Lone Wolf by Jodi Picoult

After the first fifteen pages, I almost put the book in the box (books that don't interest me go there). It started talking about wolves and this guy who lives with wolves. Crazy talk, especially considering I'm not a fan of animals. The story quickly changes tunes and turns into your typical Jodi Picoult book, focusing on a social issue. In this particular book, it's the matter of keeping someone alive on life support or pulling the plug. Each chapter is written from a different character's perspective (using different fonts, which I love).

Here's the background: Luke (the wolf lover) and his seventeen year old daughter, Cara, are involved in a terrible accident. He has a terrible brain injury and is in a vegetable state with absolutely no responses or signs of life. Cara escapes with relatively minor injuries. The accident is constantly in question because her blood alcohol content was a .20 when she was found at the wreck. Was she driving or was he?

The family is dysfunctional. The character relationships are extreme but also seem real. At eighteen, Luke's son Edward comes out and tells him he's gay. His father goes bizerk at him. Edward decides to run away to Thailand. His parents soon get divorced, with their eleven year old daughter choosing to live with their father. Fast forward six years to the hospital with Luke in a coma.

Everyone blames each other for the family's issues. Cara and Edward despise each other. Cara is in favor of keeping their father on life support, while Edward wants to pull the plug. Their mother, Georgie, has remarried and somehow doesn't take a side throughout the book. Eventually the decision goes to court to decide who will be the presiding guardian over their father and ultimately get to make the choice to keep Luke alive or pull the plug.

I didn't really like this book for a few reasons. The talk about wolves was constantly a turnoff. I tried to skim as much of that as I could. As the story progressed, I thought it was very predictable. The characters were almost too interconnected, but I guess it makes everyone have a strong feeling towards the outcome. From the beginning of the story, the reader knows there are two big secrets which will probably change the reader's opinion. We know we will find them out at the end of the book. It was annoying to know this was coming the entire time. I didn't find this as suspenseful or thoughtful as some of Jodi's other books.

My rating for Lone Wolf: 2 stars out of 5. Get it here!

Bonus: Jodi is doing a book signing tour for her new book coming out in July, called Between the Lines. She will be in Long Island, NY on Sunday July 1st and in Boston, MA on Monday, July 2nd. Check here for more info. I'd really like to go, but my schedule may not permit. If any of my blog readers get a chance to meet her, please share!

Fifty Shades of Grey by E L James

Most of you are probably saying, “Finally.” I refused week after week to read this book, but I finally caved to the peer pressure. How can I be taken seriously as a book blogger if I don’t review what will probably turn out to be this year’s most popular book? I had to read it even though I went in fairly sure I would dislike it.

The story is about Ana, a college virgin, and her relationship with Christian Grey, a twenty-seven year old CEO / billionaire who’s apparently very good looking and single. They meet when she interviews him for her college newspaper (his alma-mater). Right away they both fall head over heels for each other. Nothing really happens until she signs a non-disclosure agreement and somewhat agrees to a contract detailing the rules of their relationship. It turns out Grey is a BDSM person who wants to dominate his submissive. Use Google if you need further explanation.

FYI, I hate when people fall head over heels in romance books. It’s not real life. And before I sign my life away to be punished and abused, I’d want to know a bit more about the person. What if the guy is crazy? It's ridiculous to think Ana has never had a relationship in her life, yet is willing to run off with Grey.

I had to skim over the detailed sex scenes. I tried to read through it, but after a few pages of it, I got it. I didn’t want to read a whole book describing how sexual encounters feel. It adds nothing to the book. It’s fluff to me. I also had to look up a bunch of things that were referenced. Fairly sure everybody has to look up some of this stuff unless you’re a dominant or submissive. I’ve said this multiple times to people, but sometimes I think it’s better when you know less. This book will certainly expand your horizons, and once you have been exposed there is no going back.

I can see why women would like this kind of book…it’s got all the recipes to rope female readers in. First, there’s the obvious love story. One can always remember the days of innocence, like Ana was at the beginning of the book. Women always want Mr.Charming-Billionarie-Hotguy to fall out of the sky and carry them away into the sunset. And probably the biggest hook for women is all the dirty sex talk.

I really enjoyed the banter between Ana and Grey. Some of it stands out; sometimes you need to read a bit closer to catch it all. I found it amusing and it makes for good reading – maybe I need more banter in my life. Overall, I thought the book moved too slow. The sex stuff consumes too much of the readers time. The substance is lacking, a la the actual story could be written in 100 pages. I found the book better than I expected, but not good enough to want to read two more books of this stuff. Sparknotes will suffice.

My rating for Fifty Shades of Grey: 3 stars out of 5. Get it here!

P.S. I read the entire book at Barnes and Noble over four nights. No way was I spending my money to support this book.

The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho

A friend was the first one to tell me about The Alchemist, but I put off reading it for quite some time. I was recently clearing my Amazon wish list and decided to order it along with five other books. Originally I wasn’t in a rush to read The Alchemist (I didn’t even know what an alchemist was), but after reading the inside flap and about the author, I wanted to read it right away. My expectations soared because the story and the themes seemed right up my alley. Oh, and it has sold 65 million copies, making it the one of the best selling books ever.

The story starts with a shepherd boy’s daily routines and his acceptance of life. He has a dream of treasure and, after consulting a Gypsy and coincidently running into a self-proclaimed king, decides to pursue this unknown treasure. The story is not about the treasures, but the journey itself. There are profound life lessons that are learned along the way. The journey and the people provide memorable messages.

The first part of the book captivated me. It focused on the shepherd’s life and his initial hesitation to follow his dream. I would describe it as the setup for the journey. As the book progressed, I was somewhat disappointed. Parts of the journey became unrealistic. I know the story is a fable, but for me that loses some of its meaning (I’m too much of a realist). I also should point out the author wrote the book in Portuguese. What I read was translated to English. I wouldn’t normally think this is a big deal, but often times I thought the writing was a bit broken and did not use proper grammar, although this didn't impact the story.

With all that being said, I really liked the book. It was easy and quick to read. I wanted to keep turning pages to find out what happened to the shepherd boy. I was expecting a big ending and the author delivered. I thought the ending was perfect.

My rating for The Alchemist: 4 stars out of 5. Get it here!

Bonus: As I said, there are countless lessons from the story. I wanted to share some of the one-liners that I really liked (yes, I jotted them down as I read):

“If you start out by promising what you don’t even have yet, you’ll lose your desire to work toward getting it.”

“We are afraid of losing what we have, whether it’s our life or our possessions and property.”

“Everything that happens once can never happen again. But everything that happens twice will surely happen a third time.”

“For her, every day was the same, and when every day is the same as the next, it’s because people fail to recognize the good things that happen in their every day that the sun rises.”

“Making a decision is only the beginning of things. When someone makes a decision, he is really diving into a strong current that will carry him to places he had never dreamed of when he first made the decision.”

“When a person really desires something, all the universe conspires to help that person realize his dream.”

The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg

Sometimes I jot down notes as I'm reading for the blog. I looked over my notes before writing this post, and I had a roller coaster ride of opinions on the book. My first impression was not favorable. It starts out with what I would call a technical explanation of how your brain handles habits. It's very informative and detailed, using too much brain lingo (basal ganglia). Not sure the casual reader cares about this stuff. For me, it got to the point where I almost gave up. I'm glad I didn't.

The rest of the book focuses on examples to support the author's thesis. There's three steps to a habit: a cue, a routine, and a reward. He discusses how habits are developed and how you can recognize them. One of the author's first examples is brushing your teeth. How did this become a habit? It's strange to think of today because it is a part of our everyday life. It really goes back to the 1920's when Pepsodent was marketed. There were other toothpastes at the time, but no one used them. It's interesting to read how it was marketed and also what really was a key driver in people using Pepsodent over other toothpastes.

Other examples included how the CEO of Alcoa focused specifically on worker safety and how changing that habit ended up changing the entire company. How people were persuaded to use Febreze and now earns Procter & Gamble one billion dollars a year. How Target uses predictive analytics to predict when customers are pregnant based on the shopping habits of women. The author also highlights everyday habits, such as smoking, exercising, and gambling. He looks at how social habits influence your behaviors in your community. I found a lot of it fascinating to think about.

My rating for The Power of Habit: 3 stars out of 5. Get it here!