The Historian

Book: The Historian
Author: Elizabeth Kostova
Pages: 642

This book was really cool. It is a fiction novel about the life, death and afterlife of Vlad Tepes...who was Dracula. I don't want to get too much into the plot since it is a suspense mystery, but the book is told through three people - A professor, Rossi; his student, Paul; and Paul's daughter, the nararator. Rossi and Paul both receive books that have only a dragon in the middle, then mysterious events begin to happen. Rossi disapears, Paul's cat dies, and a strange librarian begins to follow Paul and Rossi's daughter, Helen.

Paul and Helen travel through 1950's communist Eastern Europe - Turkey, Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary in search of Dracula's tomb and Professor Rossi.

I would suggest this book to anyone who likes a little fantasy and a little suspence, and vampirical activity.

Two very enthusiastic thumbs up!

bookclubwoo!

Hello hello!
I'm Jacky. Graduated from KU Journalism in December and now live in New York working for a magazine. I've been ready A LOT on the subway, so i'm super excited for new suggestions (and books to avoid). About me: I do not like high heels. Green is my favorite color. I hate sweating. I get excited when I see famous people. I categorize tomatoes as vegetables.

All-time favs:
Encyclopedia of an Ordinary Life by Amy Krause Rosenthal
If I write a book (wait...WHEN i write a book...) i want it to be like this. organized by random thoughts, words and subjects. hilarious, insightful, well written and completely enjoyable. the kind you hate finishing.

Tomcat in Love by Tim O'Brien
Yes, this is the dude who wrote those war novels you had to read in high school but this has nothing to do with war. It's about a linguistics professor and the relationships in his life. For those of you with a love of words like me, you'll appreciate how the character analyzes sentences, conversations and words. My book is heavily highlighted. Very witty and touching.

The Time Traveler's Wife
It's incredibly long but totally worth it. An unconventional organization, in that it chronicles the relationship between a man who can time travel and this girl/woman. Beautiful story. Superbly crafted (whatever that means; i just felt like saying it).

I just finished reading my first two Jodi Piccoult novels. First I read The Tenth Circle and thought it was decent (it has comics interspersed throughout the chapters, which is a cool idea). Then I read Keeping Faith, about a girl whose parents are having marital problems and she starts having religious episodes. Keeping Faith was amazing, more so for the plot than the writing. I was constantly trying to guess what would happen next and was continually surprised.

I also just finished Love Walked In. I was skeptical when I started it, but quickly became obsessed. It's the story of a young girl whose mom goes crazy and a single woman who falls in love. Their paths cross and show amazing examples of what love is, what people do for love and what happens when that love is threatened. The author did a great job of having different voices for the two characters...the chapters alternate between Claire and Cornelia. I had warm fuzzies through many parts of this novel.

Step On A Crack

Book: Step On A Crack
Author: James Patterson and Michael Ledwidge
Pages: 383
Time to Read: 1.5 weeks

Out of all of James Patterson's books, this is not the one to read if you want to start reading his works. I'm a dedicated reader of his works, so I've noticed the nice, neat formula he's started to use in his books, not menton bringing on an underling to do all the dirty work and then slapping his name at the top of the cover art.

Anyway, the main character is Mike. He's a police officer who seems to be doing everyone else's job except his own. He's dabbled in dealing with the press during high-stress situations; he's been a negotiator; and he's worked with the hostage rescue team. So instead of giving him one role to play, Patterson/Ledwidge make him do all three jobs. Why not, right?

The crisis situation has a former president's wife getting killed and then at the funeral, a team of men take over the church with several celebs, politicians and the like trapped inside. A ranson is demanded and the police/FBI do as much as they can to get it together while stringing the bad guys along. Along with this crisis, Mike's family is trying to handle their mother's impending death from cancer. And all of this happens days away from Christmas. Uplifting story, huh?

In true Patterson fashion, we know Mike will be a saint of a guy, he'll use his pyschiatric/sociologist background to somehow figure out who the criminals are...even with little to no clues to go on, and someone on the criminal team will have been working on the good guy's side during the whole dilemma.

Even though I've just totally trashed this book, I still love Patterson. Every now and then he'll give you a great mystery. It just hasn't happened for a while now. If you would like to read some of his better works, try "Kiss the Girls," the Women's Murder Club series of books (there are 5 of them now), or "When the Wind Blows." These books include some of his more inventive and better laid out plots.

Howdy, y'all

Okay, no I'm really not that hick-ish, but it seemed like a great way to say hello. I go to grad school at the University of Kansas. I'm a journalism major with an emphasis in copy editing. And no, I won't go all crazy on you if you mess the language up (I'm likely to do so in this first posting anyway). I grew up in central Kansas and got my bachelor's degree from Kansas State University in English (creative writing). I love reading and watching movies and TV shows. Right now, I'm working in Tulsa in an internship position. The city is great fun. Anyone who hasn't been here should check it out.

The books I love to pieces are: Maus I & II, The Sound and the Fury, The Notebook, Their Eyes Were Watching God, The Horse Whisperer and The Bride Stripped Bare.

Oh, and Erin, if you're willing to lend out your Jodi Picoult collection next semester, I would love to begin reading her work. I've been hearing good things about her books.

My Life

Book: My Life
By: Bill Clinton
Number of pages: 957
Time took to read: From 5-22 to 6-16

I both liked and disliked this book. It was the story from his birth, until he walked out of the Oval Office and met George W. to take over the Presidency.

A lot of the stories he told were very interesting. His father died before he was born, his grandfather was one of the few white men in Arkansas to sell groceries to black people in the 50's, he was a Rhodes Scholar and studied at Oxford and traveled the world. During his Presidency he played golf with Tiger Woods, etc., etc., etc., But, what I didn't like about it was how political heavy the story was. I was super confused through most of his political tenure in Arkansas. I didn't know any of the politicians names that he was referring to. I started looking up some, then I just gave up. And, even during his Presidency I was too young to remeber the Watergate case against him, so I had to Google that to understand what was going on. Near the end of the book, he spent so much time discussing peace treaties between Israel and Palestine, and though I have heard of Yassir Arafat, I didn't completly get what was going on, so I just skimmed those parts. But, it is a farily interesting book about a very interesting man. Don't expect too much about Monica Lewinsky...it's covered in about 15 pages or so.

Ranking: 2 stars out of 4.

Books Rule!

My name is Erin and I am Catherine's friend from KU. I'm really excited about this book blog..Right now I'm reading Bill Clinton's book "My Life"...but here are some of my favorites:

Gone with the Wind, Harry Potter, ANYTHING by Jodi Picoult (I've read all of her books...except for her newest Nineteen Minutes, since it's only in hardback. I'm too cheap to pay $30 for a book, and I'm about #75 on the library's waiting list..My day will come soon enough!) If you haven't read her..I highly suggest it.

Introduction and Initial Recommendations

Welcome, everyone! I'm really excited to get this going, and even more excited about how many people we have from different parts of the country. Because many of us don't know each other, how about we start with introductions?

I'm Catherine. I graduated from the University of Kansas, and I'll be the Pennsylvania representative this summer as I intern in Philadelphia. I just finished "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire" a few hours ago, preceded by the first three books.

Books I've loved: A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (Betty Smith), Memoirs of a Geisha (Arthur Golden), Things Fall Apart (Chinua Achebe), Friday Night Lights (H.G. Bissinger), All But My Life (Gerda Weissmann Klein), and Harry Potter (J.K. Rowling)

Books I didn't like (not assigned in western civ): Sex and the City (Candace Bushnell), North Dallas Forty (Peter Gent)

Happy Saturday!