salem falls

She used allusions to The Crucible and the Jack & Jill nursery rhyme, which I love. I'm a big fan of authors incorporating other voices within their own. I feel like the themes of The Crucible/McCarthy hearings/etc. have gotten to the point of being boring, but this was a fresh take on because there was just a hint of The Crucible flavor instead of it being the same old main course. It's fun that Jodi girl intertwines characters from book to book (esp. in this case since it was a lawyer and that makes sense). I think though, she needs to be careful of recycling plot points (a maybe-raped victim chops off her long red hair...didn't that happen in the 10th cirlce?). Girlfriend always has plot shockers but she dropped bombs right up until the last line. I liked the story that was told in Second Glance better, but liked the storyteller here best of all. In an interview, she said thepoint she wanted to hammer in was that lies can outpace the truth everytime. I don't know if I agree, but I definitely don't disagree.
A+

plain truth

One thing that I love about Jodi Picoult is that she takes ideas that are so easily generalized and researches them so well before writing them into a plotline. In Salem Falls, it was Wicca and in this one it was the Amish community. She usually uses an attorney in one of the main roles and this one was one of the most fully-developed outside the context of the case. I think I would put Plain Truth in my top 3 Picoult's so far.
A

bizkit

23 seconds well-spent.

keeping faith

I loved the title since it was about a custody for a girl named Faith and the role that religion is able to play in our clever clever world. The pacing was slower than her other books and the ending provided some resolution when it seemed impossible, but not as much as i was anticipating. Also, not every book needs a love story in it. The love story in this book went from 0 to 180 in a matter of pages and made me really have no sense of affection for the two who fell in love.

B

smartyPANTS

i want

woody & larry

Woody Allen + Larry David = the best combo since PB & honey

Whatever Works: My thoughts
1. Woody Allen uses the best fonts for his credits.
2. I might never be able to wash my hands ever again without singing Happy Birthday 2x
3. It was nice to see John Gallagher represent the homeland


A

ice

So I read that book, My Sergei. It read kind of exactly how I had expected, but I liked reading about the background behind their routines. It was like they put on strange, tiny plays. And (mostly) anything Russian gets my stamp.
C-

Their prettiest:

December never felt so wrong,
cause youre not where you belong
-Ingrid Michaelson

Funny thing, six or so years after Sergei died, Ekaterina remarried the guy who played the Russian ballerinO in Center Stage (not to be confused with Cooper). That decision does not get my stamp.

2nd glance

My favorite Picoult yet! The quote on the front said:

"A fast-paced, densely layered exploration of love, the pull of family and the power of both to transcend time." People
Pretty much sums it up.

angel baby

I thought pugs only came in chocolate and caramel, but apparently they come in vanilla too. I want all three flavors.

smells like snow

So today was the first snow of the season. The last time it snowed was the night my dad died. Now I hate snow.

one week!

can't hardly wait

festival lunch

Katie Marie's All-Good Chicken Salad

Ingredients:
-1-1.5 lb chicken
-dried cranberries (katie had celery instead, both are good)
-small red onion, diced
-blue cheese dressing
-mayo
-ranch dressing
-SPICES: mustard powder, dill, garlic, oregano, & basil

How to:
-Season chicken with the spices & let sit.
-Mix equal parts ranch and mayo, with a splash of blue cheese & let sit.
-Brown the chicken in a pan and shred after it has cooked.
-Mix the shredded chicken, dressing, diced onions, and cranberries & refrigerate for a few hours.


These gypsies thought it was good.

the tenth circle

I am in the middle of an affair with Jodi Picoult. The Tenth Circle was about her usual subject of family dynamics, blurring the lines of issues that seem black-and-white (and is the inspiration for a Lifetime movie, which never fail to please).


It wasn't my favorite Picoult because there were characters that were introduced & developed, but did not come full circle in having a purpose in the plot. I love her writing style, but I think the structure of this book was unbalanced. Dante's Inferno was constantly referenced & threaded through the novel. I loved using the circles of hell in theory (and actuality for the most part), but there were overwritten/boring bits. The Alaskan bush was used as metaphor for everything from the past, to disappearing, to simplicity, etc. I liked it because I thought it was a clean, interesting, and well-executed illusion (and I have a soft spot for Alaska):

She also incorporated graphic novels, both in allusions and in having little comic strips at the beginning of each chapter. I've never been a fan of graphic novels, but I do like it when authors weave different strands of writing within into their own. There were letters scattered in the comics to spell out the message that was to sum up the theme of the book. I found all the letters, but was to lazy to unscramble them, so I googled it:

Nothing is easier than self-deceit, for what each man wishes that he also believes to be true - Demosthenes
B

silver lining

bad day, good heather.

hard candy

Gill and I had a baby obsession with How to Catch a Sexual Predator. I always wanted to play the girl decoy since I can pass for a kid, plus I love justice AND acting. This movie looked like it could have been lame, but I heart Ellen Page and Patrick Wilson AND their little movie.



And I think it'd be an awesome play.
A