Book Reviews

I've recently read 4 books: 2 chic-books with some depth, a sci-fi-ish thriller, and a great novel from a dog's perspective. I'll rate them from my least to most favorite. The titles link to the amazon.com pages for each book.

4. Lightning by Dean Koontz was written back in 1988, and was not one of my favorites. I typically really like Dean Koontz. He writes weird, scary books that I really dig, sort of similar to Stephen King, but this one was a little boring to me. It basically involves time traveling assassins and one good time traveler who tries to intervene and make life better for a woman he fell in love with in an alternate reality, and to impact the future by some dealings with Winston Churchill and Hitler in the past...far out...not really my thing but it was for sale in the hospital gift shop one night I was working and it was really dead so I bought something to read.


3. Souvenir is Therese Fowler's debut novel telling the story of childhood friends (a boy and a girl, not sure why there are 2 girls on the cover) who become teenage lovers, that wind up torn apart and find each other again 15 years later during a very tragic time. This one actually has a good moral of living each day to the fullest, the only guarantee we have is right now, not the future. It's a girly book, but I really enjoyed it in all it's melodrama.


2. Just Breathe by Susan Wiggs is a sweet, funny, yet ultimately predictable novel about a woman who finds out she is pregnant with twins the same time she finds out her husband is having an affair. She comes home to live in the small town where she grew up and finds love with the IT boy from high school, of course there's much more to him than the football hunk he was years ago. Nice easy beach read.


1. My favorite of the bunch! The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein is one I love and will keep on the bookshelf (unlike the others, which will get sold/traded at a used bookstore). Of course I was initially drawn to it because it had a dog on the front, then I read the first chapter and I was hooked. Like all good novels in my opinion, it is both funny and poignant, making the reader laugh and cry and feel a genuine interest in what happens to the characters. It is told from the viewpoint of a dog, and tells the story his owner's often difficult but ultimately wonderful life. The owner is a race car driver, so there is lots of Formula One/Racing talk that definitely makes it a unisex book. I admit I skimmed some of the car-talk, but still loved it. Like Souvenir it deals heavily with the theme of making the most of your situation and living in the moment. I highly recommend this one!