A Room, A Thief and A Mystery

The last time I did a book post, Brittany recommended I read “Room” by Emma Donoghue. I had never even heard of it so I was really intrigued. I went and looked it up on Amazon and read it straight away.

It didn’t disappoint.

The story is about a young woman who has been kidnapped from her college campus, raped and given birth to a boy, Jack, who is now 5 years old. They live in a 12 by 12 room. Did you read that carefully? A 12 by 12 room. With no windows. Old Nick, her captor, visits every night and brings them minimal food. They keep themselves entertained with a spare balloon, old toilet paper rolls and gym class when they move their furniture around. Jack loves to watch Dora on TV and, because he’s never, ever been out of this room, thinks that their room is all there is in the world. He has no clue that there is an outside world.

The writing is a little hard to get used to because it’s told from Jack’s point of view. Once you get used to it though, it’s a great read. It’s a quick read too…perfect for those 10 minutes you get to read every day. I don’t want to tell you any more because I don’t want to give anything away!

Are you in love with Harlan Coben yet? I am. His books are just good, light reads…except for his newest one, Live Wire. Harlan hit me hard with this one. He made me get all wrapped up in the mystery and then made me cry at the end. So much for a light read! But I loved it. In this one, Myron Bolitar (one of Harlan’s main characters) tries to help out a former client and gets caught up in a major cluster-you-know-what. Bad things happen, the twists and turns pile on and then he breaks your heart. It’s a doozie.

I also decided that I needed to re-read The Book Thief by Markus Zusak. If you haven’t read this yet, I demand you go get it RIGHT NOW. I love this book so much. The whole time I was reading it I kept thinking “I can’t wait until Gabe can read this!” It is set during WWII and in Nazi Germany and the narrator is death himself. Pretty interesting, right? The main character is Leisel Meminger who, at 9 years old, has been deposited on the Hubberman’s door after her brother died and her mother was taken away. Leisel is The Book Thief. Many things happen and you definitely fall in love with Leisel, her Papa, her best friend Rudy, the mayor’s wife and even Mama. Eventually the Hubermann’s take in a man, Max, who happens to be Jewish. Seriously, you have to read this book. Even though it was the second time I read it, I bawled like a baby at the end. You will love it.

What good books have you read lately?