Ender's Game - Orson Scott Card

I have heard SO MUCH about this book, but I never quite got around to reading it.  It wasn't until I saw it was being made into a movie that I finally read it (my OCD to read books before I see the movie kicked in).  After reading it, I completely understand how it has a cult following.  It's the perfect dystopian/space book, with enough action and suspense to keep you hooked.

Ender's Game takes place in the future, where the world is preparing for war with an alien race.  The military now breeds child genuises, and trains them for the military if they make the cut.  Each family is allowed two children, and the Wiggins have Peter and Valentine.  Both children were so close to what the military was looking for, they allowed the Wiggins to have a third, Andrew (better known as Ender).  Ender is taken to the military training complex at the age of 6 and starts learning about battle and command.  We soon realize that he is the military's greatest hope in winning this war.

Now without giving any spoiler alerts, I will say that the ending to this book is amazing.  There are just enough twists and turns, and I never would have been able to guess the storyline that takes us to the end.  The book was very difficult to read at times since you are dealing with children and war, but it had enough redeeming qualities that I couldn't put it down.  Outside the main storyline, there is an interesting sub story with Peter and Valentine that starts about halfway through, and is part of the conclusion of the story.  The characters all seem to be complex, and they are almost all children which gives the book a new twist.

Overall, I'm really glad I read it because I think the movie is going to be a great sci-fi hit.  I normally never read sci-fi, or even watch sci-fi (except for Star Trek movies, because Chris Pine is the next Mr. Jacquie Ward) but this book really caught and kept my attention.  I might just start into a new genre now!

<3, jacq

WitSec: Inside the Federal Witness Protection Program by Pete Earley and Gerald Shur

I've always been interested in crime.  When I was younger, I actually wanted to study psychology and learn more about criminal profiling.  Nature v Nurture and the inner workings of a criminal always fascinated me, however, the incredibly low hiring rate didn't work for my need to have a job!  Even though I didn't choose it as a career path, I often read books regarding crime.

I've been living in Kansas City for about 2.5 years now, and it wasn't until this year that I really started to understand how involved KC was in the gang scene.  Organized crime, crooked politics, and gangs ran rampant through KC due to it's prime geographical placement.  I started reading more about organized crime, and you can't read about organized crime without learning about witness protection.

Enter; my desire to read this book.  It's essentially a history of the entire program, from inception through today.  Wit Sec was originally a political issue that the Kennedy brothers started.  When R. Kennedy was US Attorney General, he started the program that would develop into Wit Sec.  He wanted to wage a war on organized crime.  At the time, "Omerta" ran deep in the mafia.  No one would speak out for fear of being killed or putting their family at risk.  Gerald Shur was chosen as one of the attorneys on this task force challenged with breaking up organized crime.  They soon realized if they could convince one member to turn, the enterprise was so inner connected they could bring down the top members of the mafia.  They started to promise witnesses protection, which led to new identities, which led to the witness protection program.

There is so much in this book!  You can see how the Wit Sec program develops from these Cowboy type Federal Marshals that have to write their own rules in the field, to the highly structured program it is today.  There are also interesting stories about crime bosses, relocated witnesses, and even a section written by a relocated witness about her experience.  It's incredibly hard to sum up the story in a paragraph because every election, federal appointment, and large arrest drastically changed the program.

Anyway, if you are a crime nerd like me, you will definitely enjoy this book!

<3, jacq

Insurgent by Veronica Roth

Ever since I read The Hunger Games trilogy, I've been loving dystopian novels.  I got the first of this trilogy, Divergent, for Christmas and read it in two days.  When Insurgent came out, I got it right away.  Unfortunately, due to weddings and the craziness of moving I couldn't start it for a couple weeks.  Once I did, I finished it in a day because I just couldn't stop! 

The book picks up where the first one left off.  Tris and Four are in Amity headquarters, where Four reunites with his father.  Along the way, they also run into Four's mother, who is not dead like he was led to believe.  She is a leader of the factionless, and wants Four to help.  The Amity state that people can stay as long as they agree to no violence, which is naturally hard for the Dauntless.  Meanwhile, Eric and other Dauntless leaders are still working for Jeanine and trying to gather Divergents to study.  At one point, Tris gets captured and is studied by Jeanine and her brother, who chose Erudite at the choosing ceremony.  There's not to much more to say that won't reveal key parts of the plot, but it's much more stacked than the first book in terms of stories.  There seem to be multiple story lines going on at one time, which keeps the book moving at a quick pace.  The cliffhanger at the end of the book is KILLER.

Tris and Four's relationship grows a lot more in this book.  They constantly battle due to Tris's disregard for her own safety in search of the truth, and the fact that Four would do anything to keep her safe.  Because of that, there are things Tris hides from Four in an effort to keep him safe and help the cause.  Naturally when he finds out he's angry, and their relationship is on the rocks most of the book.  Regardless of what happens, or what Tris and Four do, they always seem to come back to each other.  Their romance is one of the better ones I've read in young adult books, because they don't let their feelings stop them from doing what's right.  They also have a good sense of self, and don't lose themselves in their relationship with each other.

We also learn a lot more about Four's family in this book.  We meet his mother whom we thought was dead, and see her as a leader of the factionless.  Four is mad because she left him alone with Marcus, knowing what he did.  Tris and Marcus have an uneasy alliance at one point because they are both out for the same thing, the truth.  This puts distance between Tris and Four, but he eventually sees why she's doing it.

Overall, great read!  Can't wait until Allegiant comes out this fall.  Side note.....they are currently shooting the movie in Chicago right now.....

<3, jacquie

Inferno by Dan Brown

It's been awhile since I've been able to post anything!  The past couple months have been filled with weddings, packing, and the occasional funeral :( so finding time to read and post has been difficult.  When I'm super busy I tend to get in a mode where I re-read favorite books, because that takes less time and thought.

I did purchase this book, however, as soon as it was released.  I've been a huge Dan Brown fan, and was excited to see what Robert Langdon would do next.  I loved Angels and Demons, The Da Vinci Code, and Deception Point (not a Langdon book).  The Lost Symbol was good, but didn't live up to the earlier Langdon books, and I was hoping this one would revitalize the series.

Unfortunately, it was only so so.  By most standards, a good book and a solid story, but in comparison to the writing Brown has exhibited in the past, it was a bit of a let down.  The story line was great and had promise, but I feel as though there was plot/character development missing.

To begin the story, Langdon wakes up in a Florence hospital after being shot in the head.  He wakes up, and due to short term amnesia has no idea why he is in Italy.  Not long after he takes conciousness, he flees the hospital with the help of a doctor after his attacker comes back.  He realizes after going through his pockets that he was on the hunt for clues using The Divine Comedy by Dante.  A madman has created a viral plague and Langdon follows the clues while avoiding capture.

There's a lot to this story.  There's a backstory involving the doctor he escaped with, the scientist who created the viral plague, a group called the Consortium that help the scientist, leaders within the WHO, as well as the provost of the Consortium.  At almost 500 pages, there's a LOT of story to be read.  And as usual with Dan Brown, there are some crazy twists in the stories.  When it came to this novel however, I almost felt like there were too many competing storylines.  There was the primary storyline, and all the others got jumbled together.  Bottom line, I would reccomend it if you love Dan Brown, but don't think it's going to be comparable to Da Vinci Code or Angels & Demons.

<3, jacquie

The Wedding by Nicholas Sparks

This was a nice shorter story to read.  I'm a huge fan of Nicholas Sparks, so when I had some Amazon gift cards to use this was one of my first purchases.

The book is an extension, in a way, of The Notebook.  It revolves around Jane and Wilson Lewis.  Jane is one of the children of Noah and Allie.  In this book, Allie has passed away, and Noah is still living at Creekside (so a bit of a departure from The Notebook).  Wilson is an estate lawyer, and is a very organized, rational man that doesn't do romance.  On their 29th wedding anniversary, he forgets about all the hints Jane has been dropping and has his assistant buy her a nice, expensive tennis watch.  It hurts Jane, and she ends up spending some time away from Wilson with their son.  After two weeks she comes back home and life continues on.  A week away from their 30th anniversary, their oldest daughter Anna gets engaged and decides she wants to get married in one week, even though it's their anniversary.  The book covers that week and all the planning involved to make the wedding happen.

This is one of those beautiful romance books that makes you look at your husband and say "why don't you do this kind of stuff for me?!"  It's beautifully written (in true Sparks style) and has enough plot twists to keep the story going.  The way Sparks shows Wilson trying to be more romantic is inspiring.  It is also written in a way that takes the entire story to develop, instead of one day doing a nice gesture and their relationship returning to normal.  That gives the whole story a more believable sense, since relationships don't get fixed in a day.  It's a beautiful reminder that love is work, and to treat your marriage as anything other than something to continually work on and polish is to let that love go.

<3, jacq

Life of Pi by Yann Martel

A good friend recommended Life of Pi to me.  It's unlike the books I normally read, but I try to read any book considered inspiration for our time or award winning.

In the book, a young boy named Piscine (Pi) becomes stranded in the ocean when his ship crashes.  His father had sold the animals in their zoo, and they were traveling with the animals to Canada on an oil tanker.  When Pi is thrown from the boat, he finds a life boat and watches the ship sink.  On the lifeboat is a zebra with a badly wounded leg, a hyena, and an orangutan.  It's not for a few days that he realizes there is a full sized tiger underneath the tarpaulin.  Eventually, due to the natural evolution of things, the only two left are Pi and the tiger, and they hold on for a 227 day ocean adventure.

The story itself was very well written.  In the beginning you learn a lot about Pi and his family.  You learn about the zoo, and his parents and brother.  You also learn that Pi is very spiritual.  At one point, he is practicing Christianity, Muslim, and Hindu.  His parents try to get him to choose (they are non believers) but he states that they can all operate together.  He finds the strength of the gods in Hindu and Muslim inspiring, and the humanity of Christianity humbling.  This theme is continued throughout the book.

It's an incredible story about survival, spirituality, bravery, and adventure.  The book has become even more famous since the movie was made, but I highly recommend reading the book.  You never know what the movie might be missing :).

<3, jacq

Private: Berlin by James Patterson

So I read a few books over the snow days, and then work picked up so quickly that I never got a chance to post on them.

Private: Berlin is the next in the Private series from James Patterson.  There are (as usual per Patterson) multiple plots, but the main story is about one of the Private detectives going missing, and the rest of the team trying to solve his case.  The main investigator, Mattie Engel, is Chris's ex which adds some more emotion to the search.  During the search they start to find other acquiantances of Chris's go missing or get murdered, and it all seems to lead back to the orphanage where they were adopted.

This was one of my favorite Patterson books of the ones I've read lately.  I felt like it was a mix of Private and a little bit of Alex Cross.  There were turns until the end, and it became difficult to guess what would happen next.  Which keeps you turning the pages and invested in the story.  Too often, Patterson's more recent books have become a little "typical" where it is easy to guess what will happen.  So I appreciated the plot turns.  The sub plot of Chris being Mattie's ex also added to the story, because during the investigation you learned about Chris's disappearance as well as the ending of their engagement.  The character of the main police investigator also added some mystery, since his father seemed to have something to do with the disappearance (even though we didn't discover how until the end).

Great Patterson book, fun snow day read.  It was a quick read and I finished it in one sitting.  If you are a fan of Patterson or mystery, I highly reccommend it.

<3, jacq