My take on: The Kept Woman

I've only read two of her books, but I have to say Karin Slaughter is one of the best crime writers I have ever read.

At first, I was a little turned off by the length of her books, they're often close to the 500-page mark. But, like a bag of chips, once you get started on one of her books it's hard to just stop at just one page or even a chapter. That was no different with the latest entry in her Will Trent series, The Kept Woman.

Of course the book opens with a murder. The murder of a sleazy ex-cop named Dale Harding.  Enter the Georgia Bureau of Investigation and special agent Will Trent and his partner, Faith Mitchell. The body was found at a construction site,  a location with ties to a rich, bad-boy, basketball player named Marcus Rippy. Will and Rippy have a complicated history. Will spent the last several months trying to send Rippy to prison for a brutal rape. But money and power made that a futile effort.

Does Rippy have any involvement in Harding's murder? If he does, then Will can finally put Rippy behind bars. The crime scene is a treasure trove of clues. There's blood everywhere but according to medical examiner Sara Linton, who also happens to be Will's girlfriend, all of the blood couldn't possible be from Harding. That means there's another victim. A victim who's somewhere bleeding to death. That someone just might be Will's estranged wife, Angie Polaski.

How does this all tie together? How does this all work? Just a couple of the many questions. Will is devastated at the prospect that Angie's life is in danger, not because he wants her back in his life but because they have a lot of history together. A history that even Sara can't break through. And on some level he still cares for Angie. Will and Angie can understand each other's pain better than anyone. But Angie has spent years emotionally torturing Will, and who knows (hint hint) she could be doing it again. I haven't read any of the other books in the series, but this told me all I needed to know about Angie Polaski's character. She's got a lot of spunk, but that's outweighed by what a monster her character can be. The first half of the book centers on the investigation, as Will and Faith delve into Harding's life including why someone would want to kill him. Karin Slaughter gets you deeply invested into that storyline and then she switches gears, telling Angie's side of the story. I wanted to get back to Will's story but I quickly got immersed in Angie's perspective. Angie's always working an angle, even if her original intentions were good she finds some way to screw it up -- and screw it up big time. I can't say too much about the second half of the book without spoiling it. But I will say, I kept wondering how the first half of the book ties in with the second. It does all tie together like the pieces of a big puzzle and I enjoyed putting them together in my mind!

Rating: Superb

Note: I received a copy of the book from the publisher (HarperCollins) in exchange for an honest review. 

Operation Annotation!

I have been M.I.A. lately, but not because I haven't been reading. I've just gotten picky with my reading choices. I gave The Poppy War by R.F. Kuang more than 250 pages before I came to the conclusion that I was bored by the book. Part 1 of the book was pretty good, but I felt like Part 2 was a completely different story. Life is too short to read books I'm just not into. I finished Autoboyography by Christina Lauren, which I liked but weeks passed and I forgot to write a review.

I had a birthday recently, and of course what does any bookworm do with birthday money? You spend it wisely on practical things like bills. Right? Just kidding, I bought more books.

For my latest book haul I bought:

Career of Evil by Robert Galbraith (aka J.K. Rowling)

The Air You Breathe by Frances de Pontes Pebbles

Emma in the Night by Wendy Walker

Mirage by Somaiya Daud

Spinning Silver by Naomi Novik

Uprooted by Naomi Novik

I'm going through a thriller and fantasy phase these days. But I'm not sure when I'll get to these. :) Having too many books is a good problem in my opinion.


Here is my current reading pile and the subject of my latest blog post!

I'm currently reading The Kept Woman by Karin Slaughter, The Power by Naomi Alderman, The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid, Educated by Tara Westover, and Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix by J.K. Rowling.

I often read more than one book at a time because I just like to have choices. Sometimes I'm in the mood for one book over the other. However reading so many books at once comes with challenges. The main challenge is my memory.

When I started this blog, eight years ago, I used to take notes on each book. I would keep a legal pad nearby while I read so I could jot down key plot points, quotes, and my overall thoughts. In the beginning I liked doing that because it helped me remember the book, especially when it came time to write a review. But eventually I got tired of the legal pad. I read a lot more when I started this blog, 75 books on average a year, and jotting down notes began to feel like homework. I hate homework! So I abandoned the legal pad.

Fast forward to the end of 2016, and I started to think I needed to go back to taking notes. Remembering what I read wasn't coming so easy. But I wasn't quite sure of the method I should be taking. Well the question was answered for me with the company Christmas gift -- a moleskine notebook. I took it as a sign. As part of my reading goals for 2017, I kept a reading journal for a full year. Same principle as the legal pad, except it was much smaller and easier to carry around.

As 2017 came to a close and my notebook was almost out of pages, I started thinking about what I should do for 2018. I did buy another journal, but it wasn't quite what I thought it was. Some of those pictures on Amazon.com are deceiving. I bought a notebook thinking it was small but it turned out to be much larger than I wanted. I read a lot during my commute to and from work, pulling out a large notebook every couple of minutes gets to be a bit annoying. I didn't want to stop taking notes, but I kept thinking I need a different approach.

What does one do when they need ideas? Google it! And then eventually go on YouTube! And that is how Operation Annotation began! I went down the YouTube rabbit hole, watching video after video on annotating books. Everyone has a different method. Index cards, post-it flags, highlighters, pens, color-coding, and so much more. Some people actually (GASP) WRITE IN THEIR BOOKS!! At the start of this venture I was very much against writing in my books, I mean that's BLASPHEMY! I had already been annotating my books by using a reading journal, but taking it further has been a mixed bag for me.

In February, I switched from using a reading journal to using post-it flags and index cards. Each book I read I kept 3-4 index cards in the book, which I used to write down my thoughts, and I used post-its to flag key parts of the book.

But . . . I found the post-its I was using to be too big. I bought the wide ones (right) first. I was trying to convince myself these were the right ones. . . and they weren't. They were too clunky. Then I bought the skinnier post-its. The size was better but even those I didn't like. Yes, I'm picky about post-its too! So yeah I abandoned those and just stuck with the index cards.

I still felt like I could be doing more with my reading. So I went down the YouTube rabbit hole again. I watched some of the same videos again! Especially the ones where people described writing in their books. I'm just so against book abuse. Yes I once considered writing in books to be abuse! Notice I said "once considered." Because . . .  I have gone to the dark side. . .

I WROTE IN MY BOOK!! Above is a page in my copy of The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo. And I haven't stopped there . . .

Here's a page from my copy of The Power. I finally found the right mix for me . . .

I even found the right combination of pens, highlighters, and post-its. A fine point pen, a Sharpie, and small post-it flags finally made me feel ok about (GASP) WRITING IN MY BOOKS. Now, I'm not writing in all my books or even taking notes on every book. I haven't felt the need to take notes on Harry Potter because I just want to experience the books naturally. This is my first time reading the books and I just want explore Potter Mania without notes. Maybe on a second read, I'll consider it. :)

I'm actually liking this form of annotation. I'm even thinking, "I need a special pencil case for this!" In reality it gets to be a little cumbersome digging in my backpack for a post-it on the subway, so yeah a pencil case is in my near future!

My take on: To Kill a Mockingbird

I'm not sure how I made it through grade school, undergrad, and graduate school without reading To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee. . .but I did! I'm pretty sure it was assigned once as summer reading in eighth or ninth grade, but I'm also pretty sure I pretended to read it. I wasn't as into reading then as I am now. When the opportunity presented itself to review the graphic novel adaptation, by Fred Fordham, I jumped at the chance.

This is one of those classic books that I feel out of the loop on. I know the basic story. Scout's father, Atticus Finch, defends a black man against a rape charge in the deep south during the 1930s. And that's all I knew.

I'm not going to rehash all of the details of this book because I think that's been done for decades. I'm just going to focus on my thoughts on the overall story and the illustrations.

My No. 1 thought? Given the current political climate, reading this book illustrated, for me, that not a lot has changed. Black men were feared in the 1930s, and that is still the case in many places throughout the world. Women who are strong, independent, or have a different way of thinking than the status quo are feared or seen as weird. Scout definitely embodies those qualities. She wants to be accepted as one of the boys even if they don't accept her. Scout challenges just about every person she interacts with, even her own father. She's more perceptive than people give her credit for.

As a graphic novel this has it's pluses and minuses. The illustrations are a little basic, not very vivid. What's the right word? The illustrations weren't "popping" for me. I read a galley without the full color illustrations, but I don't think color would have changed my opinion. It felt like something was missing, and maybe that's because some context from the original novel couldn't fully translate to the illustrated format. However some of the illustrations did work for me. The courtroom scenes are where the illustrations actually start to get good. I think Fred Fordham did a good job of showing the tension in the courtroom. The witnesses, especially the alleged "victim", go through a range of emotions, and I saw that clearly through the illustrations.

The graphic novel edition has some shining moments, but I think I need to read the original book to get the full context/experience.

Rating: Give it a try

Note: I received a copy of the book from the publisher (HarperCollins) in exchange for an honest review.