Thursday, June 3, 2010

Recommendations from Julie


Blue Genes by Christopher Lukas
Blue = sad in this title. The author lost many members of his family to suicide. Bipolar disorder and depression ran rampant in his family. After losing his brother to suicide he wanted to both open the discussion and recognition of suicide and depression and to hopefully come to terms with the many losses he has suffered. A very sad book.

The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie by Alan Bradley
Flavia de Luce is a precocious 11-yr. old who finds a dead body in the cucumber patch and proceeds to figure out who did it. I listened to this book and found it very entertaining.

Cut Short by Leigh Russell
D.I. Geraldine Steel has risen rapidly through the ranks and is transferred to a quiet village. Here she finds herself working for a tough-as-nails woman D.C.I. (think Jane Tennyson) on a serial killer case. This book is a good, solid police procedural.

Marcelo in the Real World by Francisco X. Stork
Stork has written a wonderful story about a young man with asperger's syndrome trying to find his way in the real world. There are so many things to learn about and to try to understand like why people hurt each other, why they use each other, why they are dishonest. The difficulties Marcelo faces are difficult lessons for anyone, not just someone with asperger's so its very easy to relate to him and his trials and tribulations. I listened to this book and the reader really made it come alive. Highly recommended.

Shatter by Michael Robotham
Psychologist Joe O’Loughlin watches a woman jump to her death. It appears to be suicide but on further investigation it turns out to be murder. Joe is determined to find out what happened so works with the police and on his own to find the killer. This is an exciting British thriller.