"Atonement" - Ian McEwan

Published in 2001 by First Anchor Books

This book weighed heavily on my mind for the days that lead up to actually reading it.  I had seen the movie back in college and remember finding Kiera Knightly pretty but inept at actually conveying any real emotion, and the young girl who played Briony was intolerable and by the end I felt like I had missed the story because the characters were so distracting.

So the fact that I really truly overwhelmingly liked this book says something.  I am still not sure what that something is though.  But I am leaning in the very positive side right now.

Atonement is a novel in four parts; part one focuses on the events of a single night and how the choices a thirteen year old girl (Briony) makes can destroy the lives of others, part two focuses on the war effort in France (where Robbie, the one hurt the most by the young girls words is fighting overseas,) part three showcases the life of Briony as she has aged and can now see what she did in a different light, as well as a light dalliance on what has become of the other characters, and part four in based in London in 1999 when she finds out there isn't long for her to live.

By the end of the movie I was angry and felt that Briony was a waste of space, but the book was very different.  I felt sad for her, and for her inability to truly make amends with anyone.  Without giving away too much, this was an excellent book, definitely one of the best I have read recently.  And the twist is surprising and jolting even when you know it's coming.

Rating: ****

Rereading

Since the Hunger Games movie is coming out on the 23rd of this month, I decided that I should revisit the first book!  I just finished and find myself eager to reread the second and third as well! But I may not, maybe I will continue on my 40 book challenge.

We shall see.

EDIT
I reread all three.  This makes my total 16 so far, but I don't really want to use books I have already read.  Unless I do all 7 Harry Potter's too, then I would have to because I am not discounting 10 books.

Now, on to something completely different!

"What Color is Your Parachute 2012" - Richard N. Bolles

Published in 2012 by Ten Speed Press

This book is touted as "the best-selling job-hunting book in the world, 10 million copies sold, revised and updated Annually." And that is an excellent description of what I expected from it.  A great manual to help me find my way in the crazy job market.  As it is in it's 40th year of republishing, it seemed pretty dang trustworthy.

Like many people my age, I graduated from college under the impression that someone was just going to hand me a job and say "thanks so much for your hard work, your office is in the corner."  But obviously, that's not really how the world works.  So for almost two years I have been updating, changing, sending, faxing, emailing, and color coding my resume.  With little to no luck.

A friend recommended I try this book to give my resume a little more direction, he didn't mention that it is a great way to reevaluate what I am looking for and HOW I am searching for it.  Through exercises, lists and some actual self evaluation I was able to completely revamp my resume and give myself a second wind (who am I kidding, 14th or 15th wind is more accurate.)

Rating: ****

"Murder in the Palais Royale" - Cara Black

Published in 2010 by Soho Press

I decided to start in the middle of the "Aimee Leduc Investigation" series, because honestly, why do anything the right way.  And I am delightfully pleased!  Since I have been planning for my upcoming trip to France this novel seemed like a perfect introduction to the less seen Paris (in this case, murder and some fun cafes.)  While I was at the Bookswap in the city last week I met author Cara Black and we had a fun and insightful chat about what to see and avoid when in Paris for the day, and afterwards I decided that talking to her had been so fun I might as well give her writing a try.

This was a fabulous idea! Black's main character, Aimee Leduc, is a parisian born and bred.  She has inherited her father's, and grandfather's before that, detective agency which she runs with her best friend Rene.  Black does a great job of weaving ideas from previous books in without making the reader feel confused having not read those books.  And she makes sure to add a little incentive in the last few pages to make the next book seem even more appealing.

Quotes:
" 'Dealing with you, as Commissaire Morbier told me, makes herding feral cats look easy,' Melac said"

Rating: ***

"The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency" - Alexander McCall Smith

Published in 1998 by Anchor Books

The story (the first in the series) of Mma Ramotswe and her journey to open up a detective agency in Botswana.  It details a few of her cases, and the relationships she creates with her neighbors and clients.

I found this book extremeley boring.  Given all the glowing reviews I figured it would be a little more interesting than it was.  But I don't even really want to write a review for it.

Rating: *

"The Gravedigger's Daughter" - Joyce Carol Oates

Published in 2007 by Ecco

The story of Rebecca Schwart is sad, funny, terrifying and moving.  Beginning with her birth on a ship in the New York Harbor as her family makes it's way to America from Germany, the lives of the Schwarts family are dark and sad.  Her father, once a math teacher, is reduced to being a cemetery groundskeeper and gravedigger.  Rebecca, the youngest of three children and the only girl, grows up in a dark stone cottage watching her hostile father drive her two brothers away as her mother becomes more and more shut in.  The real story begins when her father kills her mother and himself, and she is able at last to begin anew as her own person and not as "the Schwarts girl" but as a new woman with a family to protect and secrets to keep buried.

This book was given to me by one of my coworkers at Barnes and Noble (a long time ago) and I recently found it in a stack in the corner.  I am so glad that I read it though as it was a surprisingly good novel.  Incredibly well written with passages that had the potential to make me laugh aloud or feel my heartbeat pounding in anxiety.  At times, it veers dangerously close to being a bad drama, but seems to scrape itself in the right direction at the last moment.  A moving story of life, and how we choose to live it.  The main character transforms herself into a woman with secrets and troubles and yet manages to make her way through the world by learning from her mistakes and trying her hardest not to let any of them haunt her.

Quotes:
"In animal life the weak are quickly disposed of.  So you must hide your weakness, Rebecca."

Rating: ****