In an unusual post over at Chicklit Is Not Dead, I read a review of The 500 (Matthew Quirk) and couldn’t wait to read it.  This is Matthew Quirk’s first novel and it was captivating.  The 500 is reminiscent of The Firm but it involves more powerful players.

Sadly I have not gotten through Gone Girl as quickly as I had hoped which is part of the reason this post is a day late.  I have heard so much talk about Gone Girl that I had some pretty high expectations.  As I began reading I felt like I was forcing my way through the book until I got to about the halfway point.  Then the book takes quite an interesting turn and I was hooked!

At first Gone Girl just seems like a rather uneventful, almost boring story about a wife who goes missing and her lackadaisical husband.  The couple moved from New York City to “Middle America” Missouri a few years ago because Nick’s (the husband) mom gets sick plus both Nick and Amy are unemployed writers.

Once in Missouri they settle into an unhappy place in their marriage and struggle to just get by in their day to day lives.  Nick borrows money from his wife who has been given a large some of money from her parents throughout the years.  But the money Nick borrows to open his bar with his twin sister is the last of her money.  So not only are they unhappy but for the first time ever Amy is experiencing being poor.

It is on their fifth wedding anniversary that Amy disappears and as the investigation deepens more and more signs point to Nick who claims he is innocent.

In my opinion Gone Girl would make a fabulous movie!  Wondering if something along those lines is already in the works.

Now onto the Give Away! This is the third week of the July Blog Give Away.

Here is how to enter to win a paperback copy of Creative Chaos:

1. Comment on today’s post!  Have you read this book, what did you think?  If not, what are you reading?

2. Once you’ve commented on the post, if you haven’t liked me on Facebook yet, head over there and like the page! That will give you another entry to win a free copy. If you’ve already liked me on Facebook you’ll still get a second entry, it doesn’t have to be a new like. But you do have to comment on the post to be entered and get your name in the pot twice which will be done through a random number generator.

3. If you don’t win keep coming back on Mondays and comment, your entries will carry over to the following weeks.

Last week’s winner is Becky!

My sister was actually loaned In the Woods  by Tana French by our cousin Chase, but I stole it and read it first…oops!

Let me just say, after reading books on my Kindle, it was kind of weird to switch back to a real book!  I found myself annoyed that I had to leave the light on while I read in bed and actually had to turn the page.  I know…you’re rolling your eyes at me right now and I totally understand.  I’m rolling my eyes too!

Going from “Mockingjay” to “In the Woods” was quite a change.  The writing was at a much more mature level and because this story takes place in Ireland there are quite a few colloquialisms that you have to get used to.

From the beginning the action in this story takes off.  As I first started reading this book, I couldn’t help but think of the Lovely Bones.  Because of the fact that this book starts off with two children who vanish under rather peculiar circumstances and the lack of answers surrounding their disappearance is a constant presence in this story.

Last year seemed to be super busy and reading a book that took too much concentration seemed to be more than I could handle.  So…I just now read “The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo.”  This year I plan to be a much more faithful reader and have actually challenged myself to read 20 books this year, though secretly I’m hoping I read more than that!

I first attempted to read this book back in May/June but man, those first 30 pages were just too much.  So I put it down thinking I’d come back to it when I had a good chunk of time to devote to it.  Next thing I knew the movie would be out in a matter of weeks and I still hadn’t read it.  I don’t know about you but I hate to see a movie before reading the book.  And I definitely recommend reading this book before seeing the movie.  So many details are left out of the movie.

My sister gave me a great piece of advice that I will pass on here. If you haven’t read “The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo” yet, keep a piece of paper handy and write down the characters names and a couple words about them to help you know who they are.  Since the author is Swedish and the book was originally written in Swedish the names can be quite confusing; there never seem to be enough vowels in there.

Thanks to the brilliant advertising efforts of Barnes and Noble I purchased and read, Star Island by Carl Hiaasen.

I had never read one of his books and was surprised to discover that this was the man who wrote Striptease, and series of children’s books; odd mix if you ask me.

This was the fifth book I took on my trip to the Dominican Republic a little over a month ago and I have just finished it this past weekend. No it isn’t that long it was just that boring to me. Well boring might not be the right word. Complicated is probably more accurate. There were entirely too many characters and story lines. In fact at the end of the book in the author’s epilogue I didn’t remember who a few of the characters were he mentioned.

Star Island is the story of a troubled young pop star, Cherry Pye, who can’t seem to keep herself out of trouble for more than a few minutes. The entourage around her has hired a double to stand in for her when she is too high or drunk to function, which seems to be the majority of the time. Despite their best efforts to keep Cherry out of trouble she seems to be attracted to it and finds it everywhere she goes.

The range of characters Hiaasen includes is quite impressive.

The most unexpected and intriguing character to me was Chemo. An ex-con with a weed whacker for an arm, hired by her manager to be Cherry’s body guard because he isn’t afraid to do whatever it takes to get his job done.

Ann DeLusia the actress that was hired to play Cherry’s undercover stand and is flown all across the country on a moment’s notice to make sure Cherry’s reputation stays intact in the public eye.

Bang Abbott, a paparazzi with poor grooming habits, who thinks he is entitled to invade the private lives of anyone famous simply because he has spent decades perfecting his craft, building a network of informants to tip him off to the stars whereabouts and networking with top tabloid magazines to ensure his pictures get published for top dollar.

However, my favorite character was Skink, who I hear is one of Hiaasen’s reoccurring characters. He is a colorful and lively old man who was surprisingly a former governor of Florida but is currently parading as a homeless superhero.

This book might appeal to you if you don’t mind keeping a cheat sheet with you so that you can keep all of the characters and story lines straight, but for me it took entirely too much effort to keep up with just a mediocre story.

I know this book has been around for quite some time, but I am just now getting around to reading it.

I had always heard mixed things about this book, some people really enjoyed it, and some people hated it. I have to say that I enjoyed it.

The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold, is the story of a little girl that is murdered and then watches over her family and the investigation of her murder. I thought it provided a very unique perspective.

And. . .like the majority of the things I’ve reading, this book is about to be made into a movie directed by Peter Jackson and starring Mark Walhberg and Rachel Weisz. I can’t wait to see it.

Fortunately the murder happens in the beginning of the book so the majority of the book is spent watching Susie’s family cope with her death and how the investigation unfolds.