Hideaway by Dean Koontz

This was a nice, creepy, little suspense novel. I liked the sci-fi twist. A fairly formulaic suspense base with some off-the-wall creeper-y added in. The little girl is fabulous. She does a lot for the story. She's very funny, lovable, completely endearing. The only disappointment was the ending. After all the imaginative creating Koontz did to get to the end the last bit was a little too... you know, just too, too... something. You know the sound you get when you're letting the air out of a balloon and the balloon is sort of flapping around making that spluttering, farting noise? The end of this book reminded me of that. The last couple of chapters start flapping around spluttering and farting. It's less attractive than you may think :0).


You will find an official plot line description at: 
http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/32422.Hideaway

Freedom by Jonathan Franzen

You could say that I'm not a fan of this one... It was a solid book club pick. There was a lot to talk about, a lot to debate. There's nothing worse than a book club choice that leaves the entire group with nothing to say. BUT... holy cats. (Here comes the rant. If you're not ready for the rant, take a moment, get a cup of coffee- prepare for the rant. Ready? Here goes...). 
Not one likable character in the entire book (and it's forever long so you would think you would run into at least ONE, but no, you actually don't). A significant portion of it was needlessly disgusting. On and on with the greenpeace-y theme. I love Mother Earth too. We should all be more diligent and careful with our world. I'm completely behind that. But get off it. Run for office already and step down from the soap box before you fall and break something. 
This entire novel appeared to be less about the characters and creating a story (forget a plot line- there isn't one to be found) than it was a free-text forum for the author to air all those extra-marital tree huggery tendencies he's carried into his own midlife drudgery. Oprah can have this one. I prefer not to have that again :0).


You will find an official plot line description at: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/7905092-freedom

Dracula by Bram Stoker

I was surprised at how this book captured my interest. Admitting that I had never read this classic was becoming embarrassing, so with trepidation I finally picked it up and was relieved to find it mostly captivating. The writing style, which I believe to be typical for the time in which Dracula was written, made parts of the book a struggle. The characters are incredibly verbose and emotional creating a redundancy that made it difficult to stay attentive. Ultimately the novel is saved by the unexpectedly frightening horror story. Published in the late 1800's, I can't fathom the shock-and-awe Dracula likely inspired within the literary community at that time.


You will find an official plot line description at: 
http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/452304.Dracula

Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese

This book was painfully slow for me. So many words, so little story. I listened to this one. It was split into two parts. At one point I lost my place and went through the process of skipping around the audio until I found my place. I thought I was successful and continued to listen only to find that I had picked a place about 30% further into the book than I had actually been. Now, here's where it gets sad- I didn't miss a thing! I picked it right up and was able to finish without missing a beat. I did go back and listen to what I had skipped and it filled in a few blank spots but the real point is that I shouldn't have been able to skip so much out of the middle of the book and still come away with the same opinion. I have seen this one get some very high ratings and it has appeared on multiple book lists, keeping company with books I adore, but as far as I'm concerned- this was an eye-bleeding experience that I'm happy to put behind me.


You will find an official description of the plot line at: 
http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3591262-cutting-for-stone .

The Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood

Uncle! Uncle, uncle, uncle! I can't do it anymore. This has been one on my currently reading list for months. Very long months, I might add. But I'm quitting now. I'm 35% of the way through and can go no further. I am striking this out of my Kindle and out of my life! I loved The Handmaid's Tale and looked forward to starting this one but it's dreadfully slow and boooring. Too many different story lines, none of them good, made this a loser for me.


You can find an official plot line description at: 
http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/78433.The_Blind_Assassin