A Dangerous Fortune by Ken Follett

I had to interrupt "Voyager" to read this book for this month's book club.  This is not the type of book I would have picked on my own to read.  It was interesting enough, however I didn't find any of the characters very likable.  And a lot of them were plain mean.  And the mean ones were the ones who always came out on top, and all the scheming they did directly affected the one (of two) nicer character who was trying very, very hard to just be successful.  Anyway, there are a lot of shocking events.  It's mostly about a family bank and how it's run, and follows the stories of that family.  I guess I was partially satisfied with the ending.  I think worse could have happened to one particular mean character, who is actually just a bitch.  Anyway.  I'm happy it's done so I can return to Voyager!

Voyager by Diana Gabaldon

I started this book Friday (book three in the Outlander series), and am only 100 pages in so far.  These books are huge but I'd just like to note, I wish I didn't need to work all week, so that I could do nothing but read this book.  I think this series will be my all time favorite.  Diana is a FANTASTIC writer.  It helps that Jamie is gorgeous.

March 13 Edit - I finished this book a week or two ago, after having to stop several times to read a total of three books in between.  So.  Most of the story takes place at sea on ships.  I can't really tell you what happens because it'll ruin the other books.  I still liked this book but not as much as I like the first two.  There are a lot of strange characters introduced in this book, and one character returns...which is quite unexpected for reasons I cannot divulge.  I'm not really sure how I felt about the end of this book.  At the end of the other two it was like I wish I had the next one right away to see what happens next.  This one was more..."oh.  Ok."  It didn't leave me with the same want.  I will of course read the next one at some point, but unless something happens to get me back into it, I may not read the fifth...

Are You There Vodka? It's Me, Chelsea by Chelsea Handler

I read this book because one of my co-workers read it and said it was hilarious.  That gave me high expectations for the book, and I didn't enjoy it as much as I was hoping.  I was picturing a laughing fit, for every few pages.  It gave me a few giggles but nothing more.  Apparently this woman is a stand up comic IRL.  The book is different parts of her life (assuming real parts of her lifel), thrown together into different chapters.  I didn't find the book had a flow to it, it was just choppy of events in her life.  It is a quick, light read.  I don't think I'd recommend it to my friends.  But then again, my sense of humor is completely different from a lot of people.  

Sarah's Key by Tatiana deRosnay

I read this book over my Christmas break.  It was interesting and had a good story line.  It's about the Vel’ d’ Hiv’ roundup (a French-led “round-up” of more than 13,000 Parisian Jews (mostly women and children) under order of the Nazis.)  Sarah is a little girl when she experiences this unfortunate event.  It goes between her life and the life of a woman who lives in the area "now", who is asked to write about it for the paper she works for.  Eventually the two stories reach a point where the woman searches to discover what happened to Sarah / the rest of her story.  It's the kind of book you don't want to put down because you want to know what happened, and so you keep reading.  I liked it.

Nineteen Minutes by Jodi Picoult

Oh my god.  This book was awesome.  It's definitely in my top 3 Jodi books.  It dives right into the story, right into the good part, which I love, because it captivated me from the beginning.  It's about a school shooting and it jumps back and forth in time as it goes through the story which makes it interesting.  You want to know what happens but you have to wait to the get to the point in time in the present when it makes sense to go back into the past to explain what happened there.  Does that sound confusing? 

Anyway, it goes through the story of the shooter and what his life was like in high school, what led him to the day of the shooting, and then there is another twist at the end.  Which I can't believe I didn't figure out until they were explaining it at the end.  I should have seen it coming.  It wraps everything up at the end too.  Which rarely happens in the books I read. 

I would recommend this book, unless you aren't interested in the subject matter.  It's completely 100% based around the shooting.  And of course there is a trial and a side love story that just happens...classic inclusions in Jodi's books.

Salem Falls by Jodi Picoult

I just finished this book yesterday.  It's a book club book.  It's about a man who is convicted for raping a teenage girl (he is a teacher).  He spends eight months in jail and then tries to settle into a small town called Salem Falls.  He picked the wrong town.  It's small, picture perfect, with no trouble.  Pretty soon the whole town discovers his previous conviction.  And one thing leads to another before he is being accused of rape from another teenage girl.  A girl who has a group of three friends, and all of them are witches.  There is a twist at the end.  One I had figured out this time by the middle of the book.  But it is written to make you question whether or not the twist you think you've figured out is the right one.  I won't give any more away.  It was pretty good.

Keeping Faith by Jodi Picoult

I love Jodi.  I've run out of things to say about her books.  They follow the same general pattern but it's always a different story.  This one is about a little girl who thinks she can see and talk to god.  But god is a woman.  It goes through the life of her mother, who gets a divorce, and then has to deal with the media attention Faith receives.  There is a custody battle, a side love story, and a bitter sweet ending.  I enjoy all her books but this one doesn't spring out as a favorite.