book was Warren himself-he implored Crystal to tell his story and to “promise you’ll tell ‘em the whole truth, even the awful, ugly parts.” The awful, ugly parts turn up often: Warren’s addictions (to alcohol, drugs and sex), personal demons (intense obsessive-compulsion and commitment-phobia) and paternal shortcomings (to him, kids were nuisances) all get plenty of play here. But so does Warren’s music, for which peers like Jackson Browne, Bruce Springsteen and Paul Schaffer offer plenty of insight. This top-notch biography is a must-read for fans, and a highly rewarding read for anyone interested in a close look at the life of a modern rock icon.

And here’s what Booklist said:

Warren Zevon was greatly admired for writing some of the most intelligent and literate songs in rock. Probably best known are the darkly humorous “Werewolves of London” and “Excitable Boy.” He was a rock ‘n’ roll wild man, whose unconventional life his ex-wife Crystal’s oral-history-style biography makes as iconoclastic in the telling as it was in the living. Among the tellers are members of Zevon’s family, and friends and colleagues including Jackson Browne, Bonnie Raitt, Bruce Springsteen, Billy Bob Thornton, Dave Barry, and Stephen King. They comment on his often dissolute lifestyle, his drinking and subsequent sobriety, his off-the-wall humor, the diagnosis of the inoperable lung cancer of which he ultimately died in September 2003, and, of course, his remarkable songs. His behavior was not always laudable–for example, he was a notorious womanizer–but he remained true to himself. This often searing, humorous, and brutally honest book captures him at his best and his worst. Another appropriate friend, crime novelist Carl Hiaasen, contributes a foreword.

Anyway, if you have (or haven’t) read the book, leave me a comment!

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Thursday June 25

And we hit the road running. Well, driving actually. Portland is a ten or eleven hour drive from our NorCal home base. On our way, we stopped in Yreka, right up near the top of California on the I-5, at a small place in a mall, called Linda’s Soup Café.  We had stumbled on this place a few years back when we drove to Seattle and somehow remembered it. Linda’s is not your usual mall food. They even have a vegetarian menu with a whole bunch of items that looked good. Imagine us vegetarians having too many things to choose from!  Anyway, fully refreshed, we headed north again. We stopped in Southern Oregon for gas and remembered the unusual law in Oregon that says you can’t pump your own gas. So we let the man service us and headed north once again. Round about dinnertime we pulled into Portland. Or I should say the suburb of Lake Oswego, where our hotel was. We checked in and unpacked. We got on the internet with our laptops and although the Ethernet connection worked the WiFi didn’t, meaning only one of us could be online at once. That wouldn’t suffice for the whole week, so we had someone from the hotel check it out and they got it working within minutes. Yay! We’ve had Internet problems at hotels a few times, and this was the fastest it ever got fixed. The room was nice too, and the rate was very cheap for a Hilton Garden Inn. In fact, the Hotel situation was great for the whole week. But I’m jumping ahead. Then we walked a block or so to a small and local Thai food restaurant called Thai Basil. Coincidentally, there is a Thai place in our town with the same name. No relation. Both are good though!

Friday June 26

Today was the first day of the Lake Oswego Art Festival, which was one of the reasons we made the trip. The festival was split between a building complex and a park. In the building (and a huge tent behind it), there was lots and lots of art. The theme was mosaic and there were amazing examples of that, but there were also paintings, metal work, ceramics, glass, and other art. We’re talking hundreds of pieces. Then, at the park there were 60-80 vendors showing and selling various types of arts and crafts. There were food vendors too, and music. Mid-day we grabbed some lunch nearby. Petra got a sandwich at an Italian deli and I got a chili relleno burrito (never heard of that before) at Senor Taco and we met at a table in the middle to eat. We took a break from the festival in the afternoon and went to Trader Joes to get some breakfast food and snacks to keep in the hotel room. We had a fridge and microwave, along with the aforementioned Internet and one of the most important things a hotel room can have, an in-room coffee-maker. On our way back to the festival we stopped at a chain Mexican restaurant called Azteca. They said it was a chain. It looked like one but I’d never seen any others. Anyway, just that day they had started a special with two enchiladas, beans, and rice for only $6.99 so both we ordered that. What a bargain! It almost made up for the $8.75 margaritas. Ouch! But they were huge so I guess it was ok. Then back to the  art festival. The music for the evening was Marv and Rindy Ross, better known (maybe) as the 80s band Quarterflash. My wife Petra had always liked that band and had seen them in her early years, so we watched the current version. They did do a few of their 80s hits but everything else was more recent.

Saturday June 27

We ate breakfast (some fruit) in the room and then had the free hotel shuttle take us to the local light rail station (aka The Max). Portland has a great public transit system, much much better than the meager one here. We took the light rail train downtown. We’d seen most of the art festival yesterday so we decided to start exploring Portland today. Big surprise, we checked out a record store first. But we didn’t buy anything there. Yeah, how often does that happen! Then we had a pizza slice at Hotlips Pizza. Mine veggie slice was pretty decent but Petra found her plain cheese a little lacking I think. We wandered around “The Pearl” district downtown and looked at shops and walked. One of our “must” destinations was Everyday Music, a huge new and used record and CD store. I love that place and we spent quite a while there and found a number of items to purchase. We strolled through a couple art galleries, including the Bullseye Glass Gallery, which is always cool. We stopped at the Deshuttes Brewpub and had an appetizer and some liquid refreshment. I had the Black Butte Porter, one of my most favorite dark beers. Our friends Larry and Robin were scheduled to get into town to hang and explore with us and, well, also, their son Brian lives there. Maybe that had something to do with it too. We all checked out the amazingly huge Powells Books (a square block with multiple levels, you could easily get lost in there). Then the five of us stopped at a small local Lebanese Restaurant for dinner. We got a quick look at Brian’s nearby condo and then all went to see him at work. He works as a bartender at The Lotus. He suggested a concoction of about a third Captain Morgan Spiced Rum, a third orange juice, and a third cranberry juice. It was mild and very tasty. It’s amazing how the Captain works with so many things.

Sunday June 28

Happy birthday to our granddaughter Josephine, who turns eight years old today. We started the day again with some fruit (and a scone) in our room. Ok, so now we’re ready to go. First stop was the Bullseye Resource Center. This is the headquarters for the Bullseye Glass Company, makers of the high-quality art glass that Petra (and others of course) use for their glass art projects. We learned about the “Bull Pen”, the bargain glass room and had a nice visit there. Larry, Robin, and Brian met us there and we all headed over to the Screen Door, a small but inviting local restaurant for breakfast. It was really good food. Then we continued our exploration of the city, first walking the Alberta District, then the Hawthorne area. After all that walking, shopping, and wandering, we were hungry again (surprise) and had dinner in the area at Vege Thai, a vegetarian Thai food place. It was good but not great. By that time it was getting late, but the day was not over. Brian’s band was having a rehearsal and we were invited. Sure, the rehearsal started around 11:00 PM but they had a great rehearsal/studio space and we went for a little while. They are a good band, but it’s a little funny to hear young kids doing that British Blues aka early Led Zepellin. Still, we liked it and thanks to Brian for letting us be there. Rock on, dude…

Monday June 29

After a small snack in the hotel room, we went to have lunch with a high school friend of Petra’s (named Margaret) and her husband Tim. We ended up spending the whole afternoon with them, talking. It was a nice visit. Then we met back  up with Larry and Robin at a nearby movie theater, the Laurelhurst, to see Adventureland, a recent film. The movie was entertaining and we all enjoyed it. But the really cool thing was that the theater served beer and wine and food that you could take into the theater. Some of the rows of seats had been replaced by tables so you could set your food/drink there while you enjoyed the movie. We had a carafe of wine (the ladies) and a pitcher of Oatmeal Stout beer (da boyz) and a couple slices of pretty tasty pizza, all in a movie theater. How cool is that? We sure need some theaters like that here in Sactown! After the movie we took a stroll down the street and paid a brief visit to a large record and CD store, Music Millenium. I found one item before they closed. More music, more fun!

Tuesday June 30

We met Larry, Robin, and Brian for breakfast at the Cricket Café. Yep, another delicious breakfast. I could do this everyday. At least until I went broke. We decided to use a combination of The Max (the light rail) and the streetcar to get around. We went to the Rose Garden, a famous tourist attraction. Lots and lots of roses. I mean lots. We’ll have pictures on the site one of these days. Also at the same general location was the Vietnam Veterans Memorial and the Holocaust Memorial. We saw both of those and they were both impressive. The Holocaust Memorial was especially moving when we read some of the quotes from people who were there at the time. We had a shaved ice and headed on. After a walk back to the condo, we caught the light rail and the streetcar and got off near the Rogue Brewery. We had a snack and I had a couple pints of the Shakespeare Stout. It was heavenly. I mean really delicious. Oh, yeah. Then we rode the Sky Tram, a tram on a wire that goes up the side of a mountain. Yikes! But it was enclosed and it was smooth and there was art at the top. So it was good. Then we headed to dinner at a nice place, a little more upscale maybe than the rest of the trip. It was The Farm and I had the best veggie burger I have ever had, totally different and miles ahead of any other. Go there. Get one. Then we went over to the Doug Fir for a cocktail. It’s a combination of modern retro and log cabin. Weird, no, not really. It was pretty nice. Then we headed back to Brian’s work at The Lotus and spent a few minutes and a drink there. We said goodbye to Brian since we were leaving in the morning. Then after we got back to the car it was another farewell, this time to Larry and Robin. Then back to the hotel for the last night.

Wednesday July 1

We hit the road for home. Bye-bye to Portland, a great city that I liked a lot. We stopped at an unremarkable diner for lunch and got home in the evening. One last meal out, at 524 Mexican, was in order. Then the vacation was over. We had a great time, I loved it!!!!!

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Simon says “leave me a comment”. And he means it.

It was the first book I had read by this author, though he is quite prolific. Velocity isn’t especially deep or philospohical, it’s just a good read that will keep you wanting to read more. The characters were described well, particularly the main character (Billy). Now, I’m no book reviewer, so here’s what Publisher’s Weekly had to say:

[after the jump]

Starred Review. A diabolic killer plays a harrowing game of cat and mouse with a reclusive bartender in Koontz’s latest gripping suspense thriller. Billy Wiles, a 30-something bartender and former writer, is content with his solitary Napa County existence listening to “beer-based psychoanalysis” from tavern regulars; visiting his hospitalized, comatose fiancée, Barbara; and carving wood sculptures. But the simple life gets mighty complicated when he finds a note with a deadly, time-sensitive ultimatum: he must choose between the death of a young schoolteacher or an elderly humanitarian in six hours. Reluctant local sheriff Lanny Olsen dismisses it as a joke until a comely teacher is found strangled and another threatening note appears—offering even less time for Billy to decide the fate of two more people. Who would have guessed that one of those people would be Olsen?

Billy finds that the cunning killer has gained access to every aspect of his life as the ultimatums grow increasingly more personal. Suppressing horrific childhood memories, Billy scrambles to bury grisly incriminating evidence the murderer has deviously planted. More gruesome deaths and shaky suspicions trap Billy right in the demented killer’s lair for just the beginning of Koontz’s serpentine showdown. Graphic, fast-paced action, well-developed characters and relentless, nail-biting scenes show Koontz at the top of his game.

I think that describes it much better than I could. I liked it and hated when I had to put it down. This book is escapist fun, but sometimes that can be, well, fun! Have you read it? Have you read any other Dean Koontz books? Let me know what you think, leave me a comment!

This book follows his life from childhood into his beginnings with magic and comedy. Then into his becoming famous and how it affected him. Finally he covers why he decided to never do stand-up comedy again. The book ends there, hopefully he will write another one someday that will deal with his life after stand-up. This book is written in an easy-to-read style with some subtle humor, although you do get the down side too. It was a quick read and an enjoyable one.

Here’s what Elvis Presley said about Steve Martin in 1971:

“Son, you have an ob-leek sense of humor”

Here’s what amazon.com had to say about the book:

At age 10, Steve Martin got a job selling guidebooks at the newly opened Disneyland. In the decade that followed, he worked in Disney’s magic shop, print shop, and theater, and developed his own magic/comedy act. By age 20, studying poetry and philosophy on the side, he was performing a dozen times a week, most often at the Disney rival, Knott’s Berry Farm. Obsession is a substitute for talent, he has said, and Steve Martin’s focus and daring–his sheer tenacity–are truly stunning. He writes about making the very tough decision to sacrifice everything not original in his act, and about lucking into a job writing for The Smothers Brothers Show. He writes about mentors, girlfriends, his complex relationship with his parents and sister, and about some of his great peers in comedy–Dan Ackroyd, Lorne Michaels, Carl Reiner, Johnny Carson. He writes about fear, anxiety and loneliness. And he writes about how he figured out what worked on stage.

This book is a memoir, but it is also an illuminating guidebook to stand-up from one of our two or three greatest comedians. Though Martin is reticent about his personal life, he is also stunningly deft, and manages to give readers a feeling of intimacy and candor. Illustrated throughout with black and white photographs collected by Martin, this book is instantly compelling visually and a spectacularly good read.

If you like Steve Martin at all, check out this book and let me know what you think.

Or maybe leave me a comment below…?

And I already blogged about his birthday and Dead Men Don’t Wear Plaid.

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Ms. Picoult likes to tackle ethical questions and make you wonder who is really right and wrong, but at the same time she tells a story and gives insight into each character, whether likable or not. I would certainly recommend this book. I have already bought another one by her and will get to it one of these days. You know how that goes, though!

Here’s part of the review from Publisher’s Weekly:

The difficult choices a family must make when a child is diagnosed with a serious disease are explored with pathos and understanding in this 11th novel by Picoult (Second Glance, etc.). The author, who has taken on such controversial subjects as euthanasia (Mercy), teen suicide (The Pact) and sterilization laws (Second Glance), turns her gaze on genetic planning, the prospect of creating babies for health purposes and the ethical and moral fallout that results. Kate Fitzgerald has a rare form of leukemia. Her sister, Anna, was conceived to provide a donor match for procedures that become increasingly invasive. At 13, Anna hires a lawyer so that she can sue her parents for the right to make her own decisions about how her body is used when a kidney transplant is planned. Meanwhile, Jesse, the neglected oldest child of the family, is out setting fires, which his firefighter father, Brian, inevitably puts out. Picoult ably explores a complex subject with bravado and clarity, and comes up with a heart-wrenching, unexpected plot twist at the book’s conclusion.

Now, really, don’t you want to read it? Or have you already? Either way, why not leave me a comment below.