Uncle John's Monumental Bathroom Reader

Uncle John's Monumental Bathroom Reader by the Bathroom Readers’ Institute falls into the genre of humor.  I really love this book.  It's 752 pages long, and full of interesting stories, odd happenings, and just about the strangest things you can imagine.  There is literally an article about people who’ve gone over Niagara Falls in a barrel.  The contents of this book can range from just about anything between articles about dumb criminals and history of Dracula.  The things you find in this book are either really hilarious or just plain weird.  I once let a friend borrow it, and she loved it so much that I couldn’t get it back for months.  I would recommend this book to anyone who has good sense of humor and likes to laugh.

Rock Bottom

Last night, I read Rock Bottom by Erin Brockovich with CJ Lyons, and it was great.  I really enjoyed reading it, and would recommend it to anyone.

Ten years ago, AJ Palladino left her hometown, Scotia, in a Life Flight helicopter, after nearly drowning.  She was seventeen and never returned.  Eventually, she became an established environmental activist, but something goes horribly wrong.  A man commits suicide on her radio station, while he’s on air.  Eventually, AJ retreats back to Scotia, after being offered a job by Zachariah Hardy, a lawyer fighting against mountaintop removal mining.  The type of mining that has already polluted and ruined some of Scotia’s natural resources.  When AJ arrives in town, with her young son in tow, she discovers that Hardy is dead and rumored to have been murdered.  So AJ joins forces with the man’s daughter, Elizabeth, to try to finish her father’s work.  Soon after though, threats and bodies start appearing.  AJ must discover who’s really behind it, while at the same time she must face the betrayals of those who were once closest to her, and deal with the past that she left behind.

Marley and Me

I read Marley and Me by John Grogan, a while back.  The book was hilarious and I really enjoyed reading it.  John Grogan and his wife, Jenny decide that taking care of a dog would be good practice for taking care of a baby.  So they go out and buy a Labrador.  They name him Grogan’s Majestic Marley of Churchill.  Marley eats everything in sight, anything from wine corks to golden necklaces.  The Grogans tries to take Marley to obedience classes, but it just didn't work out, because Marley got kicked out.  Marley even managed to shut down the local dog beach, after he drank enough saltwater to throw-up.  John and Jenny also learn that Marley is afraid of thunderstorms the hard way.  They leave him in their garage during a thunderstorm, when they come home after the storm is over; they find their garage in ruins.  As funny as Marley and Me is, it can be really sad, too, especially the ending.  I would recommend this book to anyone.

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

I just finished reading the The Girl with the Dragon Fly Tattoo by Steig Larsson, and I absolutely loved it.  The well developed plot keeps the pages turning.  The book is also a New York Times Bestseller.  I would recommend this book to anyone who loves reading a good mystery.

 Harriet Vanger went missing years ago.  People searched for her years , but never found a trace of her .  Her great uncle, Henrik Vanger, has spent his life trying to figure out what happened to her.  He’s eighty four years old, and knows he doesn’t have much time left; Henrik wants to give finding out what happened to Harriet one last shot before he passes away.  So he hires Mikael Blomkvist, a journalist who’s been ruined by libel charges.  Henrik doesn’t expect anything to come of the investigation, but Blomkvist proves him wrong.  Blomkvist almost immediately discovers things no one else has ever noticed before.   The discoveries lead him to a series of biblical murders that have never been solved.   Eventually, Lisbeth Salander joins the investigation.  Together, the two discover the Vanger family’s darkest secrets and Harriet’s fate.

The Kite Runner

The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini is one of the best books I’ve ever read.  It tells the story of two boys who grew up in Kubal, practically under the same roof.  Amir is the son of a wealthy and respected merchant, and Hassan is the son of Amir’s father’s servant.  When the two are alone they are like brothers, but in the presence of others they are servant and master.  Hassan is loyal to Amir.  He will do anything Amir asks him to, no matter what the cost, whether it be his life or his dignity.  Hassan will protect Amir, but Amir will not protect Hassan.  One day, when Amir is given the chance to protect Hassan, he fails horribly and runs away in fear, and acts like it never happened.  That day will drive a rift between the two that will never heal.  

I would recommend that anyone read this book. This book is hard to explain in words, but if do you read it, it will be on your mind for days

The Two Minute Rule

Max Holman was sentenced to ten years in prison for a bank robbery. An hour before his release from prison, Max gets the worst news of his life.  His son, Richard Holman, who ironically was a Los Angeles police officer, was shot dead the night before, along with three other officers.  Max wants to know why. 

When he goes to the police for answers they only give him more questions.  So naturally, Max keeps asking them questions, but the police just aren’t answering them.  So the police get sick of Max’s questions they tell him Richard was a dirty cop and a drunk.  Max won't believe them though, because he knows that his son wasn't like him.  He decides that the police aren’t going to help him and that if he wants to find out what happened to his boy he’s going to have to investigate for himself.  But there is only so much an ex-con can do, and Max needs help.  So he asks one of the few people he trusts for help, the woman who arrested him and put him away for ten years, Katherine Pollard.

The Two Minute Rule by Robert Crais is awesome, and it’s defiantly going on list of favorite books.  I would recommend it anyone loves to read stories of action and mystery.

The Real ACT Prep Guide

If you’re planning on taking the ACT, The Real ACT Prep Guide from the makers of the ACT can be very useful.  I took the Act not too long ago and I think it really helped me.  The book has three practice ACT tests inside of it that were previously used on an actual administration of the test.  The book does a great job of showing you the format of the ACT, which will really help you save time on test day.  The book also helps you brush up on your science, reading, math, and writing skills.  It really helps you develop test-taking strategies for test day too.  The guide also has a lot of test taking tips inside of it, and does a wonderful job of explaining how the ACT is scored.  So if your plan on taking the ACT, I would recommend this book you.

Shadow Men

Nearly eighty years ago a father and his two sons mysteriously disappeared and were never heard from or seen again, while they were working to build the first road through the everglades.  A descendant of these men, Mark Mayes, discovers the letters the men had written to their family.  The letters make him desperate to find out what happened to the grandfather and uncles he never met.  He starts asking questions but is quickly stonewalled, with nowhere else to go, the young man turns to Ex-Philadelphia police officer turned private investigator, Matt Freeman, for help.  Matt knows it’s a long shot that he’ll be able to find out what happened to the missing men, but decides to give it a shot any way. 

He quickly learns that there are a lot of people who want to keep the past in the past, even if it takes murderer.  What he discovers about the men’s disappearance is so horrifying and evil that it’s hard to believe.  Shadow Men by Jonathan King is a captivating story that I would recommend to anyone who loves to read a good mystery.  

The Scent of Rain and Lightening

I just finished reading The Scent of Rain and Lightening by Nancy Pickard, and I absolutely loved it, and would recommend it to anyone who loves to read a good story of mystery and deception. In a small Kansas town, when Jody Linder was just three years old, her father was murdered and her mother disappeared, believed to have been murdered along with her husband.  The man convicted of their murders, Bill Crosby, was sentenced to 60 years hard time.  Jody spent the rest of her life being protected by her family and the rest of the town, while trying to prove she wasn’t a victim.  Collin, Bill Crosby's son, spent the rest of his life being watched closely by everyone in town, who was waiting for him to turn into his father, while trying to prove his father’s innocence.   

Now, Collin's a lawyer, and though he still hasn't been able to prove his father innocent, he has managed to get him commuted and released from prison, on the basis of an unfair trial.  Jody can’t understand how or why, though, because she positive that Bill Crosby killed her parents.  As Bill Crosby returns home, all of a sudden, people are saying that he’s innocent.  After hearing their reasons why, Jodi begins to wonder about man’s innocence herself, and it brings her to a question.  What really happened to her parents?   

Book List

Here's a really cool link, to a blog that's called I Love Charts.  This blog has a list of books on it that everyone should read.  The way the list itself is presented is really cool, too.

http://ilovecharts.tumblr.com/post/3900322222/the-books-everyone-must-read-did-your-favorite

The Red Scream

Molly Crates has just published her first true crime book, based on the serial killings of death row inmate Louie Bronk.  Louie has used up all of his court appeals, and is due to be executed by lethal injection in just a few days.  Molly is going to be there to witness it, and she wants to write about the execution too.  She’s not sure that’s going to happen though, because with the execution approaching all of a sudden Molly’s being strongly discouraged of doing so.  By both her boss, and Charlie McFarland, whose first wife, Tiny, was Louie’s most famous victim, and not to mention his only capitol offense.  Those aren’t the only strange things happening though; Molly comes upon some dark clues that could mean that Louie never killed Tiny at all.  So when Louie recants his confession to Tiny’s murder, Molly has to wonder whether or not he’s really Tiny’s killer.  Molly decides that she has to know the truth though, even if it means getting her book discredited.  Her investigation is almost useless though, because everywhere Molly goes she turns up a day too late.

The Red Scream by Mary Willis Walker is wonderfully written book that is very hard to put down.  I would recommend this book to anyone who loves to read a good mystery novel.

Wrong Place, Wrong Time

Sally Montgomery agreed to spend her weekend with Fredrick Pierson, at a cabin on Lake Luzerne.  All was going well until Fredrick was murdered and the cabin was burned down to the ground, an ordeal that Sally barely managed to escaped with her life.  Now, Sally is terrified that the killer is going to come after her to finish the job, and the police are treating her as the prime suspect in the murder, instead of the victim that she is.  Desperate, Sally calls her ex-husband, Pete Montgomery, for help.  Pete is a retired NYPD police officer, turned private investigator.  Pete is not going to leave this case to the police, and his first order of business is hiding Sally in a place where the authorities or the killer will never be able find her.  His second order of business is enlisting the help of his daughter Devon.  Together, the two will find the murder, learn some of the Pierson family’s darkest secrets, and clear Sally’s name.

Wrong Place, Wrong Time by Andrea Kane is story full of surprises and a killer you’ll never suspect.  I really loved reading it.  I would recommend this book to anyone who loves a good mystery.