Change of Heart

I don't know about this one.
The whole 'is the criminal the messiah' thing was a bit much for me. Too much left unexplained - grown man with a compatible heart for an 11 year old girl - birds (and men) coming back to life. I thought the step father might have been molesting her so that wasn't a twist for me. Part of me does like the idea that we can draw our own conclusions and the other part thinks that that's easier than to explain it plausibly. Jodi raises some interesting ideas about how we would react to a second coming but for me there was probably a bit too much imagination and not enough believability.

The Pact

Finally got around to reading my Christmas present! Started it yesterday and finished it this morning. Obviously a good read and a very interesting look at how friendships can grow into more and yet be extinguished overnight. I'm not just talking about Chris and Em's relationship, but also that of their parents. Great analysis of truth being molded by perception. I thought more might have come from Em's moment with 'The Creep' perhaps in her diary or something. At one stage I was also suspecting third party involvement in the shooting and full blown affairs between the parents. Just in case you read it, I won't say whether I was right or wrong, but I was happy with what was left in and what was left out ;)

buy it here or click the cover

Picture Perfect

I was lucky enough to nab this off the library shelf the other day - that's two Jodi Picoult books in as many weeks - how lucky am I? I've stolen one of my good friend's ideas and started looking in the 'large print' section as well. I feel a little guilty about that but I promise I will read it very quickly!

Well, I've finished it now, but it took a little longer than I had hoped (oops). As always, I enjoyed Jodi's writing. It was interesting to see a marriage from a battered woman's perspective and to have a little bit of an insight into hollywood. I also enjoyed the stories from the north american indian culture.

Click the cover picture or click here to get your copy from Amazon.com

The Tenth Circle

Now I love Jodi Picoult's books. I've only read a couple because you can never get your hands on them in the library! I was lucky the other day when my regular search of the catalogue revealed that one of her titles was 'available'. Yay. Of course, it hadn't made it to the shelf yet but I managed to grab it off the trolley. The librarian and I agreed that these are like gold!

I like the way Jodi tackles issues, but more than that, I just like the way she puts the words on the page. I like the 'real life tidbits' too that sneak in every now and again as well, like when Daniel remembers the young Trixie asking "do dogs know they're naked" and little things like that.

And just quietly, I was shocked by what teenagers actually get up to at parties these days (maybe it was Jodi's imagination??).

I wasn't sure about the comicstrips in the book, but did appreciate them after a while... particularly the little word search challenge at the end! It was great because I finished the book way too quickly and the search gave me one more excuse not to put it down straight away.

Click the cover picture above or click here to buy the book from Amazon.com