Disappointing

I AM NOT A QUITTER, but lately I sure feel like one. I started The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde - I LOVE Jane Eyre so thought I would love this one as well. Disappointingly - no, I did not love it, could barely get into it and so I gave up. I am wondering if I should try it again however, since on Amazon it got high reviews. SO - on to my next read - I really need a good one!!!

The Thirteenth Tale

I just finished this one and I am coming to the computer while it's still fresh in my brain to share about it. The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield is all that AND MORE!! I just loved it! It is an incredible book that with every page turn made me wonder - what is going on here?!?! I hesitiate to call it a mystery since it involves so much more, but yes, it will satisfy mystery-lovers as well. Here is a brief description from Amazon.com:

There are two heroines here: Vida Winter, a famous author, whose life story is coming to an end, and Margaret Lea, a young, unworldly, bookish girl who is a bookseller in her father's shop. Vida has been confounding her biographers and fans for years by giving everybody a different version of her life, each time swearing it's the truth. Because of a biography that Margaret has written about
brothers, Vida chooses Margaret to tell her story, all of it, for the first time. At their initial meeting, the conversation begins:
"You have given nineteen different versions of your life story to journalists in the last two
years alone." She [Vida] shrugged. "It's my profession. I'm a storyteller." "I am a biographer, I work with facts." The game is afoot and Margaret must spend some time sorting out whether or not Vida is actually
ready to tell the whole truth. There is more here of Margaret discovering than of Vida cooperating wholeheartedly, but that is part of Vida's plan.

I was hooked from the start and it really kept me guessing right up until the very end when - I WAS WRONG!!! The descriptions and story line are strong, characters are well-built. It is certainly not a "McNovel" - this one is full of literary quality!

The Other Side of the Bridge

Remember Crow Lake?? Well this is Mary Lawson's most recent novel, The Other Side of the Bridge.

It was a book that kept me going all the way through - now you may ask, "Was it as good as Crow Lake?" I would say I didn't think so. But it was another great story about a family - which I loved about Crow Lake. Her characters are so strong - you really "get to know" them throughout her books. This one was a little more "raw" as the main characters are boys at that puberty stage and there are some "more explicit" scenes than in Crow Lake. In the story you are switching back and forth from past to present - I love it when authors do that - and you are piecing it all together because - it does all fit together - I love that when authors do that too!! It takes some unexpected turns and even in some spots I was so upset with the storyline I couldn't put it down - I had to keep reading to see that it all worked out ok. You won't be disappointed with this Mary Lawson novel!