Top 5 books that should be movies

A lot of times when I finish a book I think...that would be an awesome movie. Here are the top ones I would LOVE to see...




5. Prey by Michael Crichton
Its been a while since I have read this one, but it is one if my favorites. This is from the same author that gave us Jurassic Park, Congo, Timeline, just to name a few. This book is about nano-technology and is a great thriller.

4. Blink of an Eye (or Blink) by Ted Dekker
This is a book about Seth, a guy with one of the highest IQ's who can suddenly see the future. It is also about Miriam, a Saudi princess who has fled her country to avoid an arranged marriage. This one is action packed and extremely smart.

3. PlagueMaker by Tim Downs
This is an edge of your seat psychological book about biological warfare that seems a little too plausible for my comfort. It is also a book about forgiveness.







2. The Host by Stephanie Meyer
This book has it all, but what it comes down to at its rawest is what it means to be human. LOVED this one.

1. The Giver by Lois Lowery
I have read this book several times and it is one of my all-time favorites. This book is about the perfect society. At age 12 Jonas is ready to receive his life assignment that is handed down by the elders. Only when he starts his training, he finds out how fragile their existence is.

I finally got a hold of the latest Janet Evanovich
Fearless Fourteen.

Stephanie Plum, the lingerie buyer turned bounty hunter, is searching for skips and helping out Ranger, the uber-hunk. He is helping out a friend by being a bodyguard for Brenda, a 61 year old singer turned cabaret act.

When Stephanie tries to get Loretta to reschedule her court appearance, Loretta talks her into watching her son, Mario, who only answers to Zook. Lulu, Stephanie's sidekick/hooker turned file clerk, has somehow managed to get engaged. Morelli, Stephanie's on again - off again beau, has his hands full helping watch Mario, who may be his son, and dealing with a distant cousin's exit from prison and subsequent search for the 9 million that was hidden from the bank job. Thing is it may be hidden in Morelli's back yard, and since they live in the burg, everyone else learns about this and all are trying to dig it up.

This is a typical Evanovich book, with quirky characters and outrageous scenes. I have been a big fan of this series since One for the Money, but the last two books have lacked something, and just aren't as funny as the previous ones. Also the love triangle between Stephanie, Morelli and Ranger has slipped into the background, and I really was enjoying that story line. I will actually laugh out-loud while reading previous books, and while the last two certainly made me chuckle, I am sad the 13 and 14 are not as clever. I'm afraid that after a while the author may not find as much joy in writting about the same character and may just be pumping out the same old things rehashed. Please say it ain't so Mrs Evanovich...I love Stephanie and I miss her!

I give this one 3 1/2 out of 5.

Chivalry

As I was leaving the local 7/11 this morning, a man held the door open for me. You know, its nice to know that chivalry is not dead. Sure its a small gesture, but it makes me feel good, almost pretty, if that makes sense.

I am all for being treated as an equal, but shouldn't women be treated with respect too? I am raising my son to know that girls can do anything boys can do, but that he should open doors for them, carry their books, always help them. I almost long for the days when the men would get up when a woman walks in the room.

Why can't we work on cars and have the chair held out for us? Why can't we arrest abusers and still have the door held open for us? It's not like the men are doing it because we are weak and can't. They are doing it because we are important and respected. I wonder if we raised our boys to know that, if there would be less violence against women. If we tell our boys that women are smart and deserve to be treated with reverence, that maybe us girls will feel important and deserving.

I think some of us get into an abusive relationship because we feel like we don't really deserve any better. Maybe if our fathers treated us like princesses that we would know we are special.

Ah, but I digress.

Thank you sir for opening the door for me. You had no idea, but you made me feel special today....and I needed that.

Supreme Courtship

I just finished Supreme Courtship by Christopher Buckley. Mr Buckley is, according to Fortune magazine, the quintessential political novelist of his time.
In this book, President Donald Vanderdamp is having a hard time getting his nominees on the Supreme Court. Sen. Dexter Mitchell wanted to be considered for the opening, but the President declined. Now Mitchell dismisses each of his nominees for the silliest of reasons, but President Vanderdamp has found a way to get back. He nominates the country's most popular judge, Pepper Cartwright, the judge on reality TV's Courtroom Six. (think Judge Judy only young and hot)

As Pepper considers being a Justice, her husband/producer, Buddy, threatens breach of contract. Pepper has a sordid past, however, and isn't even sure if she'll get past Sen. Mitchell.

I am, by no means, politically savvy. I really have little clue as to what goes on in the government. When people start talking about congress, government, politics, my eyes glaze over and I mentally take a vacation. That being said, I really enjoyed this book. You don't read Mr. Buckley's books for his realistic characters, they are exaggerated and hilarious. They are meant for us to take a step back and look at how things are. They invoke reflection on another level. There were times I laughed out loud and times I thought, "if only". Just think of how much better this book would have been for me if I really understood the government!


**spoiler alert**

After Pepper makes it in, I really would've liked to have seen her make the same types of rulings as she did on TV, at least on one of the cases. That would have been fun. Also, when they were dealing with the case of Vanderdamp v Mitchell, I felt the book was kind of running out of gas. The book felt like it petered out at the end.

**ok alert over**


I give this book a 4 out of 5.

Belong to Me

Today I finished listening to Belong to Me by Marisa de los Santos. This is a book about grays. (I'll explain later)

Belong to Me is a story about 3 different lives and how they intertwine. Cornelia, who was a devoted city dweller, has found herself dropped in suburban land and is out of sorts. Lake, a single mother, who lives solely for her 13 year old son Dev. Piper, the queen bee of the suburban women, who is all about appearances and who has found herself tending to more than just her children.

Cornelia and Tao, her extremely handsome husband, move into a suburb close to where Tao has taken a new job as an oncologist. Here they meet, at a social gathering, Piper. Piper makes it her business to make sure everyone lives up to appearances right down to the flowers in their yard. Cornelia immediately hates her and feels substandard, when she has always been comfortable in her own skin. At one point, Cornelia feels so low and is out looking for comfort food. She meets Lake and strikes up a great friendship. Lake has moved herself and Dev across the US in what seems a move to get Dev in a better school, but Dev suspects it may involve finding his father. Lake lives and breaths her son and is doing all she can to make his life better.

As I said earlier, this is a book about grays. The characters are human. You hate Piper along with Cornelia, but also see a different side to her that makes you feel for her. You see Lake doing all she can for her son, but to what extent? You see a marriage dissolving, but cannot find fault with or demonize one particular partner. Much like life, it is not all black and white, right or wrong. I loved the characters and unlike any other "chick-lit" book I have read, this one was deep, thoughtful and felt real. I generally steer away from this genre because I always feel an amount of dumbing-down or fairy-tale flakiness. Not this book. I loved it.

I give this a 5 out of 5 and highly recommend this one !

Audio Books

I recently listened to Deception by Randy Alcorn and I really enjoyed it. Roger Mueller, the man reading the story, did an excellent job and I gave the book a 5 out of 5 review (see review). I have read a couple of Mr Alcorn's books and I have enjoyed every one. So I put a hold on Deadline and Dominion on cd so I could have more to listen to when I ride my bike to work.

Let me preface by saying, I thought all books on cd are pretty much the same. Different people read them sure, but all in all, each one is pleasant to listen to. Boy, I found out different. Frank Mueller (must be the father because the voice sounded of an older man) read the story for both Deadline and Dominion. Apparently Frank is very popular and has done over 200 readings for books by John Grisham, Robert Ludlum, and Stephen King to name a few.

I don't want to hurt any feelings, I'm sure Frank is a great guy, but his voice was annoying. It seemed like he would take a breath and then read until his breath gave out, making the end of the sentences sound breathy while his voice would drop. I hope that makes sense, I don't know how else to describe it. It was so distracting, I would find myself listening for it and then cringing when he would do it.

I guess I'll have to do the old fashioned thing and actually read those books!

Deadfall

Deadfall by Robert Liparulo started off with a great bang. In a remote place in Canada, Roland Emery had been out checking some traps he had set when he had noticed a bright yellow truck pull up as if looking for him.

Exert:
He had waved, but the strangers had not waved back. Instead, the man seated in the bed had pointed at a tree between them.

The tree had exploded.

There had been the sound of thunder, a blinding flash, a wave of hot air, and the tree had disappeared. It hadn't been blown out of the ground or knocked off its trunk. It hadn't fallen into the woods or across the path. It had just . . . disintegrated. Needles and splinters and dirt had shot straight up, then rained down. The branches closest to the destroyed tree had ignited, burning like a thousand tiny torches.

A nearby town is terrorized by the occupants in the yellow truck. Fiddler Falls is a self sufficient small town who in the winter time is cut off from all other towns. They have 4 satellite phones in the town for emergencies, but other than that they are alone. The people in the truck shut the town down and hold all the people in the school gym while they film the effects of their weapon which seems to strike with such force and accuracy people simple cease to exist.

They are filming the actual effect and responses of people after these strikes from the sky for their new video game. 4 men are out for a hunting weekend nearby the town and accidentally run into the hoodlums and must make a choice whether to save this small town or run for their lives.

**spoiler**

The people that took over the town are a pair of brothers and 3 others. The brothers are from a rich family whose father never spent time with them and saw them as an inconvenience. One guy is a street thug, one mans the camera and another is a girl who is in love with the leader. The weapon is one the government was working on and it uses a beam from a satellite. It can only be used for 18 minutes every hour and a half.

I stuck with this book because the beginning seemed so promising. When they find the 4 hunters, the gang chases one of them into the woods. He is a hunter and can use his surroundings to blend, believable enough, but the gang seems to know where he's going and continually seem to find him. When he is hidden from them the younger brother spots him and leads the others away.

There are a lot of points in this book where I thought..."yea right, are you kidding. What are the odds???" It was long and drawn out and the ending was a bit of a let down. I was disappointed and now I'm a little leery of even reading anymore of his books.

I would give this a 1 out of 5.

Conversations

Between me and my 19 year old while surfing on my laptop...

Me: ***checking on my google adsense***
(which by the way is up $0.71 WOOHOO!!)

H (my 19 year old): What's adsense?

Me: Well I use it to put ads on my blog in hopes that I will make money when people come to read it. I'm not making much though.

H: (Astonished) You have a blog? I don't have a blog, how do you have a blog? How do you have a blog?

Me: (smug self satisfaction) * *smile* *