Skinny Dip

By Carl Hiaasen

Few authors can actually make me laugh so hard that I almost pee my pants (excuse the expression, but it's soooooo true). This was the first novel by Hiassen that I had the pleasure of reading and it definately wasn't the last. Hiassen writes stories that are so out there, they're hard to believe, but boy, are they hilarious.

In this novel, Joey Perrone is thrown over the side of a cruise ship by her husband who wants out of the marraige (obviously). In Hiassen's quirky sense of humor, Joey survives by clinging to a bale of Jamaican pot wrapped into a bundle. The story that follows is basically a revenge scenario plotted by Joey and her accomplice. I seriously laughed out loud and you will too.

Warning: This novel contains foul language; not on every page, but enough to make you blush.

Similar Novels: Two for the Money by Janet Evanovich and Out of Sight by Elmore Leonard

Length: 355 pages

Copyright: 2004

A Medicine for Melancholy

By Ray Bradbury

I have been a Bradbury fan ever since I read Fahrenheit 451 in ninth grade. I love how he twists laws made by man and nature to make a novel intriguing. This is a collection of 31 short stories including Bradbury's famous "The Wonderful Ice-cream Suit." If you've ever seen the movie "The Butterfly Effect," it's based on a short story written by Bradbury. Just in time for Halloween, most of these short stories have a little suspense added in with a sci-fi element.

Similar Novel: Dandelion Wine by Ray Bradbury

Length: 307 pages

Copyright: 1960

The Probable Future

By Alice Hoffman

Right behind Jodi Picoult, Alice Hoffman is one of my favorite authors. She has written numerous books including Practical Magic, Here on Earth, and Turtle Moon. Each of her novels has a hint of magic included in the pages and this novel is no exception. Hoffman also describes people and places so poetically that you can easily imagine yourself in the novel.

On the thirteenth birthday of each of the Sparrow girls, the awake to find themselves enhanced with a specific magical power. For the grandmother, Elinor, she can detect lies from a mile away, for her daughter, Jenny, she can see into people's dreams. The biggest change comes for granddaughter, Stella, for when she awakens on her thirteenth birthday, she can see the future. Haunted by visions she can't understand and doesn't want, Stella tries hard to make the best of the future, even though she already knows the outcome.

Similar Novels: Second Glance by Jodi Picoult and Practical Magic by Alice Hoffman

Length: 322 pages

Copyright: 2003

Five Quarters of the Orange

By Joanne Harris

Have you ever read the novel or seen the movie Chocolat? This novel is written by the same author, Joanne Harris. This novel is similar in the fact that the main character is centering her life around recipes. The novel is stingingly sweet and full of descriptions of places, people, and, of course, food. She gives food such a realistic touch, that you can't help but wish you were in the novel to be able to taste such creations.

The novel takes place in France shortly after the end of the German occupation. Framboise Simon returns home to take care of the estate of her estranged mother. Her mother was blamed by the townsfolk for a tragedy that occurred during the occupation. While taking care of the estate, Framboise discovers a scrapbook of recipes that also doubled as a diary for her deceased mother. While reading the diary and duplicating the recipes, Framboise recalls memories associated with each recipe and comes closer to discovering the truth of what really happened so many years ago.

Similar Novels: Blackberry Wine by Joanne Harris and Julia's Chocolates by Cathy Lamb

Length: 307 pages

Copyright: 2001

Silas Marner

By George Eliot

This is a short classic novel that I read during college and became a big fan of the author. The author is really Mary Ann Evans. She used the pseudonym George Eliot to publish her novels. Her novel Middlemarch can be found on many classic literature reading lists. Silas Marner was modernized in the motion picture "A Simple Twist of Fate" starring Steve Martin and Gabriel Byrne.

Silas Marner is a weaver who lives as a recluse in the woods behind town. Over the years he has hoarded his earnings and saved quite a substantial fortune. One fateful night, Marner returns home to find his fortune missing and an infant sitting in it's place. The novel covers Marner's transformation from a grumpy recluse to a single father who becomes treasured by the townsfolk.

Similar Novels: Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens and Villette by Charlotte Bronte

Length: 183 pages

Copyright: 1861

The Negotiator

By Dee Henderson

This is book one in the O'Malley Series. The series is centered around a group of orphans who adopt each other and take the same last name, O'Malley. Each of the O'Malleys entered into a public service career. There is a firefighter, an EMT, a Secret Service Agent, a doctor, and more. I think there are seven books in the series plus a prequel. Dee Henderson has also written two other series of books that I follow. There is the Uncommon Heroes series that has main characters in the services and the Rachel Flynn Mystery Series. I've been reading Dee Henderson books since my roommates in college introduced me to them.
This book deals with Kate O'Malley who is a hostage negotiator. In the opening scenes of the book, she unknowingly becomes a hostage herself in a bank robbery gone bad. Another one of the hostages happens to be FBI Agent Dave Richman. When they make it through the hostage situation unharmed, Dave and Kate began a relationship that could be cut short by the death threats that Kate starts receiving. Determined not to let anything happen to Kate, he makes the decision to do everything in his power to keep her from being harmed.

Warning: This is a non-denominational Christian romance novel. There isn't any explicit sex and there isn't a focus on one religion. It simply covers the main character's relationship with God.

Similar Novels: True Devotion by Dee Henderson and Danger in the Shadows by Dee Henderson
Length: 308 pages
Copyright: 2000

The Lovely Bones

By Alice Sebold

This is a gripping novel written by a child's point of view as she looks down on her family from heaven. In the first sentence, Sebold grabs the reader by having the narrator explain when and how she died. This book doesn't center around religion as one might think, but instead, concentrates on the living who were left behind. It does describe heaven, but this is a heaven where children go when they are taken from Earth to early.

The narrator is Susie Salmon and in the first chapter, you learn that she is murdered when she is fourteen years old. Susie watches from heaven as her family mourns her death and then tries to put their lives back together after their loss. Susie also watches the murderer and his life in the following years. This novel is a murder mystery with the mystery already solved for the reader, but not the other subjects in the story. It's a unique way of telling a story and I thought it was extraordinary.

Warning: Before she is murdered, Susie is also molested. It doesn't go into great detail, but it is mentioned at could be disturbing to some.

Similar Novels: Turtle Moon by Alice Hoffman and The Year of Pleasures by Elizabeth Berg

Length: 328 pages

Copyright: 2002

Empire Falls

By Richard Russo

This novel quickly became a national bestseller and a Pulitzer Prize winner. Within the first few chapters, it's easy to see why. This novel expounds on the devotion of a father to his daughter and does so by explaining the relationships around them. The first chapter explains the background of the small town and the history that shapes the drama to come. This novel is heavy with foreshadowing and has a dramatic twist close to the end.
Miles Roby is manager of the Empire Grill. He is a middle class worker who is divorced and shares custody of his daughter, Tick. He dropped out of college to take care of his sick mother and ended up at the Empire Grill for 20 years. His devotion to the Grill and relationship with his daughter come into question after a terrible incident occurs. I enjoyed this novel immensely and quickly checked the library for others written by this author.

Warning: There is a school shooting towards the end of the novel that is described in detail. The violence could be upsetting for some.

Similar Novels: Nineteen Minutes by Jodi Picoult and Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant by Anne Tyler
Length: 483 pages
Copyright: 2001

The Memory Keepter's Daughter

By Kim Edwards

This book brought me to tears. Although she has been writing for almost a decade, this is a first novel for author Kim Edwards. Jodi Picoult (my favorite, favorite author) describes it perfectly when she writes, "Kim Edwards has created a tale of regret and redemption...of characters haunted by their past. Crafted with language so lovely you have to reread the passages just to be captivated all over again...simply a beautiful book." I couldn't have said it better myself.

In the middle of a blizzard, Dr. David Henry is forced to deliver his own twins. While his wife sleeps off the pain medication, Henry realizes that one of the twins has unmistakable signs of Down's Syndrome. He makes the split second decision to institutionalize the girl and tell his wife the baby didn't survive. His assistant is charged with delivering the baby to the institution and she also makes a decision that will change her life and the life of the baby. The novel continues as both the doctor and his assistant try to live with the decisions they've made. A gripping novel that shows the worst and best of a human being.

Similar Novels: The Secret Life of CeeCee Wilkes by Diane Chamberlain, Midwives by Chris Bohjalian, and Portraits in Sepia by Isabel Allende

Length: 401 pages

Copyright: 2005

One for the Money

By Janet Evanovich

This is book one of the Stephanie Plum novels. The fourteenth novel in this series was just published in June of this summer. I found this novel on the shelf at the Hastings Bookstore when I was in college. I actually had to stop buying the novels during the school year because I wouldn't read my assigned reading for my classes. Instead, I would stay up and read Stephanie Plum novels.
Stephanie Plum used to be a lingerie buyer for a major department store until they downsized and laid her off. Because desperate times call for desperate measures, Stephanie begs her cousin Vinny to give her a job and now she's a bounty hunter. In the novels, she actually turns out to be a decent bounty hunter, but only because of luck. In most novels, she manages to destroy a car, usually by fire, and taser herself. These novels actually make me laugh out loud when they describe her family (a typical New Jersey Italian family) at Friday night dinners. Her grandmother acts like she's 25, her mother is a closet alcoholic, and her father just shuts up and eats the food. I'm looking forward to more Stephanie Plum novels in the future.

Warning: There are a few four letter words used in this novel. In some of the Stephanie Plum novels there can be detailed sex, but in this novel she abstains.

Similar Novel: Nature Girl by Carl Hiaasen
Length: 287 pages
Copyright: 1994

My Sister's Keeper

By Jodi Picoult

This is one of my favorite books of all time!! After reading this book, I went on a rampage and read every Jodi Picoult book I could get my hands on. Anna's parents conceived her so that she could be a bone marrow donor for her older sister who has leukemia. Anna's life is full of surgeries, transfusions, and shots. This book follows her struggle to free herself from the role she was born to play. In the first chapter of the book, thirteen year old Anna hires a lawyer and a child advocate because she wants control of her own body. This book shows her struggle in the court system as well as at home with a mother who can't understand why she would condemn her sister to death.

As I mentioned before, this was the first Jodi Picoult book I ever read. As I found out later, most of Jodi Picoult's books deal with moral issues as well as family dilemmas. Jodi Picoult's books have covered sexual abuse by a priest, death penalty, stigmata, assisted suicide, child abuse, abortion, and more. Most of her novels center around or end with a court battle. My Sister's Keeper is no different. The novel builds up to a major court decision that they hold until the very end of the book and I found myself wavering from one side to the other. It is family drama at it's best.

Similar Novels: The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold and The Pact by Jodi Picoult

Length: 423 pages

Copyright: 2004

Eat This/Not That for Kids

By David Zinczenko with Matt Goulding

It will be rare that I write about a non-fiction book that isn't told as a story (i.e. biographies and true crime), but this book could really change your life. It is a simple book with tons of pictures that shows how you can improve your children's eating habits. Did you know that it is better to feed your kids Spaghetti-Os (180 calories, 1 g fat) rather than Kraft Macaroni & Cheese (410 calories, 19 g fat)? I didn't know that. You can bet I'll be buying more cans of Spaghetti-Os now!! The book goes through your shopping cart and makes healthy suggestions for things you feed your kids everyday. This includes cereals, snacks, breads, deserts, drinks, and more. One of my favorite parts of the books is when they go through restaurants and show you how to order for your kids. It includes healthy choices at fast food franchises likeArby's and McDonald's as well as sit-down restaurants like P.F. Chang's and Outback Steakhouse. On one page they show what you should order and on the opposite page, they show what you shouldn't order. With the help of this book, I can make more informed decisions about my children's eating habits.

Similar Books: Eat This, Not that! The No-Diet Weightloss Solution by David Zinczenko with Matt Goulding

Length: 303 pages

Copyright: 2008

Light on Snow

By Anita Shreve

Anita Shreve is one of my favorite authors and this book shows why. In her eleventh novel, Shreve covers the topic of newborn abandonment. A father and daughter out for a walk in the snow, discover a newborn baby wrapped in light sheets and frostbitten. The investigation that follows catches this father and daughter up in a situation they were running from in the first place, human interaction.

This is a light read, with simple sentence structures and small chapters. I finished the book is less than a day. It is 305 pages, but there are spaces throughout the book that symblolize the passage of time and the print is larger than normal. Be warned, if you read this book, you'll want to read the rest of Anita Shreve's novels.

Similar Novels: What the Dead Know by Laura Lippman

Length: 305 pages

Copyright: 2004

The Thirteenth Tale

By Diane Setterfield

WOW...two thumbs up, five stars, nod of approval...whatever rating system you use, this book is awesome!! It started off a tad slow, but within the first two chapters, things changed rapidly. It reaches out and grabs your attention with human frailty and a web of lies. The book is told as a story within a story and could have been confusing, but the author did a fantastic job of keeping the stories seperate, yet intertwined.

The heroine of the story is called to a famous author's house and asked to do her biography, as she is sick and dying. Her story has never been told and readers are anxious for the truth. She begins her story with this;

"All children mythologize their birth. It is a universal trait. You want to know someone? Heart, mind and soul? Ask him to tell you about when he was born. What you get won't be the truth; it will be a story. And nothing is more teling than a story."

The novel encompasses weak human emotions and family bonds including the bonds between father and daughter, twins, and brothers and sisters. I never did see the twist at the ending, even though there was foreshadowing througout. I had to go back and read it again to make sure. It was like watching "The Sixth Sense" over again because you wanted to see every time there was the color red, there was someone dead around. I recommend this book to anyone who enjoys a great read.

Similar Novels: The Time Traveller's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger and The Last Town on Earth by Thomas Mullen

Length: 406 pages

Copyright: 2006

To Kill A Mockingbird

By Harper Lee

This novel begins with the narrator's brother breaking his arm. The rest of the book is retelling of why this event occurred. The novel was copyrighted in 1960 and deals with racism in a small town in Alabama. The narrator's father is a lawyer who is defending a black man accused of raping a white woman. Being told from a child's point of view adds to the innocence and suspense of the novel.

I like how Lee describes the choices and consequences as seen through an 8-year old's eyes. The book covers addiction, racism, and class separation. I read this book when I was in sixth grade and then again in college. I enjoyed the book in 6th grade, but definitely understood it more when I was older.

Similar Novels: Number the Stars by Lois Lowry
Length: 294
Copyright: 1960

The Giver

By Lois Lowry

I thought I'd start my blogging with one of my favorite books. This book is written for the 5th or 6th grade reader, but as I read it, I thought it leaned more toward an older crowd. This book is set in an alternate/futuristic world where everyone sees in black and white and their world is tightly controlled through medication and early career placement. Children are born to surrogates and raised by non-biological parents and the weather is even controlled by scientists. When the children turn twelve, they are given a career path that will shape the rest of their schooling and future. While his friends are given assignments to become teachers, birthmothers and farmers, Jonas is chosen to be the next Receiver. This assignment pairs Jonas with the aging current Receiver and gives him the memories, pleasures and pain of life. Jonas receives the truth of their way of life and what he does with this truth is the basis for the rest of the book. This book is the first book in a trilogy which is followed by Gathering Blue and then The Messenger.
I read this book in two days and immediately went out and bought the sequel. I love novels that question mass control of populations (see the bottom of this post). This novel is brilliantly written and catches your attention from page one and doesn't let go.

WARNING: There is a scene of infanticide described in detail. It adds to the sense of hostility towards the control of the population, but it did make my stomach quesy.

Similar Novels: Anthem by Ayn Rand and 1984 by George Orwell
Copyright: 1983
Length: 179 pages