Does our experiences define our life?

Title: After You'd Gone
Author: Maggie O'Farrell
Genre: Woman's Fiction
Sub-genre: Modern, English
Pages:  374
Published: 2001
Publisher: Viking Books
ISBN: 0670894486
Reader's Annotation: Will Alice's tragedy bring a family closer together or break them apart?
Summary: Alice Raikes goes to visit her sisters in Scotland's capital but after witnessing something while in the restroom, she rushes back home to London. After getting off the train she is hit by a car and lays in a coma. As she lays there, her family comes and a secret long the past, or so some thought begins to emerge. How will Alice's story interweave into the story of her mother Ann or her grandmother Elspeth?
My Evaluation: Recommended to me by a friend, I wasn't quite sure about this book. I was very thrown in the beginning because the book does switch narratives quiet frequently and it took some getting use to. The stories of Alice both in first and third person are interwoven into her mother's Ann's story about marrying a Scot, as well as her grandmother's. The story is heartbreaking, especially for Alic and O'Farrell does an excellent job in getting the reader to care for her characters. However! I was completely and utterly unsatisfied with the ending!

Conspiracy thories

Title: The Lost Symbol
Author: Dan Brown
Genre: Mystery/Suspense/Thriller
Sub-genre: Historical, murder
Pages:  509
Published: 2009
Publisher: Doubleday Books
ISBN: 0385504225
Reader's Annotation: Can Robert Langdon save Washington DC?
Summary: Robert Langdon is brought to DC by way of his friend, but it turns out his friend is kidnapped. His kidnapper has left Langdon's friend's hand in the middle of the Capital Rotunda and orders Langdon to solve a mystery in order to free his friend. This mystery if solved, could have disastrous effects for Washington DC and the world at large.
My Evaluation: I thoroughly enjoyed Angels and Demons (book #1 in this trilogy) and The Da Vinci Code (book #2) was good, but this book... I got about halfway through and I knew the ending already. Brown's books after you've read one or two are extremely formulaic and I don't really like that. I do not recommend you read this out of order, otherwise there are things that won't make sense. I do love how Brown twists conspiracy theories, especially those dealing with Freemasonry, into a story and get people talking about secret societies, but again, 3/4 of the way through the book, there were no surprises left.
Rating:  3 out of 5
Readalikes:
The Romanov Prophecy by Steve Berry
The Amber Room by Steve Berry
The Solomon Effect by C.S. Graham
The Expected One by Kathleen McGowan
Sigma Force series by James Rollins
Altar of Eden by James Rollins
The Crystal Skull by Manda Scott

Historical literature time travel

Title: The Eyre Affair
Author: Jasper Fforde
Genre: Fantasy
Sub-genre: Historical, time-travel, mystery
Pages:  374
Published: 2003
Publisher: Penguin (Non-Classics)
ISBN: 0142001805
Reader's Annotation: Can a change in a book change the world?
Summary: Thursday Next, a LitraTec SpecOps officer is thrust into a mystery involving several well-known British books including Jane Eyre. She must solve the mystery, save her uncle's life, and at the same time, find her true love.
My Evaluation: Holy son of a mother this book was HORRIBLE!!! Horribly written, horrible to try to follow, and just a bit hot mess. Thorough out the book, there are these random little things that make absolutely no sense and have no place in the book. Plus, I always felt like I was missing something. Several times in the book, things were mentioned but were never explained, including times, terms, and other events. Not to mention all the historical inaccuracies, Fforde, obviously did not do his research. The mystery part of the book had good bones but again I always felt like I was missing something.
Rating:  1 out of 5

Getting to know the real Catherine

Title: Catherine the Great: Portrait of a Woman
Author: Robert K. Massie
Genre: Non-Fiction
Sub-genre: Biography
Pages:  625
Published: 2011
Publisher: Random House
ISBN: 0679456724
Reader's Annotation: One of the most influential and powerful women in history is not who most people think she is.
Summary: Massie, well known for his work in Russian history, brings to life one of the great women of the 18th century. He describes not only the life and court of Catherine the Great but brings in historical elements so that the reader can understand and gain perspective on the decisions that were made.
My Evaluation: There were two reasons that I read this book, One, I had read Massie's Pulitzer Prize winning book, Nicholas and Alexandra previously and I wanted to read this book after reading that book to gain some historical perspective on how previous Russian tzars had influenced the decisions that Nicholas made for his country.  Secondly, my relatives on my mother's side (they were German), joined Catherine in Russia, eventually settling on the Volga River and I wanted to learn more about what their life would have been like under this important ruler. Massie, ever the consummate historian, brings to life a story of a brilliant woman that few in the 21st century know about. This book is long but it is extremely well written and well researched. The life of Catherine both in Germany and finally in Russian is well versed in both brilliance and struggles. Massie is excellent at showing the reader that what happens in a person's past definitely affects their future decisions. The one thing I think readers will take away from this book, even not remembering a thing about Catherine is that: she did not die by having sex with a horse!
Rating:  4 out of 5
Readalikes:
Nicholas and Alexandra: The Classic Account of the Fall of the Romanov Dynasty 

Events mentioned in this book that you might find interesting:
Push Not the River (Polish Trilogy #1) by James Conroyd Martin (Deals with late 1700s Poland and the carving it by Catherine the Great)
Against A Crimson Sky (Polish Trilogy #2) by James Conroyd Martin
Madame Tussard by Michelle Moran (Historical Fiction with a ton of real life research about her life during the French Revolution at the end of Catherine the Great's reign)

What do you tell your friends?

Title: Stories I Only Tell My Friends
Author: Rob Lowe
Genre: Non-Fiction
Sub-genre: Memoir, Auto-Biography
Pages:  306
Published: 2011
Publisher: Henry Holt and Co.
ISBN: 080509329X
Reader's Annotation: Rob Lowe uses humor and personality to show us his life
Summary: Lowe takes the reader on a journey from his humble beginnings in Ohio through his tumultuous years as a Hollywood star and finally to his his beginnings on West Wing, he brings humor and great storytelling to let you into his world.
My Evaluation: I fell in love with Rob Lowe on the West Wing (though I knew who he was before than, hello Austin Powers :)) so when I heard he was writing a book, I couldn't wait to read it. It completely lived up to my expectations. There was only one thing I didn't really like and that was Rob expected the reader to know every detail (like his escapade with an underage girl). He hints at things but never fully explains them. After reading this book, I have gained even more respect for him, both as an actor and as a human being.
Rating:  4 out of 5

Paris mysteries

Title: Murder in the Marais
Author: Cara Black
Genre: Crime
Sub-genre: Mystery, Parisian
Pages:  354
Published: 2003
Publisher: Soho Crime
ISBN: 1569471592
Reader's Annotation: Will Parisian ghosts catch up with Aimee?
Summary: Aimee takes a case that makes her question everything including who she can actually trust.
My Evaluation: This story had good framework and for the most part I liked it. However, there were just some areas where seemed incredibly out of place, kind of like Black did not explain a detail enough for the reader to make sense of why it mattered. but overall I really enjoyed it. It was a good crime/mystery book. I'll probably pick up the next in the series. The only thing that really annoyed me about the book was Black not translating the foreign words. The French wasn't an issue, it was the German. It drives me nuts if any other does that.
Rating:  4 out of 5

River Runs

Title: In the Heart of the Canyon
Author: Elisabeth Hyde
Genre: Adventure
Sub-genre: Southwest
Pages:  304
Published: 2009
Publisher: Knopf Publishing Group
ISBN: 0307263673
Reader's Annotation: Will they ever get down the river?
Summary: Grand Canyon river guide, JT takes a group of individuals down the Colorado river. Along they way they meet new people and go through parlous situations.
My Evaluation: I don't really know what to make of it. It was a decent book. I thoroughly enjoyed the way it was written. It was really easy to read and was faster paced then I thought it was originally going to be but the first half of the book was slow.. really slow. I definitely identified with Amy alot for the first half of the book... second half not so much (won't give away why). But overall when I got to the end I couldn't put it down.
Rating:  4 out of 5