Fiction/Literature
Johnnie Mae is a 12 year old living in the Black community of Georgetown, DC in the 20s. Her family just moved north from the south, believing there were more opportunities for Johnnie Mae and her younger sister Clara. However when Clara drowns in the river during a summer swimming outing, Johnnie Mae and the family change forever. Johnnie Mae believes it was her fault since she was responsible for looking out for her younger sister. Now, whenever she sees water it affects her.
I picked up this book because it was on Oprah's list and her recommendations are usually pretty good. This is definitely not one of them. This book felt like ramblings about a family to me. There really wasn't much of a start and there certainly was no conclusion, which made me feel like there was no point to the book. I almost dropped it half way through but figured that something of interest would have to happen in the second half of the book. Guess what? It didn't.
This is a completely pointless book.
First Line: "Dangerous ideas come to life and spread like sparks on dry twigs."
Rating: 
(2/5)
Two great leaders—Lord Eddard Stark and Robert Baratheon, King of the
Iron Throne of the Seven Kingdoms are dead. There is now turmoil and
several men declaring themselves to be king. Robert's son Joffery,
young, cruel and arrogant is the obvious king but is controlled by the
Lannisters. His mother Cersai and his uncle Tyrion each try to put forth
their own agendas. Robb Stark has declared himself the King of the
North. Robert's brothers, Renly and Stannis have also declared
themselves kings. 
Three great novellas in the In Death series (7.5,12.5, 22.5)
Agustin Caban is a music critic that's retiring from the newspaper where he writes reviews about the local orchestra. His old boss convinces him to write a memoir of the musicians he has met and, consequently, slept with. Caban examines those whom he has had sexual trysts, both male and female, with and compares them to the instruments they have mastered.
Caroline is a thirteen year old that lives with her father in a forest park in Oregon. They have lived there for four years and are very careful to make sure that no one finds them. They move their camp every so often, they only walk on stones so the grass doesn't look flattened, and they have perches in the tree to watch if anyone is coming. They go in to town every so often to purchase food items.
Jordan Gulok is an ex-navy SEAL on assignment in New York. Gulok is an Inuit. He works for the Navy but is a lone operator so that the Navy can dis-associate with him if necessary. His main contact Rear Admiral Clausen has been assassinated and he is now truly alone. His assignment is to determine the business of Argo. Ostensibly, Argo is a company that sells sporting equipment around the world. There are pointers that seem to show that Argo is selling illegal pharmaceuticals such as those used for controlling hypertension, heart conditions, etc. These drugs are not made properly and when sold have caused injuries and deaths. There is a great profit to be made from this illegal business.
This is the last in the Three Sisters Island trilogy. The story this
time revolves around Mia Devlin. Mia owns the book cafe and is a
self-assured confident witch who is very much in control of her powers.
Mark Mallen used to be an undercover cop with the goal of ridding his city of drug lords. In his paranoia that he would be found out, Mallen shoots heroin to figure out what it really feels like, knowing that he will be able to stop. Except he can't stop himself, he keeps shooting and eventually gets kicked off the force. He loses his wife, child, and years of his life.
Lieutenant Eve Dallas' husband Roarke is called by his secretary to help her daughter Reva. Reva went over to her best friend's house to confront her for sleeping with her husband and instead finds the two of them in bed, dead. She gets knocked out and framed for the murder, but Dallas quickly sees past that. Who would set up a wife to take the fall for her husband and mistress? When Dallas finds out that both the husband and the mistress were Homeland employees, everything changes. Dallas also learns some things about her past when she opens up some files though and it's something that affects both her and Roarke.
Clay Jannon was laid off as a designer from NewBagel, which had engineered the perfect bagel. Looking for a new job, he walks past a bookstore called Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore with a help wanted sign in front. On a whim, Clay walks in and asks for a job and soon finds himself working the night shift of this always-open bookstore. Clay is asked to take specific notes about each customer that comes in, although some of the customers are not typical bookstore customers. It seems like Mr. Penumbra also has a lending library, as some of his clientele will come in (at any time of day or night) and exchange one book for the next. The books all have weird names and Clay can't help but look in these books even though he's explicitly been told not to. Everything in the books are in code. Clay can't figure out what this book store is but when a young Google employee walks in to his store he wonders if she can help out.
Bosch is back, in yet another department of the LAPD. He gets a call to take a recent homicide at the overlook of Mulholland where Dr. Kent was shot in the head. When his FBI friend Rachel Walling shows up at the scene, Bosch knows there's something bigger to this crime. Working with his new partner, Iggy, provides some additional strain as they work to solve the case. Eventually they determine that radioactive material was stolen and part of the reason why Kent was killed. Are there terrorists out there planning an attack?