Looking Back... In an effort to transfer my book journal entries over to this blog, I'm going to attempt to post (in chronological order) an entry every Friday. I may or may not add extra commentary to what I jotted down in these journals.
Where the Heart Is by Billie Letts
Fiction
1995 Warner Books
Read in December 1998
Rating: 4/5 (Very Good)
Publisher's Blurb:
With a warm and utterly honest voice right out of Steinbeck's Oklahoma and Fannie Flagg's green tomato South, Billie Letts has spun an irresistible story that won the Walker Percy Award and goes on to win every reader's heart.
Talk about unlucky sevens. An hour ago, seventeen-year-old, seven months pregnant Novalee Nation was heading for California with her boyfriend. Now she finds herself stranded at a Wal-Mart in Sequoyah, Oklahoma, with just $7.77 in change. But Novalee is about to discover hidden treasures in this small Southwest town--a group of down-to-earth, deeply caring people willing to help a homeless, jobless girl living secretly in a Wal-Mart. From Bible-thumping blue-haired Sister Thelma Husband to eccentric librarian Forney Hull who loves Novalee more than she loves herself, they are about to take her--and you, too--on a moving, funny, and unforgettable journey to . . . Where the Heart Is.
My Original Notes (1998):
Grabbed me from the first page! Very good. Almost lyrical. I love the way Novalee's story unfolds, as she blossoms into womanhood. Probably a lot of symbolism, if one were to look closely. I like the way Novalee overcomes the tragedies in her life, becoming strong, intelligent and independent, yet still willing to love.
My Current Thoughts:
I still have a copy of this book and after flipping through the pages, I know it's one I want to read again. It looks like it will be a quick read, so I'm throwing it in my pile for our upcoming two-month road trip!
Looking Back... In an effort to transfer my book journal entries over to this blog, I'm going to attempt to post (in chronological order) an entry every Friday. I may or may not add extra commentary to what I jotted down in these journals.
Earthly Possessions by Anne Tyler
Fiction
1996 Ballantine Books (first published in 1977)
Read in December 1998
Rating: 2/5 (Fair)
Publisher's Blurb:
Charlotte Emory has always lived a quiet, conventional life in Clarion, Maryland. She lives as simply as possible, and one day decides to simplify everything and leave her husband. Her last trip to the bank throws Charlotte's life into an entirely different direction when a restless young man in a nylon jacket takes her hostage during the robbery--and soon the two are heading south into an unknown future, and a most unexpected fate....
My Original Notes (1998):
Not nearly as good as Ladder of Years, but I did manage to finish it. Odd story. Tyler's characters are definitely unique!
My Current Thoughts:
Huh. Once again, I have no memory of reading this book, let alone what it was about. I wonder if the movie (starring Susan Sarandon) is any good?
Looking Back... In an effort to transfer my book journal entries over to this blog, I'm going to attempt to post (in chronological order) an entry every Friday. I may or may not add extra commentary to what I jotted down in these journals.
The Cobra Event by Richard Preston
Fiction
1997 Random House
Finished in September 1998
Rating: 3/5 (Good)
Publisher's Blurb:
The Cobra Event is a petrifying, fictional account of a very real threat: biological terrorism.
Seventeen-year-old Kate Moran wakes one morning to the beginnings of a head cold but shrugs it off and goes to school anyway. By her mid-morning art class, Kate's runny nose gives way to violent seizures and a hideous scene of self-cannibalization. She dies soon after. When a homeless man meets a similarly gruesome — and mystifying — fate, the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta sends pathologist Alice Austen to investigate. What she uncovers is the work of a killer, a man who calls himself Archimedes and is intent on spreading his deadly Cobra virus throughout New York City. A silent crisis erupts, with Austen and a secret FBI forensic team rushing to expose the terrorist.
Even more frightening than Preston's story about the fictitious Cobra virus, however, is the truth that lies beneath it. As the author writes in his introduction, "The nonfiction roots of this book run deep.... My sources include eyewitnesses who have seen a variety of biological-weapons installations in different countries, and people who have developed and tested strategic bioweapons." In fact, the only reason The Cobra Event was not written as nonfiction is that none of Preston's sources would go on record.
Woven throughout the novel are sections of straight nonfiction reporting that reveal the terrifying truth about the development of biological weapons and the clandestine operations of Russia and Iraq. Three years of research and more than 100 interviews with high-level sources in the FBI, the U.S. military, and the scientific community went into The Cobra Event. The result is sure to shock you.
My Original Notes (1998):
Spellbinding. Gross detail. Not very well-written, yet suspenseful. Somewhat anticlimactic and predictable. Soon to be a movie?
My Current Thoughts:
I read The Hot Zone (also by Preston) a few years before this one and judging by my original notes, enjoyed that book better than The Cobra Event. However, I remember what a disturbing read this was and doubt I could read anything like it now. Too frightening! Count me out for Preston's upcoming release of Crisis in the Red Zone (Book 4 of the Dark Biology Series)
