Neil Gaiman tells the tales of the Gods using the great Norse myths. His stories tell of beginning of the nine worlds all the way to the end of the Gods in Ragnarok. These are tales of Odin, the highest God, and of Thor, the trickster Loki, and many others. I really enjoyed this one.

I definitely recommend reading this book! Thirty years ago Sarah Lingate is found murdered on the island of Capri and her murderer is never found. Her husband Richard was always a suspect. Now with the family returning to Capri for vacation, the family’s personal assistant, Lorna, is also found drowned reopening the investigation into Sarah’s murder. Helen, Sarah’s daughter is desperate to escape her family. What lengths would the wealthy and powerful take to cover up all family indiscretions? Read and find out. This story had a lot of unexpected twists and just when you think you have the answer, you find out you were wrong. This was a great read.

This is the first Sherlock Holmes novel. I found it very engaging. There is a strange shift towards the end from a story telling perspective, but like anything you would expect from the world’s greatest detective, everything connects and comes together in the end. I may look into reading more Sherlock Holmes stories.

Despite the picture of the horse on the cover of the book, Whistler is not a story about a horse. It is a story about Daphne Fuller and her step dad, Eddie Triplett. Although Daphne’s mother was married to Eddie for only a little over a year when Daphne was nine, a chance meeting of the two many years later at a NY museum brought them back together. Patchett weaves their story through the years and back to the accident that brought Daphne and Eddie’s personal qualities to the forefront. Whistler reinforces my belief that all families are messy and allows the characters to develop and shine. The story about the horse is a small but important component within the beautifully crafted work. My favorite line, although there are many in Whistler, is when Eddie explains Daphne to their rescuers. “Line up all the girls in the world, you’re never gonna find a girl as good as this one.”

John Searles writes a fictionalized account of Helen Gurley Brown's rise to the top as editor-in-chief (since 1965) and creator of " Cosmopolitan" magazine as we know it. In the decades that she gained reknown, she supported and freed women's sexual independence and self-awareness out of the confinements of the 1950's, to the glittering decades of the 70's, 80's and 90's.

I heard a lot of good things about this book so I think I was expecting too much. I enjoyed it but did not love it.

I actually liked this book. Although a few of the reveals made the book more formulaic and the twists could have been said at the beginning and it would not have detracted from the story in any way. The characters were all deeply flawed, and not likeable. I understand the appeal but it can make it hard to read from their perspective. This is a good book if you are someone who is okay with, or preferably likes, endings that are not cut and dry.

How competitive is the housing market? Well it just might make someone do desperate things!

An incredibly bleak deconstruction of the superhero genre that doubles as a scathing critique on American politics. I was consistently blown away (and also at least a little depressed) by how timely this felt despite coming out in 1986. I don't think you have to be a comic book or superhero fan to "get it" with Watchmen. It's a fantastic graphic novel from top to bottom and, so long as you can stomach the protagonists largely being unlikable, I can't recommend it enough.

The premise of the book sounded interesting but it was way too long and repetitive. In this book AI is implanted in a brain dead individual and Julia is hired to manipulate "Bernie" (a nod to the movie "Weekend at Bernie's). The book is told through alternating points of view. Note: The 3 stars is rounded up from 2.5 stars.