My Sister's Grave

My Sister's Grave by Robert Dugoni
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This was a good solid who dun it.  The characters may have been a little cliche...tough as nails girl cop, crusty cranky sheriff,  spooky convict but it served the story well in this instance.  My only complaint is some pacing issues.  The first of the book moves ok...scenes of finding a body buried several years ago with flashbacks about the night Tracy last saw her sister alive, but the author reveals too much in the flashback so the court scenes in the middle have no ammunition, no surprises for the reader.  But the ending picks up again with action and twist that is pretty good.


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Thin

Never to be
Yellow
Pared away
Discarded on the cutting board
But to be
Red and
White and
Fleshy peach
(A cherub fruit
Round and fuzzy
Where fingers dent black
To find the
Stone--
A Valentine lace mass of
Blood-red trees)
My white Valentine lace bones
Holds my Valentine heart--
A peach-less stone.

Acceptance

Acceptance by Jeff VanderMeer
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

As the last in the Southern Trilogy, Acceptance is a most fitting title. By the time you are done you have come to a certain acceptance that you may never know all the answers, but you know enought that it feels like you can let go. I have my theories of what the point is but I will save those for discussion with those who have read it. I have often read reviews that treat all 3 as one book, and really you do have to read them in order and altogether. Altogether it was an amazing journey...crazy, dark, bizarre, beautiful, confusing, and enlightening journey. If you have ever felt like you are reading the same plots over and over, this trilogy is for you...

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Authority

Authority by Jeff VanderMeer
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

As a sequel to Annhilation, it was much more lucid but not very forthcoming on answers. For every question it answered, there seemed to be two or three more that popped up. Still, great writing, and such imaginative writing! and it gave just enough answers that I eagerly reached for the third installment...

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Annihilation

Annihilation by Jeff VanderMeer
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This was the most confusing, bizarre book I have ever read. It both haunted me and inspired me. It is the most unique book I have read to date and I both loved it and hated it . I loved it because it made my brain hurt trying to figure out what is going on, why, how? And hated it because the ending shouldn't leave you with that many unanswered questions. So glad the sequels were already out when I began this journey....

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The Giver

The Giver by Lois Lowry
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

As one of the first dystopian YA books, you can see its influence reverberate throughout many of the others that followed. It doesn't have the action that some of the later renditions add, but it raises important questions and helps us question what is important and what sacrifices we would be willing to make for a "perfect" world...lessons that sometimes get lost in these later reiterations.

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Tenth of December

Tenth of December by George Saunders
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This is a collection of short stories that investigates the worth of a soul. What is our obligation to other people? What would we do/ give up for another person? What would we do if someone was going to die? What about just being raped? Why do we view some people's lives as having more value than another's? Is it money, race, intelligence, moral goodness that makes someone better? How much worth do we view our own life? Overall the stories were uplifting, though a few were disturbing (in a good thought provoking way). There is some language and sex, especially in the first two stories, but the last story, the title story, is a definite must read.

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