Book Report March 2014

Asylum by Madeleine Roux

This was touted as being similar to Miss Peregrin’s Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs. Since I totally loved THAT book, I thought this one would be a good bet. As far as the creep factor went, it was top notch! Loved it! The use of the pictures were OK, but didn’t really have the same genuine feel at the Peregrin book did. This is supposed to be the first book in a series, but I haven’t been able to find any info at all about subsequent books. I would be interested in reading some of this author’s other books.

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Theft and Thanksgiving by Emily Thomas

This is another in the Blue Hill Library series of Christian books. This time Anne prepares for Thanksgiving while trying to discover who is stealing identities from some of the town’s senior citizens.

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Shutter Island by Dennis Lehane

When the movie came out based on this book, it looked very intriguing, bet we never got around to seeing it. I got the book at a sale, and was immediately sucked into the story. I knew a little about what went on in the movie, so didn’t really expect to be surprised. But, wow! This book is so well written that I was on the edge of my seat the whole time! Now I REALLY want to see the movie! Teddy Daniels looks for his wife’s killer at an asylum for the criminally insane. What’s real and what isn’t? Can he trust anyone there?

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Belle Out Of Order by Belle Livingstone

This was an old book that belonged to my uncle. I’d had it for years and just never got around to reading it. It’s an autobiography of Belle Livingstone who was a self-made woman at the turn of the last century. Beautiful, witty, looking for all the good stuff in life. She ran a very successful speakeasy during Prohibition, was married multiple times, and even spent some time in prison when her speakeasy was raided. The book was well written, and I enjoyed the look into a past time in our country’s history. But I was also dismayed at the total hedonism in this woman’s life. Pleasure was her only goal. Having a good time was all she wanted of this world. It left me wondering what was really in her heart at the end of her life. There’s very little about her you can find on the Internet. It appears she was estranged from both her children when they were adults. It all felt a bit sad.