What If...

In his memoir, On Writing, Stephen King opines that any work (specifically his) can be boiled down to one question...what if?  From his work...what if you were stuck in a car with a rabid dog outside?  If you're Stephen King, you have Cujo.  For the rest of us, it works for every piece of literature that we read.  You can boil it down to the simple question...what if?  What if the person you loved unconditionally asked the unthinkable?  What if you could trade your life for someone else's?  What would you give up for "true love"?  How far would you go to chase a dream?  The questions are limitless, and many of us will never have the opportunity ask, much less answer, them.  Which is why I find literature so amazing.  For a short period of time, we get to experience the unthinkable, we get to look into lives that we can't imagine, and we get to step outside ourselves and ask...what if?

The Pact ~ Jodi Piccoult

“Oscar Wilde said that the pure and simple truth is rarely pure and never simple.  Truth, you see is in the eye of the beholder.”

I finished reading The Pact, by Jodi Piccoult, last night.  True to form, Ms. Piccoult left me with plenty of room for discussion.  The story begins with a jolt, the seeming suicide of a bright young woman.  But, was it suicide?  Her lifelong companion, and boyfriend, survives the suicide pact, leaving a detective to with too many questions.  With an attention to detail, Ms. Piccoult traces the emotional journey that both families take.  The Golds deal with the death of their daughter; allegedly at the hands of a boy they considered family.  The Hartes are left to deal with a son accused of murdering the only girl he’s ever loved. 

Throughout the story are woven the relationships among the parents, once deep friends but now torn apart by the tragedy; the relationship between Emily and Chris, soul mates since birth and dependent upon one another; the relationships between parents and children, leaving the reader to question how well you can truly know your children.  Ms. Piccoult tackles these relationships with her usual compassion and honesty. 

The narrative, which jumps from the present to the past and back, allows the reader to discover Emily’s thoughts and motivations in steps, rather than by revealing everything at once.  It creates suspense as the reader tries to figure out why she would want to cut her promising life short.  And Ms. Piccoult does not disappoint.  By the final courtroom showdown, we know.  And we are left with one question: How far would you go for the person you love?

Next, I am reading Anne Rice's Merrick.  It is a crossover novel that combines the world of her vampires with that of the Mayfair witches.  After beginning the novel, I wish that I had re-read, or at least read summaries of, the Vampire Chronicles and the Mayfair novels.  If you're interested, here's all of them in order.

Top Ten Made-up Literary Couples

Today I found a Huffington Post article on the Top Ten Made-Up Literary Couples.  Great read!  I will admit that I am not familiar with all of the characters, so I've managed to add a few books to my list. 

50 books this year?

So, I am taking the Goodreads book challenge & attempting to read 50 books this year.  To make it interesting, that is 50 previously unread books.  I'll keep you posted.  If you're on Goodreads you can track my progress there!

My first is Jodi Piccoult's The Pact.  This is one of her early novels, published in 1998, and was a turning point in her writing career.  She discusses this in an interview on her website. I love hearing from an author about what inspired them or what their process is. I'm about halfway through & so far The Pact is just as compelling as her other books.  It deals with relationships between parents & children, relationships between childhood friends & soulmates, relationships between friends.  Questions I'm left contemplating right now are: how well do we really know our friends & family?  how far would you go for someone you love?

Here we go...

I have been an avid reader for as long as I can remember. My bookcases are overflowing and am often reading several things at once. My collection includes "chick lit," biographies, mysteries, fantasy, and historical fiction. Through this blog I plan to discuss whatever book I happen to be reading at the time. Between finishing books, I'll include some reviews and some analysis of things I've already read. I welcome any comments or reading suggestions. I'll also provide some links to great book sites that I've found. You can start with http://www.flashlightworthybooks.com/, a site that has tons of great book lists.