Happy New Year!

Wishing you all a safe and happy new year!

My goals for 2009: Laugh more, love more, exercise more, READ more, capture more, create more. In this long holiday weekend, I've got not definite plans except a trip to Barnes + Noble to spend a gift card! On my wish list - Malcolm Gladwell's Outliers, and Wally Lamb's The Hour I First Believed. I keep hearing what great reads these are; it's time to check them out myself. Have a great weekend all!

Updates

Last week I was contacted by an editor at Random House to receive an advanced reader copy of Katherine Center's latest book - Everyone is Beautiful - which will be released on February 17, 2009, and I received the book in the mail today! How exciting! This is the first time I've gotten an ARC :) But if you'll remember, when I reviewed her novel The Bright Side of Disaster, she found my blog and commented on it. I am really looking forward to reading her new book.

Also, I picked up Patricia Woods' book Lottery. It has been on my TBR list for quite some time, and I had a coupon to use, so I decided to purchase it. (I have been trying not to buy anything for myself in the past few months as I have been trying to be better about my budget.) Anyway, has anyone read this? Thoughts?

I also just started reading Half Broken Things by Morag Joss, which was the winner of the CWA Silver Dagger Award. I'm looking forward to another book full of suspense!

We are traveling to Key Largo for Christmas again this year, so I hope to have plenty of reading time! Happy Holidays :)

In The Woods - Tana French

I couldn't put this one down!

This suspense novel set in Dublin is focused around a homicide detective, Rob Ryan, who 20 years ago was Adam Ryan, a child who went into the woods near his house with his 2 best friends and was the only one to come out alive. Adam did not remember what happened that day, but when a similiar case in the same woods comes along, he gets a little more than he bargained for.

A young girl turned up murdered one day and Rob and his partner, Cassie Maddox, were assigned to it. Or rather, Rob convinced his boss he wanted it. It is clear from the start Rob and Cassie are very close, and she is the only person who knows his secret; the secret that ultimately puts Rob's career on the line. They are thrown from lead to lead and cannot make a break in the case, but all the while, Rob cannot deal with his unanswered past.

The unanswered questions caused Rob to do some soul-searching if you will, and in the process, he narrows down his leads to a couple people. He was on the right track by focusing on the murdered girl's family, but was distracted by the girl's older sister. This is one part of the book I didn't understand. Rob was pushing 30, but for some reason had tunnel vision when it came to this 18-year-old girl. The result of the murder case is astonishing when, as it turns out, the young girl's murder was orchestrated by her older sister and then carried out by her boyfriend - out of pure jealousy. I was so shocked to learn the tiniest, most unforgiving mistake Rob made in the case because he was so wrapped up in his personal tie to it.

My thoughts overall: descriptive, riveting, humorous, all of the above. The banter between Cassie and Rob alternated between a sibling relationship and a romantic relationship, but it was downright hilarious most of the time. I loved the investigative parts of the story, the "who-dunnit," and trying to piece together the clues. Very well told story. I look forward to reading other works by Tana French.

Holidays on Ice - David Sedaris

I had been wanting to read this book for awhile, so while browsing Barnes and Noble in Boston in search of an airplane read, I immediately picked up this one.

It is definitely a worthwhile holiday read as it includes some gut-busting tales of Christmas and family shenanigans. These short essays by Sedaris are sure to leave you rolling on the floor laughing. Or at least laughing out loud. The sotires range from an elf in Santaland at the mall (dreadful, right?) to holiday plays, to a long and hilarious sermon in church (ironically, about divorce) to "Christmas Means Giving," an entire chapter devoted to 2 unruly neighboring families who are constantly trying to one-up each other in gift giving.

Seeing that I have nowhere near the wit as David Sedaris possesses, I'll end this post with you must read this. It's quick and easy!

My Horizontal Life - Chelsea Handler

From the bestselling author of "Are You There Vodka, It's Me Chelsea," comes a memoir about one-night stands. I know, I know, not the best of topics, but it's hilarious I promise!

Chelsea Handler is a stand-up comedian, and that much is obvious from page one. She has no reservations about her sexual habits, and doesn't really seem to regret the events of her life either. But really, why should you? It got you where you are, so why dwell, right?

This book begins with Chelsea, at age 7, walking in on her parents and taking a picture. It started off as a dare from her older sister, and it's obvious from the get-go that Chelsea does not back down from a challenge. We see her through her first experience to a midget, to guys of another race, and finally, to the last unfulfilling one-night stand which leads her to the conclusion that she's done with sex. Until she meets someone really special.

While it does deal with sex, it's not nearly as raunchy as Diablo Cody's memoir, Candy Girl, which was entirely too explicit for me to even review.

Dream When You're Feeling Blue - Elizabeth Berg

From the back:

In Chicago, as World War II rages in Europe, the Heaney sisters sit at their kitchen table each evening to write letters - Louise to her finace, Michael, who has just let to fight overseas; Kitty to Julian, also a soldier, and the man she wishes fervently would propose; and the third Heaney sister, Tish, to an ever changing group of men she meets at USO dances. In the letters the sisters send and receive are intimate glimpses of life both on the battlefront and at home. For Kitty, a confident, headstrong young woman, the departure of her boyfriend and the lessons she learns about love, resilience, and war will bring a surprise and uncover a seret, and will lead her to a radical action on beahlf of those she loves that will change the Heaney family forever. The lifelong consequences of the choices the sisters make are at the heart of this superb novel about the power of love and the enduring strength of family.

I loved this book. I loved the growing and changing relationships of the sisters, and the lengths they went to during the wartime. I loved that Kitty was true to herself - mostly - and grew up throughout the story. The ultimate sacrifice she made for her sisters shows the relationship only possible between sisters.

Elizabeth Berg really painted a good picture of wartime, I actually felt like I was in Chicago with the Heaney family. I loved how well she told the story of the close-knit family and the struggles they went through to provide food and comfort to each other during the war.

Highly recommend this book to those who like to read about wartime, Chicago, and/or large, close-knit families. It's an easy read and well worth the time.