Angels and Demons By Dan Brown

I absolutely love this book. It's thrilling and captivating - I can't put it down. I am so happy that I decided to read it because it feels like a continuation of The Da Vinci Code, which is one of my favorite books. This is the second book I've read by Dan Brown, and I am pleased to see that his writing is consistently exciting. I also really like that he set up the book with very short chapters. This pushes me to read just a little bit more because I know I will always have a good stopping place - even though I don't always want to stop! I like how it is the same main character in this book that was in the Da Vinci Code because I feel like I know him already. I also feel like I am able to learn more about him and his character is developing more. He is very interesting and exciting because it seems that he always remembers something crucial when it's almost too late, but he always manages to be successful. It's also interesting for me to read Dan Brown's books because they contain actual historical and accurate information. I feel like I am learning while enjoying the story, which makes it seem even more satisfying. My friend who read this book told me that it only gets better as the story goes on. I can't wait to continue and find out what happens, but I know I will be sad once it is over.

Memory Keeper's Daughter. (2nd Quarter Begins Here)

I finally finished reading this book, and it was quite a struggle. I was not interested at all throughout the story, but I am not the type of person to drop a book without finishing it. I forced myself to finish and honestly, I'm glad that it is finally over. Besides the poor writing style, I was not a fan of the main character, Dr. David Henry. Although his intentions were for the best, he still lied to his family with possibly the most horrid lie they could imagine. He told his wife, Norah that their daughter died at birth, yet this was not the case. Their daughter was born with Down Syndrome, and David feared that his wife would struggle with a sick child as his mother struggled with his sick sister. Norah had to deal with the guilt of never holding her daughter, and she felt that she could never fully grieve for her. This lie could not be undone, and things began spiraling out of hand. David distanced himself from his family, which caused his son Paul to feel unloved. I think that David is selfish and should have owned up to his mistake from the very beginning. It bothered me to see how he essentially tore his family apart. I like Caroline, though, since she took their daughter and raised her as her own. She always looked out for Phoebe's best interests and that was very kind of her. This book is a realistic fiction novel and it deals with the struggles of families and what was accepted in earlier times. It has potential to be amazing but I don't suggest it.

The Memory Keeper's Daughter

To be honest, I'm not a huge fan of this book. I think the story line is good and it has potential to be really interesting, but Kim Edwards does not achieve this. She is overly descriptive which is very annoying to me. While description is a good thing, she describes things to an extreme and finds the need to include every single detail about everything. I find it distracting and frankly boring to read. I drift off very easily because of this and can't stay focused on the book. As a result, I have been reading this book at a slower pace than normal. In addition, Kim Edwards describes all the different characters that come into the book, which is good. On the bad side, though, she always seems to write about flashbacks in the person's life. Sometimes this is confusing to me because I don't know where the person is at the time, or what they're doing. Overall, I like the idea of the book. I just wish it was more straightforward with less "fluff". I'm having some difficulty getting through it enjoyably, but hopefully it will get better.