Picture Perfect by Jodi Picoult

Synopsis from her website:

As Picture Perfect begins, it is daybreak in downtown L.A. A woman suffering from amnesia is taken in by an officer new to the L.A. police force, after he finds her wandering aimlessly near a graveyard. Days later, when her husband comes to claim her at the police station, no one is more stunned than Cassie Barrett to learn that not only is she a renowned anthropologist, but she is married to Hollywood's leading man, Alex Rivers.
As Alex helps Cassie become reaccustomed to her fairy-tale existence, fragments of memory return: the whirlwind romance on location in Africa, her major anthropological discovery, the trajectory of Alex's career. Yet as Cassie settles into her glamour-filled life, uneasiness nags at her. She senses there is something troubling and wild that would alter the picture of her perfect marriage.

Pattie's comments:

This is my third Picoult read, and it will not be the last. This book kept me up till this morning at 1:00, so I could finish it. It is very, very good. It is not what I expected it to be, exactly. I mean, I suspected things were not all as they seemed, but the way the story unfolded, I had sympathy for each character, and each is flawed. Even the worst villain in the story garners more than a bit of my sympathy, in spite of his evil actions.

I don't know how Jodi Picoult does it, but she has a way of making sure each of her characters is good AND bad, very real, and sympathetic.

My Sister's Keeper by Jodi Picoult

This was a reread for me, and even though I knew the outcome and dreaded it, it was a good exercise in looking for foreshadowing and clues and hints this time around.

I highly recommend this novel. It has a lot to say about family, about sisters, and about genetics and modern medicine.

Synopsis from the author's website:

Anna is not sick, but she might as well be. By age thirteen, she has undergone countless surgeries, transfusions, and shots so that her older sister, Kate, can somehow fight the leukemia that has plagued her since childhood. The product of preimplantation genetic diagnosis, Anna was conceived as a bone marrow match for Kate - a life and a role that she has never questioned… until now. Like most teenagers, Anna is beginning to question who she truly is. But unlike most teenagers, she has always been defined in terms of her sister - and so Anna makes a decision that for most would be unthinkable… a decision that will tear her family apart and have perhaps fatal consequences for the sister she loves. My Sister's Keeper examines what it means to be a good parent, a good sister, a good person. Is it morally correct to do whatever it takes to save a child's life… even if that means infringing upon the rights of another? Is it worth trying to discover who you really are, if that quest makes you like yourself less?

OHHHHH and a movie is going to be made of this novel!!!!!!
Cameron Diaz courts a 'Keeper' role:Actress to star in Cassavetes-directed drama
By Michael Fleming

Cameron Diaz will star in "My Sister's Keeper," a Nick Cassavetes-directed adaptation of the Jodi Picoult novel for New Line Cinema. Shooting will begin early next year.

The drama was scripted by Jeremy Leven and will be produced by Mark Johnson, both of whom made "The Notebook" with Cassavetes for New Line.

Diaz had been circling the film for weeks, but negotiations have heated up and a deal should be completed shortly.

Thesp will play a former defense attorney who returns to the courtroom to defend herself and her husband when they are sued by their 13-year-old daughter for emancipation. The girl was conceived as a genetic match with the hope she could prolong her cancer-ridden sister's life.

Johnson most recently produced "The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe," and he is prepping the Michael Apted-directed "Chronicles of Narnia" sequel "The Voyage of the Dawn Treader."

Recently I read Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone to preview for my older daughter. I began the book knowing it was controversial in the Christian community. I was pleasantly surprised, however. I found it to be a delightful fantasy story. Harry is a great character, and his friends and archrivals at Hogwarts are engaging as well.

I look forward to reading the other six books in the series.

Are you up for a good book challenge? Visit this blog for more about the plethora (and I do mean a LOT) of book challenges that are available for bloggers (and non-bloggers) to participate in.

http://novelchallenges.blogspot.com/

Shopgirl is a novella by Steve Martin, and also a movie written and produced by Steve Martin. Yes, that Steve Martin!
Why Shopgirl? Well, I've read some of Steve Martin's nonfiction, and I have wanted to read his foray into fiction for a long time. Just never got around to it, I guess.

The book is short at 130 pages, and it reads quickly as most novellas do. The story is simple: Mirabelle (the shopgirl of the title) works at the glove counter at Neiman Marcus, a seldom-frequented section of the store next to couture. She lives her quiet, dare I say mundane life, until a few things happen: she meets Jeremy at the laundromat, and she meets Ray at work. The story is how these two very different men interact with Mirabelle, and how all three characters change.

The story is written in present tense, which adds a sense of immediacy (it could be happening right now). I couldn't help but hear Steve Martin's voice in my head as I read (even though I read before I saw the movie, in which he is also the narrator).

I must caution that the book is rated R, as is the movie (although the movie is much tamer than the book language-wise). The book is rife with raw, almost vulgar, sexual language. It's almost jarring when suddenly there is a comment about f---ing just thrown in. The language just seems out of place in this story.

The movie:
I finished the book just before watching the movie, and the two are very close (as one might suspect when the same man is the author of both). Claire Danes plays Mirabelle, and she's much more beautiful than I pictured Mirabelle to be from the book. Jason Schwartzman plays Jeremy, and he is a good choice for the role. I laughed out loud at how awful his character was in the beginning; I think he was worse in the movie than the book, at first! Steve Martin is the perfect Ray, of course, and he adds a vulnerability to the character that isn't as evident in the book.

I liked the movie better than the book, because the crass language isn't there to jar my sense of story. It has an almost fairy tale quality to it, and the vulgar sexuality is turned into a sensuality on screen that seems much more consistent with the story's tone, and with the whole older man-younger woman relationship.

As an aside: Blockbuster has this in the drama, not comedy, section, in case you want to rent it.

I am still reading, but with my husband returning from his overseas tour, I wasn't online much until he returned to work this week.

I have been reading, though! I'll be posting more reviews coming soon.

As always, if you have a question or comment, feel free to contact me at pattie @ dcwblogs.com (remove spaces, which I added to avoid spam).

Happy reading!

You might remember that I joined a challenge in December to read a book a month from the TBR stack that threatens continually to overwhelm my livingroom.

You can read that post here.

So how is Pattie doing?

Not too shabby, folks, not too shabby.

Here's an updated list:

1. The Yada Yada Prayer Group by Neta Jackson FINISHED IN JUNE

2. Eats, Shoots and Leaves by Lynne Truss

3. Girl Time by Laura Jensen Walker FINISHED IN FEBRUARY

4. Ambassador Families: Equipping Your Kids to Engage Popular Culture by Mitali Perkins

5. A Seahorse in the Thames by Susan Meissner this is a SUPERB book. FINISHED IN JUNE

6. In All Deep Places by Susan Meissner

7. The Remedy for Regret by Susan Meissner Finished in July

8. Potter Springs by Britta Coleman FINISHED IN JANUARY

9. The Reading Group by Elizabeth Noble FINISHED IN FEBRUARY

10. Under the Tuscan Sun by Frances Mayes (My November Book Club book!)

11. Goodnight Nobody by Jennifer Weiner FINISHED IN MARCH

12. Georgia on Her Mind by Rachel Hauck FINISHED IN FEBRUARY

My problem is that I keep getting more books from Paperback Swap and friends and publishers and authors, to read! Not that I'm complaining, mind you, just explaining.