Neil Gaman's "Neverwhere"

This book was pretty good, and now that I've found out that there is a tv series based on it, I'm going to have to search for it on Netflix. Starts out with our main character, Richard, and his stuck up fiance Jessica. They are walking to dinner with her boss, when a woman, Door, is laying bleeding on the sidewalk in front of him. Jessica steps over her and is ready to go to dinner and forgot that a person is laying bleeding on a sidewalk, and Richard isn't. He picks up Door, who insist not to be taken to a hospital, and takes her to his apartment where he bandages her up and takes care of her until she's better. For being a good guy, his fiance dumps him. Good riddance. Door aplogizes to him, and sends him to find a man named De Carabas. They leave Richard's apartment, and Richard goes to work, only to find he doesn't have a job...and then his landlord rents out his apartment. In fact, everyone ignores him and basically treats him like he doesn't exist. He goes to find Door for help with this, and finds out that by helping her, he basically doesn't exist in the world as he knew it anymore. There are two Londons...London Above, and London Below, and London Below is basically everything from Above that has fallen through the cracks. Time, locations, people, artifacts, all sorts of things. It's rather fascinating. The story is well written, and long story short, Richard saves the day, tries to go back to normal life, decides it's not for him after all, and goes back to Door and De Carabas. Good book. I recommend this one. Now, off to look for that tv series on Netflix!

Judy Blume's "Smart Women"

I remember reading Judy Blume books as a kid, and thinking they were funny. So, I found this book at a sale, and bought it. I read it today...it's crap. It's the story of 3 women who are divorced and their kids, and how "smart women" deal after a divorce. One has a break down, one has the other's ex husband move in with her, and I hate this couple the least in the book, and the third tries to get back together with her ex, with her coming to the conclusion he needs a job or hobby to help him grow up and the young age of 40. The kids are all in the teenage age range, and they have to handle their parents relationships and ups and downs... this book is depressing, stupid, and I feel like I wasted an afternoon of my life reading it. Judy Blume, please go back to writing funny books for kids and young adults, and quit writing depressing tripe.

James Patterson "Suzanne's Diary for Nicholas"

I read a lot of books, so that is mostly what this blog will be dedicated to. Books I've read, and what I think of them. I'm a huge fan of spoilers, so expect them. In fact, I think spoilers are doing others a favor. I mean, honestly, wouldn't you like to know in advance whether or not to waste your time BEFORE you did it? I hate books that waste my time, or have a bad story line. Anyway, the book I read today was "Suzanne's Diary for Nicholas." I mainly picked it up because it was written by James Patterson, and I've rarely been let down by him.

The story has a few main characters, starting out with this heart broken woman named Katie, who just found out she's pregnant, and the love of her life just dumped her the night she planned on telling him this. His name is Matt, and at first, he comes across as a cheating piece of crap. He sends her a package, inside is a written diary by a woman named Suzanne, and says it's for Nicholas. So you read Suzanne's diary, and she talks about having a heart attack at a young age, and what a wake up call it was, she moves to Martha's Vineyard to be a country doctor, and falls in love with Matt. He sounds wonderful when she talks about him, so you're wondering how such a great guy could become cheating scum later, but the more you read, the more you figure out, something happened. Suzanne and Matt have a baby, Nicholas. Hers is a high risk pregnancy, because of her heart issues, but she has the baby Nicholas, and they both adore him. He's the light of their lives. She gets pregnant again when Nicholas is about 4-6 months old, and nearly dies, and does loose the baby. The book goes back and forth between the diary and Katie and how's she reacting as she reads this. She decided she likes Suzanne, and visits her friends and takes a little break from the diary. She had been so sure that Matt was going to propose, then she thinks about him crying at night, and realizes he wasn't ready yet. So, back to the diary. More about how happy they were, how everything was sunshine, and they are preparing for Nicholas's first birthday. Suzanne's really excited about this special picture frame, and she leaves to pick it up. Now Matt takes over the diary writing, and he says that Suzanne had a heart attack while driving, and drove into the lake. He writes a few more entries to Nicholas before you find out, Nicholas was in the car with her, and is also dead. If you aren't at least teary eyed by this point, you have no heart. It's really sad. Poor guy is seriously grieving, but you also realize, he wasn't cheating, he was slowly getting his life back together when he met Katie. So, she reads the whole thing, then they make up, he confesses he loves her, they get married, everyone ends happy. This book is a total tear jerker, but the point through out was how lucky we are every day to be with the ones we love.

Now, as a word of caution...avoid like the plague any book written by Victoria Holt. Every book is the same...the main character is a complete ninny...there will be a choice of two men, one nice and loyal, but poor, and a rich man whose been around the block several times, more than likely is crawling with veneral diesease, and isn't really so great but is terriblely handsome. In every novel, she will pick crotch rot and money over honor and love. If you find a book by Holt, buy it and use it to line your bird or guinea pig cage. Under no circumstance should you read it...unless you hate yourself.