"I've thought of ways o make my life worth it, and I want you to remember exactly what makes your life worth it. Don't be lost-don't loose yourself. Read, walk, write, dance, breathe, because so will I." 

-Amanda Knox

Summary: 

In the fall of 2007, twenty-year old college coed Amanda Knox left Seattle to study abroad in Perugia, Italy for one year. But that November 1, her life was shattered when her roommate, British student Meredith Kercher, was murdered in their apartment. Five days later, Amanda was taken into custody and charged by the Italian police; her arrest and the subsequent investigation ignited an international media firestorm. Overnight, this ordinary young American student became the subject of intense scrutiny, forced to endure a barrage of innuendo and speculation. Two years later, after an extremely controversial trial, Amanda was convicted and imprisoned. But in 2011 an appeals court overturned her conviction and vacated the charges. Free at last, she immediately returned home to the U.S., where she has remained silent, until now. 

Review: 

First off,  I thought this book would be an interesting read because just recently the Italian courts decided to reopen the case. I always love throwing in a nonfiction book between reading fiction. I never really followed the story much, just heard it on the news here and there as it happened. I appreciate how blunt and honest Amanda is in her writing. For anyone who is interested in this case, or just about international court systems in general, this book would be a great read for you. It is fast paced, interesting, and gives you a unique look into a complicated case. I think at the time of the murder Amanda was young and naive and really had no idea the trouble she was really in. It is unfortunate that she didn't immediately request a lawyer when the authority began questioning her, that potentially would have saved her life. It is apparent that there was a direct correlation between the scrutiny she faced by the media and authority in Italy and the outcome of the original verdict. I will be interested to follow the case and see what happens as they reopen it again for a third time. 

happy reading!

Book Review: Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn

“Sometimes if you let people do things to you, you're really doing it to them.” 

-Gillian Flynn, Sharp Objects

Summary (from amazon books) : Fresh from a brief stay at a psych hospital, reporter Camille Preaker faces a troubling assignment: she must return to her tiny hometown to cover the murders of two preteen girls. For years, Camille has hardly spoken to her neurotic, hypochondriac mother or to the half-sister she barely knows: a beautiful thirteen-year-old with an eerie grip on the town. Now, installed in her old bedroom in her family's Victorian mansion, Camille finds herself identifying with the young victims—a bit too strongly. Dogged by her own demons, she must unravel the psychological puzzle of her own past if she wants to get the story—and survive this homecoming.

What I thought:

Sharp Objects was phenomenal. If you like a good psychological thriller then you will love this.  Gillian has a unique way of creating interesting and complex stories that are so twisted you can’t put them down. I was talking to my dad the other night about the book and I said “who honestly thinks of these things?” Gillian writes about gruesome events that are deep, scary, and dark. I usually don’t like books that are this dark but she has a way of writing that is so intriguing that I couldn’t stop. One of my favorite parts about Sharp Objects is the intricacy of the characters, each one so unusual. WARNING: Not an easy read for the faint of heart. It is pretty disturbing. 

Next up on the list: The Fault in Our Stars 

Book Review: My Story by Elizabeth Smart

“I am alive, but I’m not living, I remember thinking as I walked. I am the living dead. I am nothing but a shell.” 

-Elizabeth Smart, My Story 

Summary (from amazon books): On June 5, 2002, fourteen-year-old Elizabeth Smart, the daughter of a close-knit Mormon family, was taken from her home in the middle of the night by religious fanatic, Brian David Mitchell and his wife, Wanda Barzee. She was kept chained, dressed in disguise, repeatedly raped, and told she and her family would be killed if she tried to escape. After her rescue on March 12, 2003, she rejoined her family and worked to pick up the pieces of her life.

Now for the first time, in her memoir, MY STORY, she tells of the constant fear she endured every hour, her courageous determination to maintain hope, and how she devised a plan to manipulate her captors and convinced them to return to Utah, where she was rescued minutes after arriving.  Smart explains how her faith helped her stay sane in the midst of a nightmare and how she found the strength to confront her captors at their trial and see that justice was served.

What I thought: 

 I wasn't even sure what to expect going into this book. I just remember being a little girl when she was taken from my hometown and being terrified that I might be kidnaped. I couldn't decide if I even wanted to read this story but I was so invested in it when it happened that I felt like I needed to. I found the book to be interesting but poorly written. I found Elizabeths strength and hope to be inspiring. She does not go into any detail about her physical abuse, to which I am grateful for, and at no point are you subjected to any of the gruesome details that happened to her. As you embark on her horrific journey you realize how articulate and precise her memory is. She can account for things in great detail. I always had a hard time understanding why she didn't escape when she had the few opportunities to. After reading the book she explains how fear takes over for all senses and she was simply to scared for what might happen to her family. If you overlook the writing the story is phenomenal and inspiring. 

Book Review: Dark Places ByGillian Flynn

“I was not a lovable child, and I'd grown into a deeply unlovable adult. Draw a picture of my soul, and it'd be a scribble with fangs.” 

-Gillian Flynn, Dark Places

Plot (without giving anything away): 

Libby Day was seven when her mother and two sisters were murdered in “The Satan Sacrifice" of Kinnakee, Kansas.” She survived—and famously testified that her fifteen-year-old brother, Ben, was the killer. Twenty-five years later, the Kill Club—a secret secret society obsessed with notorious crimes—locates Libby and pumps her for details. They hope to discover proof that may free Ben. Libby hopes to turn a profit off her tragic history: She’ll reconnect with the players from that night and report her findings to the club—for a fee. As Libby’s search takes her from shabby Missouri strip clubs to abandoned Oklahoma tourist towns, the unimaginable truth emerges, and Libby finds herself right back where she started—on the run from a killer.

What I thought: 

Wow! This book was a beautiful, interesting, and an intense piece of work. Definitely a page turner. I am not one for dark books but one of the members from my book club decided on it and it blew me away. The pace of the book is very realistic. Apparently Flynn did much research before writing the book and it shows in an often detailed and heart wrenching way. Sometimes the story felt so real that you forgot about reality and you were submerged in the characters lives. Libby Day, the main character is a phenomenal character, she is broken, imperfect and dark but funny and hopeful at the same time. Flynn has a talent for dragging you on in this story. 

The story bounces back and forth between Libby's present-day, first-person narrative (as she attempts to piece together what really happened the night of her family's murders) and alternately Patty and Ben in the mere hours and minutes leading up to the murders.  I loved the fact that you never really know what is going to happen. One second you are convinced you know who the murder is but the next you are in doubt. This book is AMAZING...very dark but one of my favorites I have read in a long time. 

Highly recommend. I can't wait to read Sharp Objects. 

Next up on the list: 

My Story by Elizabeth Smart 

Book Review: The Cuckoo's Calling by J.K. Rowling

“How easy it was to capitalize on a person’s own bent for self-destruction; how simple to nudge them into non-being, then to stand back and shrug and agree that it had been the inevitable result of a chaotic, catastrophic life.”
―  Robert Galbraith, The Cuckoo's Calling

The Cuckoo’s calling is a crime fiction novel by J.K. Rowling, published under the pseudonym Robert Galbraith (that sneaky lady.)

Summary (without giving anything away):

After losing his leg to a land mine in Afghanistan, Cormoran Strike is barely scraping by as a private investigator. Strike is down to one client, and creditors are calling. He has also just broken up with his longtime girlfriend and is living in his office. Then John Bristow walks through his door with an amazing story: His sister, the legendary supermodel Lula Landry, known to her friends as the Cuckoo, famously fell to her death a few months earlier. The police ruled it a suicide, but John refuses to believe that. The case plunges Strike into the world of multimillionaire beauties, rock-star boyfriends, and desperate designers, and it introduces him to every variety of pleasure, enticement, seduction, and delusion known to man.

What I thought:

This was my first crime fiction novel EVER. They aren’t usually my thing but since it was J.K. Rowling I wanted to try it. J.K. Rowling filled by childhood with magic. I was skeptical going into it because I couldn’t finish her adult novel Casual Vacancy. The writing and the story was hard to follow and didn’t draw me in. Overall I "liked" Cuckoo’s Calling, I didn’t love it but I enjoyed it. It was interesting, there were twists and the characters were complex. However I had a hard time once I hit the middle of the book. I felt like it was going nowhere. It was to the point where you can barley finish a chapter without your mind wondering. I pushed through and luckily it picked back up again. By the end I was drawn back in and ended up finishing the book.

I have noticed with J.K.’s adult novels they are tediously descriptive and a bit old fashioned. I read both of her adult novels with the hope that I would be drawn in just like the Potter series. For me, that was not the case. Luckily I pushed through Cuckoo’s calling and was able to finish it.

Just FYI the ending was thrilling!

Next up on the list for book club:

Dark Places