Freud's Mistress by Karen Mack and Jennifer Kaufman

Ehh.  This was good.  But I would have liked more details about Freud and what he thought and where it came from.  This book went deep into the mistress's thoughts, etc. which are clearly conjecture and very little into historical events, facts, and reality. 
It is interesting that Freud had a relationship with his sister-in-law.  She lived in their house for 40 years and helped his wife raise her 6 children.  The authors even make the claim that she had an abortion at some point.  However, I kind of hate when books try to re-write or create history for us. 

The Wolf Gift by Anne Rice

Anne Rice's werewolf book.  Ehh.  Apparently going to be the first in a series.  Some people will love this book (if you like her, if you liked Twilight, etc.)

Irma Voth by Miriam Towes

I finished this book a few days ago and since then I have been pondering. I am still not sure if I liked this book. It is the story of a young woman who is Mennonite and lives in Mexico. She is married to a young Mexican man and has been shunned by her family. However, her father has allowed Irma and her husband to live in a house on the family's ranch. A film crew arrives in the area to film an art film involving Mennonites and Irma is hired as a translator. The book was fascinating for it's brief insights into the Mennonite lifestyle. The book was disturbing and dark for no apparent reason through the beginning. I *think* I liked the book, but I still can't decide. The book jacket states that the author was born in a small Canadian Mennonite community and has written several books and a memoir of her father. I would LOVE to read the memoir just wondering if any of the father in THIS book was based on her father (and I really hope not!!). I think this book just wasn't Mennonite-y enough for me. I will check out her other books and think this would be a great book club book.

Coraline by Neil Gaiman

I love Neil Gaiman. LOVE HIM. However, this is not my favorite book. I read it based on a suggestion from a blog about spookiest books. I think this was intended to be a scary kids' story?

Anyway, it was also a movie and while definitely spooky, it was a disappointment to me. But I do LOVE Neil Gaiman. Check out Stardust instead.

In this book, somewhat neglected Coraline enters an unused part of her house and emerges in an alternate reality where everything is *almost* the same, but the people have buttons instead of eyes.

Reasonable Doubt: The Fashion Writer, Cape Cod, and the Trial of Chris McCowen by Peter Manso

I like true crime books. This one was AWFUL which is such a shame because it's a really compelling story and probably a horrible case of injustice but the writing was really horrible. The author is an investigative reporter and knew many of those involved in the case. I just couldn't get past the writing style.

Wonder Boys by Michael Chabon

This is one of those books I picked up because ANOTHER book I was reading mentioned Chabon as an author of 'intelligent' books. WHY DO I PAY ATTENTION TO THIS? I think this was a movie as well. This book is DUMB. Nothing happens. Well, a lot of stuff happens, but it's dumb. The main character is constantly stoned, has a wife, a mistress, steals someone's prized possession, gets attacked by a dog, the dog gets shot, drives around with the body of dog in the car. Then he befriends a lying weirdo, takes him to his soon-to-be-ex wife's parents' house, kills their unwanted giant snake, drives around with the body of the snake next to the body of the dog. At one point there is a tuba and a transvestite. Oh, and the main character has been writing the same book, Wonder Boys, for 7 years and the mistress is pregnant and he may sleep with his young roomate and then he smokes another joint. I will never get why 'intellectuals' think this type of garbage is intelligent. I am sure that they would give a million examples of how this is symbolic of something stupid, how the story follows the story that the character is writing, etc. I DON'T CARE. This is a dumb, stupid book.

Amsterdam by Ian McEwan

I picked this book up because in another book I read there was a quote which I will paraphrase: She read intelligent books, books by ....McEwan. I thought I had read other books by him, but turns out I was thinking of Iain Pears.

This seems to be one of those 'intelligent' books that I think is stupid. The book begins at the funeral of Molly which is really just a means of introducing us to four men, all of whom, it is presumed, have slept with Molly. One is the Foreign Secretary, the next is the editor of a national paper, the third, a famous composer and the last is Molly's husband.

Some stuff happens and I think we are supposed to question who is a hypocrite, who is sanctimonious and who is morally corrupt.

None of the characters is likeable so you end up not really caring. The 'shocking' events weren't really shocking because at that point I just wanted to be done. I guess this book reminds me of those books we were forced to read in school because someone at some point decide they were 'important pieces of literature' and they were boring and stupid. Who get's to decide that, anyway?

Look Again by Lisa Scottoline

This book was a book club selection. Basic story: A woman who has an young, adopted son comes home one day to find a missing child flyer in the mail. The age-progressed picture on the flyer looks exactly like her son. She is a journalist, so she begins to investigate to find out who the missing child and if it could be her son.

I did NOT like this book. It is well-written but I found the story very contrived and complicated, beyond what is necessary.

And Then there was One

Identical triplets go to the movies with their cousin. When the movies are over, only one comes out. Where are the other two?

Their parents are a major league baseball player and a psychologist who deals with the monsters of the world. Does one of them know the kidnapper?

The author then gives you a slew of evil, horrible monsters who may or may not have the girls. It is every boogeyman story you have ever heard...to the point that it is tedious and unbelievable. I did keep reading, just to find out what happens, but I was annoyed. Didn't like it.

Adam & Eve by Sena Jeter Naslund

This book was good and interesting and irrelevant. I kept waiting for a greater meaning or a sense of enlightenment or something to think about and NOTHING.

But it was good. Basically, this woman Lucy(or Eve) is left alone after her husband dies (or was murdered?). She falls in with a plot to smuggle a version of GENESIS out of one country into another. En route, her plane crashes into a weird, impossible Eden, complete with a sexy yet possibly mentally derranged Adam.

Then a bunch of other stuff happens and in the end nothing really happens and it was stupid. :)

Virgina Woolf A Writer's Diary

I thought this book was a diary of Virgina Woolf (who I have never read anything by) but it's more of a diary of HOW she wrote, her 'process'. I just couldn't get into and was so disappointed. I also picked up a couple of her novels and found that I just couldn't get into them. So sad. I still no absolutely nothing about Virginia Woolf who has been called one of America's best novelists.

Overview from Amazon: An invaluable guide to the art and mind of Virginia Woolf, drawn by her husband from the personal record she kept over a period of twenty-seven years. Included are entries that refer to her own writing, others that are clearly writing exercises; accounts of people and scenes relevant to the raw material of her work; and comments on books she was reading. Edited and with a Preface by Leonard Woolf; Indices